DEEPER THINGS

By

John Hames

Chapter 1

A FEAST OF FAT THINGS

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." -- Philippians 4:4-7

Some of the deepest, richest and sweetest things in the Christian experience are found in St. Paul's letter to the Philippians. "Rejoice in the Lord always" is one of the highest commands ever given to a child of God. This means more than a camp-meeting blessing, bodily demonstration, or mere ecstasy, which soon passes away. The peculiar joy of which we are writing is an inward artesian well, springing up out of a pure heart! This kind of joy does not depend on outward circumstances, but whether we be popular or persecuted, it holds good! Some people seem to think a life of this kind is an impossibility, but if we live in Romans 8:28, it is easy to rejoice always, since we know that God is working everything in Heaven and earth for our good. What does it matter whether "flowers" or "mud" are flung at us if we are God's children and in the center of His will, for He will overrule all that men or devils may bring against us, and cause the wrath of man to praise Him! Joy, the joy of the Lord, arouses and quickens every dormant faculty of the soul, and brings to the surface the hidden gifts of the Spirit, until one stands transfigured before his own eyes. It acts like a heavenly wine to the soul and the tired body, and under its influence one goes forth thrilled and enthused to carry burdens and lift loads under which others go down. Again, joy is attractive! There is nothing that will attract and arrest this pleasure-loving, hell-going age, empty the worldly resorts, and fill the empty churches, like Pentecostal joy. Let the Church obtain it, and the multitudes will flock to her doors.

"Let your moderation be known unto all men." The best Greek scholars say the word "moderation in the above Scripture does not bring out the full meaning expressed in the original word; it has been translated "yieldingness”. What a beautiful trait of character! It is Christlike to "yield" where there is no principle involved, and where we do not have to compromise to do so. Oh, the divisions that would have been avoided in the Church and the home if some had only learned to yield! It is the sign of a magnanimous soul to yield in order to keep the unity of the Spirit. Another rendering of the word "moderation" is "gentleness," which is not a bad word by any means. Gentleness is a refined, cultured spirit, where all roughness, rudeness and coarseness has been burned out. It is a trait of Godlikeness to be gentle. He never does anything in a rough, uncouth way, but often breaks the hardest hearts of sinners by a "touch of gentleness!"

The spirit of gentleness comes through crucifixion and suffering, and if we desire to possess this spirit, we must have the "Adamic flint" crushed out of us by the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost, and submit to the refining fire through which every soul must go! "Let it be known to all men."

It should be known in the voice. When one is angry it will show itself in an excited, uncontrollable voice, whereas a soft answer disarms prejudice and turneth away wrath. It is impossible to make men believe we have the spirit of Christ, so long as we scold and rant. A gentle spirit is one that has been conquered, melted and subdued. One possessing a gentle spirit is easy to approach and live with, and is too great to do a little, mean, underhanded trick.

Another beautiful rendering is: "Let your humility be known unto all men."

Humility is a lovely, but rare, grace. It is one of the most beautiful graces implanted in the human heart. Out of the soil of humility will spring all the other graces of the Spirit. It is the very woof of the soul, and causes one to be little in his own eyes, and saves from getting sore or taking offense when overlooked and slighted. You can trace nearly all the splits in the Holiness Movement to the lack of humility and to an intense desire for leadership. A meek spirit in the Church or home is as refreshing as an oasis with waving palm trees and cool springs is to a weary traveler.

Still another translation for "moderation" is sweetness -- "Let your sweetness be known to all men." Let your Christlike spirit be shown in your life by a sweet disposition, amiable temper and a long-suffering that is kind. The soul is made sweet, not by human struggling and doing penance, but by the removal of the acid spirit, and the inter-penetrating of the spirit of Christ into ours, sweetening and transforming.

The very nature of the Holy Ghost is that of "Divine sweetness;" and if we yield ourselves up to Him entirely, He will sweeten us and dissolve our whole being in the ecstatic fire of Divine love. The sainted Watson said: "What is the sweetness of love? It is love made perfect, and filling, enlarging and overflowing the breast; love pushing its tidal wave up into the intellect and will, deluging all the mental faculties with its delicious current; love filling the tongue, selecting the fittest words, sweetening the voice."

There are two little words in the English language, if put in practice, as one has said, that will transform any life; they are, "keep sweet." Keep sweet when the pressure is on! Keep sweet when slanderous tongues are wagging! Keep sweet when being misunderstood; for a religion that does not keep sweet soon grows sour and cantankerous. Keep sweet!

"Be careful (anxious) for nothing;" which is just another way of saying "trouble over nothing." We can not be at our best for God with a heavy, sorrowful, burdened heart. Trouble and sorrow -- that is, brooding over it -- seem to benumb the religious powers of the soul. If the preacher enters the pulpit brooding over some wrong done him, the mind becomes dull, the spirit droops, and the sermon drags. It is astonishing how many of God's children are worrying over some imaginary trouble. Satan whispers, "Your friends will go back on you; health will fail," and at once they see the poorhouse in sight and commence worrying and fretting. The devil has told many a preacher that if he preached Holiness he would starve. (Some are honest enough to confess this.) God is great and good. He is our Heavenly Father, and He will see the soul through that trusts Him if He has to rob Heaven to do so. Worry is a mental disease that sends millions to an untimely grave. It hardens the arteries, brings on high-blood pressure; it beclouds the vision, and often causes a nervous breakdown. God's remedy for worry and fret is found in the remainder of verse 6: "But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known unto God." Not only pray over the big things of life, but in everything; the little things, the little trials, the little everyday burdens. This is not so much the petition of prayer, as it is the spirit of prayer. We are to live where we can get our prayers through to God.

But the secret of all this is found in verse 7: "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Not merely the peace of reconciliation, which is the result of pardon, but something far deeper -- an unfathomable ocean which nothing can disturb. There is a contrast between the peace we receive in "justification" (which is peace with God) and that deep, settled peace we receive in "sanctification," which is the peace of God. While the first is sweet and wonderful, it does not always abide. There are times when this peace is broken, because of the inward foe. But the peace of God abides through all the trying hours of the day. We still have the same devil to contend with, but something has happened on the inside that keeps the soul calm and sweet. The Psalmist had this in mind when he said, "Great peace have they which love the law: and nothing shall offend them." Whether noticed or set aside, appreciated or misunderstood, the soul refuses to be offended. It has caught a vision of the man of Calvary with a thorn crowned brow -- a vision which has been burned so deeply in his soul that he is not looking for slights and hurts.

The Apostle mentions three things about this peace:

I. It passeth all understanding. No brain is large enough to reason it out. The cold intellect can not grasp it. Some refuse to believe anything they can not understand, but there are enough mysteries all around us to swallow us! Rev. Bud Robinson says, "The Gospel train don't stop at the station called 'Understanding.' Brother, you will flag it down at the heart station."

II. It keeps the heart. The heart is a little world itself, with its affections, conscience and will power. Take the affections. They need to be kept in the right channel, or they will stray on forbidden objects. Numbers of God's people have shed scalding tears over failure to keep the heart and affections. This deep, settled peace keeps the emotions regulated, pure and heavenly. All pure emotions are constructive, and are health builders. It harmonizes all the powers and faculties of the soul until the dove of peace takes up its permanent abode, brooding, nestling and abiding.

III. It keeps the mind. How essential this is, as the mind largely controls the body. If it is given to fret and worry, it affects the whole nervous system. If we think kind, wholesome, encouraging thoughts, it has a soothing, restful effect through every part of the being. Gloomy, morbid thinking burns up more energy than hard study. This peace keeps the mind from worry, since we know that all things work together for good to them who love the Lord! It brings the imagination under subjection until it ceases building air castles and running off in foolish and hurtful things. Why worry? Thank God for the restful, tranquil, deep, settled peace that nothing can disturb!

Chapter 2

THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY

"But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." -- 1 Cor. 12:31

Someone has said, "The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians consists mostly of 'nots.'" Let us notice some of the "nots" contained in this chapter.

LOVE "envieth not."

Envy! That unpleasant something shut up in the heart like a secret fire that feels greatly grieved at the sight of its superior's happiness and prosperity! The peculiar thing about envy is that it is found in the heart of the unsanctified. It dwells on the faults and failures of others rather than their gifts and virtues. This kind of a spirit, like a burning acid, eats the very sweetness of the Christ-life out. There is something that belongs to a sanctified life that is a thousand-fold beyond orthodox theology; a tenderness and a sweetness and holy fragrance like the breath of Heaven and the perfume of the Rose of Sharon. But the envious spirit strikes through this inward purity and Divine sweetness like the touch of gall, until all one has left is the hull of the outward form of a religious profession. An envious preacher finds great pleasure in criticizing the successful preacher whom the Holy Ghost is using and Heaven is honoring. If he fails to find anything in his past life, then his pulpit manners and methods are criticized.

Envy was at the root of some of the darkest crimes mentioned in the Bible. Joseph was envied by his brethren because of his spotless life, his loving disposition and winning ways. Alas for the Josephs of today that fall among envious souls! The Scripture says Saul eyed David. The eye is an index to the soul. David could see from the dry, cutting look in the eye the volcano of hatred and jealousy raging in his breast, therefore he fled for his life. There is no disposition of the soul which will more quickly destroy the spirit of love than envy. Oh, this scorpion-headed, green-eyed monster; this ulcer of hell! If you find this in your heart, do not stop short of a complete cure. The baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire destroys carnality and gives us a love that "envieth not."

LOVE "vaunteth not itself."

One has translated this, "Divine love paradeth not itself." Love never tries to show off its gifts and learning, but shines just as brightly at home as it does at the camp or big gathering.

Another rendering of the word, "Love acteth not rashly." It never passeth judgment on anyone in any unkind, harsh way. It can be contradicted, misunderstood, misrepresented, and still keep calm and sweet under the pressure.

LOVE "is not puffed up."

All puff and strut leaves the heart in which perfect love dwells. One of the worst dangers of the human family is that of pride. It is dangerous for one to have too many gifts; they are likely to become puffed up over success. Many a young Christian worker started out humble and little in his own eyes. Finally he got where he could preach and was in demand, and, instead of staying little and humble, became so self-conceited that the Spirit failed to use him. If there is any grace that must impress Heaven, it is the beautiful grace of humility. Such a person can be overlooked and not feel sore. He is thinking so little of himself that he hardly knows when he is slighted.

LOVE "does not behave itself unseemly."

Perfect love in the heart makes a perfect lady or gentleman out of any one. Love is so refining that one filled with pure, humble love could mingle in the highest society and not behave himself unseemly. It gives one good manners, sweet politeness and winning ways. It has been defined as love in trifles. Some workers may wonder why they are not in demand when, if the truth were known, their coarse, harsh, rough manners have closed many a door against them. We do not have to tone down nor compromise to be nice, gentle and polite. Jesus never did anything in a rough, rude way.

LOVE "seeketh not her own."

The heart in which perfect love reigns is not only saved from selfishness, but self-seeking and wire-pulling in every form. It, in honor, prefers others. The Holy Ghost strikes a death-blow at the taproot of carnality, which is concrete selfishness, until one can rejoice with a sincere, heartfelt joy at the prosperity and success of others.

LOVE "is not provoked."

All the gun-powdery nature and that hot flash of temper has been burned out, and there is nothing in a truly sanctified heart to get stirred. Anger is looked upon by many as a harmless something that is permissible with a Christian life. According to the Bible, it springs from the same root as does murder and adultery. The same thing that makes one commit murder makes another give way to anger. Sanctification burns out all anger and evil tempers and fills the heart with a love that is kind and gentle.

Reader, do you ever feel the stirring of anger when some one has said something unkind about you or your work? When some one ignores and sets aside your ideas and cuts your tender heart to pieces with unkind words, do you keep sweet on the inside?

LOVE "thinketh no evil."

Not only will love save us from evil speaking, but mistrusting and implying wrong motives to our brethren. We will put the best construction on things, and refuse to believe an evil report until it is known to be a positive truth.

A clean heart will manifest itself with an open face and honest look in the eye. Did you ever notice, when thrown in an atmosphere of suspicion, you unconsciously close all the shutters of the soul and seem to shrivel up; but when in the warm atmosphere of love all the powers of the soul seem to expand like the rose does in the summer sun. Love's fire is too hot for uncharitable suspicion and evil surmising to live in.

LOVE "rejoices not in iniquity."

Love rejoices not in the downfall of an enemy, not even a bitter enemy, but is like David, who wept at the news of Saul's death. No wonder he was called a man after God's own heart. There is nothing that will test our piety like our attitude toward our foes and those that oppose us.

Let us notice the positive side of this beautiful experience:

LOVE "suffereth long, and is kind."

It suffers all that men or devils may inflict upon it. A spider will get poison out of a flower and turn all it eats into poison, while a honey bee will get sweetness out of the same flower and turn all it eats into honey. ''The same trials, bereavements, losses and sorrows which make one kind of life grow in melancholy or bitter and open rebellion, will make another kind of life grow in meekness and patience, perseverance, and an inexpressible charity and sweetness of spirit. Everything depends on whether or not the self-life or the Christ-life has possession of us.

Some people can suffer, but they are not very kind. God's plan can so clean the heart of evil tempers and fill it with meekness, gentleness and patient love, until, out of our sorrow and suffering, we can grow some of the sweetest flowers of paradise.

LOVE "beareth all things."

The trouble with an unsanctified heart is that it can bear only so much, but after so long its patience gives out. Boundless love is the true condition of bearing all things in the spirit of Jesus and taking the advantage of our crosses and making them a means of grace and enlargement of all our soul faculties.

LOVE "believeth all things."

A heart filled with perfect love knows not what it is to doubt. It knows that Jesus is Divine. Such a heart not only believes all the written promises of God, but all the secret ones whispered to the inner spirit by the Holy Ghost. It believes in the providence of God, and knows and feels with a certainty that all things in earth and Heaven are working together for its good.

LOVE "hopeth all things."

Hope has to do with the future world. A soul full of hope refuses to live on the dark, bitter past, but ever looks on the bright, sunny side of life. Hopeful persons are cheerful and filled with inward, Divine gladness. They are as bright as the spring morning with budding trees and singing birds. There is no room for blues and despondency, but they have caught a vision of coming glory and the resurrection morning.

LOVE "endureth all things."

What a beautiful spirit! It never runs from the battlefield or complains amid hardships and pressure. It endures with "unwearying patience anything God can permit, or men or devils inflict.

Finally, it "never faileth."

Thank God for something that abides in a world of changes, where death robs us of our loved ones. Friends may grow cold and cease to love us; riches take to themselves wings and flee away, but that sweet-featured, soft-voiced, gentle-spirited, long-suffering love that is kind, "never faileth."

Chapter 3

A BOUQUET OF CHRISTIAN GRACES

(Col. 3: 1-13)

In the third chapter of Colossians the Apostle gives us a bouquet of Christian graces which should adorn every believer's life. It is not enough to be saved from sin or merely to be sanctified. There are degrees far deeper than a clean heart. God wishes to beautify and polish and so refine the saints that they will be attractive.

"If ye then be risen with Christ." One of the best renderings of these words, literally and according to the exact idiom, we are told, is, "If ye were then resurrected with Christ." The difference between natural human religion and true Christianity is that in the former man tries to rise to a higher plane within his own strength, only to fall back in his weakness and heart corruption. Men all through the ages have tried to live and rise higher than their own hearts, and have failed. But the religion of Jesus Christ imparts a supernatural life. Instead of trying to rise to a higher human plane, we are resurrected with Him, and are to live according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised Him from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus gives us a religion that is as fresh, cheerful and spontaneous as the spring morning. Most Christians live on the dark, gloomy side of Christianity. But there is a sunny side, a summer land of love, where the birds sing, the flowers bloom and the fountains flow, and the hot sunshine of God's love fills the believer's heart, and the graces mature and ripen for eternity.

"For ye are dead." This has reference to the "old man," the "body of sin." There is a teaching set afloat in the current Holiness Movement, that we are only cleansed up to the light we have, and as we get more light, we may expect to discover hidden depths of depravity. Such erroneous teaching would never let any one get sanctified in this life. They would have us going through a constant process of dying; but the Scriptures say nothing of the kind. There is a world of difference between being saved from all sin, and being illuminated from all ignorance. Nowhere does the Bible teach that we are to be purified only up to the light we have, or as far as we can see, but as far as the infinite, all-searching eye of God can see.

"Put off the old man with his deeds." There are several Scriptural names given to original sin, such as "the carnal mind," "an evil heart," "body of sin," "the sin which does so easily beset us," and the "old man," which means the essence and image of old Adam. It makes people act like Adam. Under a searching sermon they try, like Adam, to hide behind a profession, then, when cornered, lay the blame and their lack of deep spirituality onto others. Notice, the Apostle says we are to put off this old man like we do a corpse, which we make no more provision for. The soul is not to be a cemetery for the “old man”, but he is to be put off. This is not a mere fancy or playing dead, but a reality, where we die indeed to sin. Many an altar service is well-nigh ruined by shallow workers, where seekers for Holiness are hurried through with whoops -- a lot of human noise -- and the work all has to be done over in a short time. But when one gets through by the energy of the Holy Ghost, he will generally stick. Now, while the "old man" is referred to in the Scripture in the singular, the unit principle of hereditary sin, his deeds are spoken of in the plural, referring to a variety of sinful tempers. In other words, if you feel deep down in your heart the stirring and uprising of anger, resentment, retaliation, a jealous disposition, a secret spirit of envy, lustful stirrings, a touchy, sensitive spirit, they are the sproutings from the deep, latent, inbred sin of the soul. One may not feel all these in the heart, yet if we have one of these traits, they are all there. One of the first manifestations of carnality in the newly converted soul is anger. While one does not have to give way to it, nevertheless that gunpowder-like nature is there. Now we are not to put off the traits of the "old man" by piecemeal; but when the body of sin is destroyed, all his traits and manifestations go with him.

"And put on the new man." This means that the very image of Christ, which takes the place of the old man. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy." The Apostle is here describing the Christian experience under the figure of spiritual robes. God clothes everything He makes. He clothes the trees with leaves, the animals with a garment of their own kind, and the saints with the graces and virtues of the Spirit. The phrase "put on" means to put on as the grapevine puts on leaves from the inward sap until the whole vine is covered. So the Holy Ghost clothes the saints.

Let us notice some of the garments that are to be put on. "Bowels of mercy" -- which means softness and tenderness of heart. The Holy Ghost can not live in a hard, crusty heart. As flowers and plants grow more rapidly in tender, mellow soil, so the graces and fruits of the Spirit flourish in a tender heart. All great soul winners and missionaries have been men and women of great compassion, with yearning hearts for the fallen.

There are some things that are non-conductors of electricity, such as glass, and dry wood, and cotton string. So there are a great many lives that are non-conductors of the Holy Ghost. They are narrow, little, selfish and harsh. The Lord may get such to Heaven, but they will never be used very much of the Spirit here unless they have a breaking down, a smashing-up time in their souls.

Katherine Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was tender-hearted from childhood. When she was a little girl of only twelve years, she saw, one day, a policeman beating a man who was drunk. She rushed to the scene, and, bursting into tears, said to the drunkard, "Mister, I love you." It sobered him. No wonder the Lord used her in rescuing tens of thousands of souls. We need to pray much over keeping our hearts tender.

"Put on kindness." Divine kindness is a plant that does not belong to this world, but is introduced into the heart in the new birth. Under the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost it becomes natural and easy to be kind. It will unlock more old rusty hearts' doors than any one thing in the world. Kindness is a slight change of the word ‘kin-ness’. It means to have the mutual feeling for each other that we have for our own family or kin. Especially should this be true when we hear of one of God's children being abused or slandered or mistreated. There should be a tender feeling for our brother's reputation and good name.

"Humbleness of mind." This means to be so little in our own eyes that we can be contradicted, corrected and reproved without feeling sore or touchy. The reason some are so easily provoked and offended is that they have such a great opinion of themselves. They must be looked up to, flattered and praised in order to be gotten along with "An humble saint," says Benjamin Pomeroy "can sit on a low seat and grow tall." He can be overlooked, set aside, and not feel hurt. The vision of the man of Calvary, with His thorn-crowned brow, has been so burned into his soul that he has no craving for red tape or ecclesiastical power. Such a soul is easy to warm up to and live with.

"Meekness." This is the attitude of the soul toward God. All the self-life has been burned out. "It is perfect love with a bowed head."

"Long suffering." This means that one bears all that men or devils may put on him with a sweet, Christlike spirit, without complaining or grumbling. The beauty of perfect love is that it can suffer long and still be kind. Some can suffer, but after awhile their patience gives out. The very same trials, sorrows, crosses and losses that make a heart in which Satan reigns turn in open rebellion and bitterness, will make a believer more Christlike, tender and sweet.

"Forbearing one another" means to put up with each other's faults and peculiarities. Just so long as we live in a fallen world, we might as well make up our minds that we are going to have to bear some things, if we grow in grace and keep an even, sweet temper. We will meet religious people who are cranky; these will be a trial to us unless we keep tender and melted in Divine love.

"Forgiving one another" means to carry a heart full of forgiveness for every one that may have injured us. People often wonder why their prayers are not answered, their sicknesses healed and their lives filled with joy and peace. If they will dig down a little, perhaps they will find malice or an unforgiving spirit. Maybe an unkind word has been flung at some child of God in an angry voice, hurting his influence, and has never been straightened up. Remember, no prayer reaches God so long as we harbor an unforgiving spirit. A spiritual heart would rather forgive than not to forgive.

These are the seven beautiful graces or garments we are to put on by the power of the Holy Ghost. These garments are very popular in Heaven. If we want to be in style with the heavenly world, let us see to it that our souls are clothed with these graces. Above all these things, put on charity, which is Divine love. This is the outer garment that is to cover all the others. In the Eastern countries, the outer garment is a long, pure white mantle. So Divine love is that pure, white mantle which is to be put on over all the other graces, which is our full dress that prepares us to meet the heavenly Bridegroom.

Chapter 4

CHRIST ENTHRONED WITHIN

(Col. 1:27)

There is nothing higher or deeper in human experience than to be God possessed -- a temple of the Holy Ghost. This is the climax of the Atonement. It is the very cream and marrow of Christianity. The Apostle says this mystery has been hidden for ages and generations, but is revealed in the last days to the saints. This mystery is Christ formed with in you, the hope of glory; not merely Christ with us or for us; not Christ in prophecy or Christ on yonder cross, or Christ in the heavens, as wonderful as that is, but Christ enthroned in the human heart, reigning, ruling, controlling the affections, conquering the will, bringing every appetite and passion of the soul and body under subjection.

The Apostle Paul had this double experience in his own life. On his way to Damascus he had an outward revelation of Christ which prostrated him and transformed him from a bloody persecutor to an humble follower of Jesus. But we read in the first chapter of Galatians and the sixteenth verse that after he was called to preach he says, "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me”. This was something entirely different from the Damascus experience. In the latter Christ was enthroned within him. We may get the life and sayings of Jesus from the four Gospels, but it takes the Holy Ghost to reveal the inward heart, life, tempers and disposition of Christ.

Peter, in the Second Epistle, first chapter and nineteenth verse, says: "Until the day dawn and day star arise in our heart." Jesus calls Himself, in Rev. 22, "The bright and morning star," and then tells us, in Rev. 2:28, that this star experience is given to the overcomers.

When we put all these Scriptures together it means Christ within our hearts; not only as our Sanctifier, but a Divine Person, a Comforter, Guide and Heavenly Guest.

Notice, Peter mentions two things -- the day-dawn and day-star. We know that the day-dawn means the eternal morning where there is no sorrow, sin or Satan, but the day-star is quite different. The stars shine in the night! We are living in the night age of this dispensation. Jesus is compared to the sunrise in His second coming, but long before the sunrise and day-dawn takes place we are to have the day-star hidden away in our hearts as the harbinger of the eternal day.

Again, this double blessing was beautifully illustrated in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud that led Israel. First, we see its presence in the heavens leading, hovering over, and protecting them from their enemies; but there came a day and time in their history when that fiery cloud became an inward as well as an outward presence.

We read in the fortieth chapter of Exodus that when that beautiful structure known as the tabernacle was complete -- the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, the candlesticks, the table of shew bread and golden altar in the Holy Place and every curtain hung -- that Moses and Aaron dedicated and anointed it with oil, took hands off, and that fiery Presence in yonder heavens began to descend, and a cloud filled the whole tent, and the fiery glow entered the Holy Place and the holy of holies, and between the wings of the cherubim and the mercy seat the glowing Shekinah finally rested. From this on God spoke to Moses, not from the mount, but from the tabernacle.

In the New Testament our bodies become God's temple. When we give this temple over to the Holy Ghost; with all its faculties, the "old man" is cast out, self is slain and Christ enthroned within.

The best saints of the ages have testified to this double revelation of Christ. Dr. Daniel Steele, the noted Greek scholar, says: "The Man of Calvary, the Son of God, treads all the avenues of my soul, filling its emptiness, melting its hardness, cleansing its impurities and pouring upon my head.

Blessed unction from above,

Comfort, life and fire of love."

Dr. John A. Wood, noted for his deep piety, after his wonderful baptism with the Holy Ghost, says: "Some of the precious results of the cleansing power of Jesus in my soul have been --

1. A sacred nearness to God my Savior. The distance between God and my soul has appeared annihilated, and the glory and presence of Divinity have often appeared like a flood of sunlight, surrounding, penetrating and pervading my whole being. Glory be to God, that even the most unworthy may be 'brought nigh by the blood of Christ!'

2. A sense of indescribable sweetness in Christ. The fact that He is the 'Rose of Sharon,' 'The Lily of the Valley,' 'The Bright and Morning Star,' 'The brightness of His (the Father's) glory, ’and is altogether lovely, has at times so penetrated my soul as to thrill it with ecstatic rapture. Oh, how glorious and lovely has the dear Savior appeared to my soul, and how strong the attraction my heart has felt toward Him! Often His glory has shone upon my soul without a cloud."

Dr. B. Carradine tells the following: "A very superior Christian lady was seeking the blessing of Sanctification at an altar in a California city during one of our meetings. She had been instructed what to do, and had obeyed. All was on the altar. She was believing that the altar sanctified the gift, and stood looking upward as if watching for the descent of the Blessing. The writer felt moved to say to her, 'My sister, look into your heart and tell me what you see.' She closed her eyes, introverted her gaze, and in the next instant opened her eyes with a look of joy in her face, and a rapturous cry that we can never forget: 'Oh, He has come! Christ is in there!' Then followed, for nearly a half hour, a torrent of spiritual eloquence from her lips as she 'prophesied' before a spellbound audience. Months afterward we met her in another city, when, with a smile of unutterable rest, she said, 'He is still in there.' Speaking of it afterward, she said, 'When you told me to look within, I did, and the instant I did so I saw the Savior, and oh, He did smile upon me; and now whenever I look within, He is still there, always with the same sweet smile. . . . Thank God for an inward revelation! Not all have it. We can tell it by the faces of the people. Such a secret possessed by the soul could not but flash in the countenance, gleam in the eye, ring in the voice.'"

Let us notice what is meant by Christ being enthroned within. It means purity. He will not dwell in an impure temple. The first thing Christ did when He entered the Jewish temple was to cleanse it. Three years later He cleansed the temple the second time, which has its spiritual meaning and fulfillment. We are told that on His second entrance He came riding on an ass, which is the symbol of humility. All strut, swagger and egotism leaves the heart in which Christ dwells. Here we see also Divinity on top of the animal. Sanctification is that blessed work which puts the physical on the bottom and the spiritual on the top. Again, on His second entrance to the temple, we are told the people began to rejoice and shout. If there is anything that will start the shouts of Hosanna! Hallelujah! and turn loose a Heavenly choir in the soul, it is when Christ enters the temple in His cleansing, sanctifying power to take up His abode.

On His second entrance to the temple, the people spread their garments in the way. Here we see the dress question settled. It is put under Christ's feet. It seems to take the Second Blessing to properly adjust the dress question. Many a costly, showy, stylish garment comes off when the Savior comes in.

We are told that, as He entered, the people cut palm branches and spread them in the way. The palm branch has always been a symbol of victory. Here the soul begins its victorious march onward and upward. Isaiah says, "And thy mourning days shall be ended; sorrow and sighing shall flee away; and thy sun shall go down no more."

Thank God for a never-setting-sun experience which refuses to be discouraged! The hand drops the weeping willow which stands for defeats, failures, sorrow and sighing, and lays hold of the palm branch and waves it over Satan, sin, doubt and fear, and presses its way onward to another mountain peak. How can the soul be defeated with Christ reigning within?

Christ crowned within means constant victory over temptations. Just as a red-hot stove will throw off cold water and a live wire is its own protection, so Christ enthroned in the heart wards off the assaults of Satan and holds the soul steady and calm in the midst of conflict and fiery temptations. The beauty of being sanctified and cured to the core is such that when Satan comes with evil suggestions and makes his appeal to the appetites, passions and affections, there is nothing on the inside that wants to respond.

As long as sin is in the heart it makes it easy for the devil to get in his work and disturb the peace of the soul. The difference between the temptations of the converted and that of the sanctified soul is that, in the sanctified experience, the battle has been transferred to the outside. Sometimes the most severe battles with the unsanctified are caused by the inward foe that wants to open the door to the tempter. Inbred sin is the seed and root of all sin. The writer to the Hebrews calls it the sin which doth so easily beset us -- that weak place in one's character where he is more likely to fall.

Judas' besetting sin was that of covetousness, which was the weak point in which the devil found gateway to his soul and caused him to turn traitor and go to a devil's hell. Sampson's besetting sin was an inordinate affection and undue love for the opposite sex. It is said that we are no stronger than our weakest point, but God's plan is to save us and crucify us to the fleshly life and enthrone Christ within, that right at the point where we have been the weakest we shall have complete victory. The ancient Parthians believed that the strength of every enemy they defeated went directly unto them. Suppose this was true. How could we stand before such a being? Spiritually this is true. With every triumph over a foe there is a growing strength and power until the soul learns to take from conquered difficulties the strength they sought to take from us.

Christ within you, the hope of glory, makes dying easy. St. Paul refused to use the word "death" in regard to his home-going. He used the word "depart," which was an old word used in connection with a ship leaving one port for another. A ship was not made to tie up at a port, but to sail the deep and plow through the storms, ride the billows and come in on the other side with a full cargo. The soul was not made for this short life. There are longings and cravings that will take all eternity to unfold and develop. The Apostle Peter, in his second epistle, chapter one, speaks of the abundant entrance given to those who have escaped the corrupt nature -- which means the depraved nature -- and are made partakers of the Divine nature, and have added all the Divine graces to their experience. He says they shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. This is something more than scarcely being saved, which is applied to a class in I Peter 4:18. The only comment we would make on this verse is that we see this acted out in a great many of our revivals every year. Some just barely get saved a few days before death. Here is still more light on it. Numbers, for the lack of light and teaching on Holiness, put off getting sanctified until near death's door. On account of the remaining carnality in their hearts there is a shirking from going into the white light of eternity. They are prayed with and dealt with until, at last, they say they are reconciled to go.

Dr. S. A. Keen, the noted evangelist, said that 75% of the professed Christians of his day, whom he was called to visit in the dying hour, were unprepared to die. The testimony of all the saints down through the Church age was that Christ enthroned within robbed death of its sting and the grave of its gloom, and made leaving this world the "Saints' great Coronation Day."

Some years ago the writer read of a ship that was overdue. The crowds had been anxiously waiting for some news for days. At last the telegram announced that she had been sighted at sea. A later one said she was in the narrows and nearing the harbor. Finally, she came steaming toward her moorings, covered with ice, her boats swept away in the storm, one engine broken down; but, in spite of all, she had locked in with the storm, mounted ten thousand billows, and had come in with hundreds of passengers. Amidst the playing of bands and the boom of a cannon she received a glorious welcome. If the approaching of a ship will draw multitudes to welcome her, who can doubt but that Heaven's shores will be lined to welcome those who have braved the storms, and have mounted thousands of billows and kept their heads above the waves. What does it matter if they were misunderstood, slandered, wrongly attacked? They are nearing Home, while angels shout and all Heaven gives them welcome Home.

Chapter 5

A SANCTIFIED SPIRIT

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." -- 1 Thess. 5:23

Man has been called a trinity according to the philosophy of the Apostle in the above text, and also other Scriptures. He is a trinity, consisting of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the higher part, that which knows and is capable of God consciousness, worship and communion; receiving intuitively impressions from the heavenly world. It is the region of conscience, that which discerns between right and wrong. Here its voice is heard. It is the region of the will -- the king of man – that which chooses and shapes our destiny.

The spirit is the inner man of the soul, and possesses five senses; the same as the body. In one who is not a Christian these senses are unawakened. That spirit and soul are not identical is proven by the Apostle in Heb. 4:12, speaking, as he does, of the Word of God, which is "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." The soul and spirit do not, of course, occupy separate space, but are, like light, heat and air which fill the room simultaneously.

Man has been likened to a three-story building; the basement representing the body; the first story, the soul, and that of the upper, the spirit. The multitudes live in the basement -- the base, fleshly part of their natures -- their highest desire being to gratify the body, with its appetites and passions. This is the lowest plane on which a human can live; it is the plane of the animal nature. Others live a step higher, dwelling in their emotions and affections. Art, music, literature, culture and refinement appeal to them. This, however, is only a soulish, natural life. But God's thought and plan for His creatures is that they live up in the spiritual realm where the spirit controls the entire man.

The spirit is not the emotional and intellectual part of man's being; this belongs to the soul. The word for "spirit" in the New Testament Greek is pneuma, while that for soul is psyche, which means "mind." To say that spirit and soul are identical is to reduce Christianity to a mere intellectual state where our holy religion consists of Christlikeness, holy tempers and sweet dispositions. There is a great deal of mental religion which consists in accepting Christ from a mental standpoint without any radical change of heart. Here is a truth that should be known. There is such a thing as having an emotional, soulish sensation and a so-called conversion without being regenerated in the higher, spiritual nature, where the conscience and the will have their throne. The religion of some people seems to consist principally of their emotions. They can do questionable things and do not seem to suffer in their consciences. For instance, a certain lady making a high profession affirmed that her conscience did not condemn her while she was resorting to every conceivable means to thwart God's plan in her life. Some can leave old debts for others to pay; but let them get stirred in their emotions, and they can make enough noise for a whole camp meeting. If we are not careful, we shall be shouting over things for which we should be repenting.

When the Bible speaks of the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God, neither being able to know them because they are spiritually discerned, the term physical man is used. The natural, physical man does not necessarily mean a low, brutal man. Dr. A. B. Simpson, in "Holy Spirit, or Power from on High," says: "When the New Testament talks about the natural man, it does not mean a gross, sordid, sensual, brutal wretch, groveling in swinish lusts. But it means a man with all the graces and gifts of the highest genius and the most refined culture. He may be a poet like Shakespeare, a composer like Mozart, a sculptor like Phidas, a painter like Raphael, an architect like Wren or an orator like Cicero, or with a face as beautiful as an angel and a life as virtuous and stainless as a marble statue, and yet be all purely natural, earth-born, and a mere soulish man. . . . Now, everybody knows that Psyche was not the figure of sensualism, but of beauty, virtue and moral purity." All this can be true without the individual's being saved and knowing the things of the Spirit. There are many counterfeits of Holy Ghost religion, one of the most subtle of which is culture, refinement and polished deportment. These can not be substituted for the Holy Ghost.

What is meant by being sanctified in the threefold nature? We shall begin with the spirit where the apostle commences. If you will notice in the erection of the tabernacle, that wonderful edifice which is a symbol of great spiritual truths, that they began with the holy of holies, where the Shekinah glory dwelt. They then worked outward until the outer court was complete. When God makes a saint, He begins in the spirit, where conscience reigns. To have a sanctified spirit means a purged conscience that has been so quickened and made so sensitive to God and things Divine that the least harsh or unkind word burns on the soul's sensibilities like a live coal.

It means a good conscience -- one that makes us honest with ourselves, and will not allow us to make a better impression on the public than we really feel in our hearts that we deserve; one that will not allow us to do small, mean, underhanded tricks. There is no such thing as deep piety without a live, quickened conscience.

The writer knew a leading minister who preached a great sermon. No doubt he had worked on it for a long time. Soon after this, he saw this sermon in book form, word for word, with the name of a young preacher appended as the author. This is what the world would call downright stealing. Decency and honesty alone would have required him to give due credit to the real author.

A young girl, by defrauding her classmate of her original essay, won a medal over her at Commencement. The girl from whom the paper was taken was by far the happier of the two. Oh, the miserable, wretched condition of a stinging conscience. If we understand the power of conscience, it has a fourfold office: (1) It is the voice of God in the soul, warning against wrong. (2) It is a living witness and testifies against every wrong committed. (3) It ascends the judgment throne and proceeds to pronounce sentence against the guilty victim. (4) It descends from the judgment throne and lashes the soul with the scorpion's whip. To have a good conscience means an unaccusing conscience; a restful, peaceful, purged and quickened conscience.

If our bodies are God's temples, then in these temples dwell the spirit -- the holy of holies, the heart -- the ark of the covenant which holds the law. Here conscience reigns like a heavenly queen approving the right, condemning the wrong. Not only is the spirit the region of conscience, but it is that power that chooses, known as the will.

To have a sanctified spirit means a subdued, conquered will. If all who profess Holiness were really subdued and broken in will, God could get missionaries by the tens of thousands. We would let Him make all of our appointments.

There are two different departments of the will. One is the power of choice; the other the perseverance or the determination to go through at all costs. The secret of Daniel's strength of character was his fixed purpose to go through; so when the test came, he stood (Dan. 1:8). If today we had more preaching of the Finney type, where people were taught to enter into covenant relation with God until their wills gripped God's, we should have more converts of the old-fashioned type.

A sanctified spirit is a filled spirit, one in which the image and likeness of Jesus is stamped, and in which the spiritual senses are so clarified and quickened that spiritual truths become as real to the spirit, as the physical world is to the natural, senses. A sanctified spirit is a clean spirit, properly speaking. The incoming of the Holy Ghost first of all is purifying. The order is first cleansing, then empowering. There is a teaching abroad just now that one can have the Holy Ghost for service and power, but purifying efficacy is disclaimed. The baptism of the Holy Ghost not only cleanses the heart from all sin, but simultaneously fills it. Thousands are ready to seek to be filled with the Spirit, but have a distaste for the cleansing. But, remember, there is no such thing as a Spirit-filled life apart from Entire Sanctification.

A sanctified spirit is a gentle spirit -- one that is saved from harshness and roughness. Some think that power consists in being rough, loud and noisy, but it is true that, as one has said, "The ruin of spirituality among modern Christians is putting the fussy doing of religion ahead of the deep, Divine, inward being, like Jesus." A gentle spirit is a conquered, melted and subdued spirit. It has been bathed in a heavenly sea of tenderness. It can suffer injuries and receive all kinds of abuse and ill treatment without any bitterness. There is a great deal of mental and logical Sanctification nowadays which consists in saying that the altar sanctifies the gift, and in putting one's self on the altar and saying, "I am sanctified." But such an one knows nothing about the heart-throbs of Gethsemane or death to the "old man." Real gentleness comes only through suffering and death to self.

A sanctified spirit is a humble spirit. A holiness that does not produce humility is a sham and a spurious kind. There is nothing more beautiful in the Christian experience than a real, humble, Christlike spirit, where all the self-life and religious human strut and blustering have been burned out. Real humility makes us little in our own eyes, where we are willing to be overlooked and not feel sore or hurt. Humility likes to take a lowly seat. It can go through a camp meeting and not feel slighted or offended if not called upon or recognized. This kind of spirit never pulls wires for a place. It does not have to be the "bell sheep" to be kept in a good humor. Andrew Murray says: "Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble (not like the world). It is never to be fretted, vexed, irritated, sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, when I am blamed or when I am despised."

"When the soul enters Sanctification it is just the beginning of this spirit, which is to spread, intensify and brighten until crucifixion becomes an all-consuming passion, a sweetly, sorrowful, sadly beautiful flame, of self-abnegation, which takes hold of all sorts of woes, and troubles, and mortifications, and pains, poverties, and hardships, as a very hot fire takes hold on wet logs and makes out of them fresh fuel for more self-sacrificing love.

"This is the spirit that opens the gate of Heaven without touching it. This is the spirit that wears out the patience of persecutors, that softens the heart of stone, that in the long run converts enemies into friends, that touches the hearts of sinners, that wins its way through a thousand obstacles, that outwits the genius of the devil and that makes the soul that has it as precious to God as the apple of His eye."

Chapter 6

A SANCTIFIED SOUL

In the previous chapter we learned that the spirit is the higher part -- the region of the conscience and of the will. The soul is the seat of the affections, understanding, emotions and tastes. We are told by the best scholars that the word "soul," translated in the Old Testament nephesh, is the exact equivalent of the New Testament word (Greek) psyche, for soul. The soul, with its emotions, sensibilities and affections is a little world within itself. It is like the ocean, with its storms and calms. Men have sailed its bosom, dived into its depths, walked up and down its shores, and still there are depths which are hidden and unknown.

We wish to notice the blessing of Sanctification as it is related to our threefold nature. Take the affections. While they are not sinful within themselves, they are in a fallen state and often prove an easy channel for sin. They are no more a safe guide than is an unenlightened conscience a correct guide. They should be brought under control of the sanctified judgment. The affections are like the tendrils of the vine whose nature it is to cling to some object. Often a beautiful vine is seen clinging to a rotten tree that is almost in the act of falling, or to some tottering wall. How often have we seen a beautiful life ruined by allowing its affections to cling to some human idol or to some forbidden object. The nature of a vine is to climb upward. So the Holy Ghost in conversion gently unwinds our affections from the low, earthly things and entwines them around things above. In Sanctification, they are purified, refined, enlarged and sweetened until even our love for friends is deeper, purer and holier.

The Bible speaks of an inordinate affection which we are to mortify and put to death, along with uncleanness and fleshly lust. In Gal. 5:24 we read: "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." There is a kind of earthly, sensual love which God says must be crucified if we live in the Spirit. Some of the darkest crimes of the ages began in the channel of unsanctified affections. Samson could strangle young lions, pick up gates of brass, slay whole armies, but he went down with a crash through unsanctified affection. There are thousands of shorn Samsons today who have had their spiritual locks clipped and have been robbed of their power by following their inordinate affection. No one is safe with an unsanctified nature. Oh, for hearts to be saved to the core!

The soul embraces the understanding, which has several departments, involving thought, reason, judgment. Then, there is the storehouse of memory and the faculty of the imagination, or image-room. When we pause to think how our future life is molded by our thoughts, and how the mind controls the body, and how the imagination, like an artist with brush in hand, is constantly painting pictures, how very essential it is to have all the powers and faculties brought under subjection and control of the Holy Ghost!

It is a psychological fact that to follow in any one line of thought produces little brain-paths, making it easy to continue in that channel of thinking, and thus is formed a fixed thought habit. It can readily be seen, then, the importance of refusing to entertain impure thoughts. Evil thoughts are like seeds blown by the wind. If allowed to remain, and if kept warm by our consent, they will produce a harvest of sin. Let us remember that chilled eggs never hatch. We can chill impure suggestions by refusing to harbor them.

In considering the storehouse of memory, it is the mission of the Comforter to bring all things to our remembrance concerning spiritual things. It is wonderful how the mind, under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, becomes quickened, grasping the deep things of God and of spiritual truths with a vigor that would be impossible without this heavenly illumination. When precious truths are stored away in the subconscious mind, it is like depositing money in the bank to be drawn out for future use. Memory will bring them to consciousness when the need for them is realized. One of the blessed consolations of old age is that of a sanctified memory, recalling, as it does, a life well spent for God and for souls.

Another department of the mind is the imagination or image-room, where all kinds of pictures are painted. These are hung on the walls of the soul. The imagination is that power that can create a world of its own fancy. It can cross oceans or bring the distant near. The devil can take advantage of this faculty and use it to the destruction of the individual. This is what the Apostle meant by "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." -- 2 Cor.10:5.

A celebrated writer describes a certain island which is every day thronged by thought-visitors. A young girl comes and spends hours here, but on her return she would not for worlds permit her mother to know of that visit. Then comes a married man who also spends hours under those beautiful shade trees. His faithful wife is all unconscious of these hours he has spent away from her in this deadly place. The writer calls this place the "Island of Imagination." How true that, without even leaving the room; trips may be taken where the vilest of earth are mingled with, the nearest of ties be sinned against, and the walls of the soul indelibly blackened and scarred. Here is where sin is conceived and has its birth. Oh, how we need to crush, as we would a viper, every unholy imagination! The Holy Spirit does not destroy this wonderful faculty in Sanctification; He only purifies it, until thought pictures can be painted of Jesus, Heaven, the Second Coming and heavenly things.

Next in order are the emotions of the soul. Psychologists have classified them forty-two in number, but only two shall be here considered. These are the pure and impure -- the holy and unholy. All pure emotions, such as love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, are constructive and real health-builders. Consider the power of love. It can transform any condition of life and make the heart that once was a nest of vipers blossom like an Eden. Love drives from the soul all hatred, malice, envy, strife and bitterness, at the same time starting emotions to working and flowing until every part of the mental and physical being is affected. Love puts a kindly tone in the voice, and a tenderness in the eye that changes the expression of the entire face. There is nothing more beautifying than pure, radiant joy.

Joy is the best stimulant and tonic that has been found for soul and body. It drives away blues and doubts and fears, and arouses all the faculties of the soul, putting it at its best for God and for humanity.

Peace quiets the nerves, takes the tired, careworn look from the face, and leaves in its stead the soft, lovelight from the hills of Glory.

Kindness has a reaction on the heart. It is impossible to do a kind act without being repaid in a sweetness that is beyond expression. While this is true, it is also true that hatred, malice, jealousy and envy have a deadening effect on all the faculties of soul and body.

Anger is like a furnace of fire. It quickens the circulation and produces heart trouble. Continued anger weakens the body equal to an attack of fever. It also poisons the blood and undermines the health. Another destructive force is malice. It has been said that malice is "anger cooled off." It dries up all of the finer sensibilities of the soul and puts a hard expression on the face; it drives kindness and tenderness from the heart; it eventually seriously injures the digestive organs.

The great blessing of Entire Sanctification affects every emotion of soul and body.

Again, belonging to the soul is another faculty of no small import. This is the faculty of taste. It is really surprising how much of life is governed by this power. Just as the taste of the mouth decides the kind of food to be taken into the system, so the inner taste of the soul decides the character of pabulum that is to be taken into the moral and spiritual life.

There are those who have a musical taste which, unless sanctified and dedicated to God, will prove a snare instead of a blessing. A leading evangelist tells of a beautiful, talented young girl who had an old-fashioned, sanctified mother. But this girl refused to take the narrow way, choosing rather to enjoy the cheap fame of a moving-picture star than to consecrate her gifts to the lowly Nazarene. Her brilliant musical powers brought her renown from ocean to ocean. While in the height of her glory, only a short time ago, she was found in her room in a hotel, murdered in a manner too horrible to relate, robbed of her jewels, her purity, her life, and her soul sent to hell. Her perverted taste had proved her doom. Much of the so-called "fine arts" is nothing more nor less than refined lust. A sanctified taste has no secret longings for the tawdry things of life, for worldly dress, for chaffy literature, for gay society nor worldly amusements. But the heart ever sings:

"Hallelujah! I have found Him

Whom my soul so long has craved;

Jesus satisfies my longings,

Through His blood I now am saved."

Chapter 7

A SANCTIFIED BODY

There are enough mysteries connected with the human body to convince the most incredulous mind of the existence of an omnipotent God. It is no wonder that the "Sweet Singer of Israel" cried out, "Man is fearfully and wonderfully made. He is made just a little lower than the angels." And the Apostle says that man is the temple for the Holy Ghost to indwell. There is an impassable gulf between the most poorly developed human body and the brute of the highest development.

Man has been called God's masterpiece. We get some conception of what he is when we see how God created him with faculties that are capable of God-consciousness, and cravings and longings that are eternal.

All kinds of errors are held concerning the body. Men in the Dark Ages believed the body to be vile, and that the only way to rid it of sin was to punish it. One of their favorite methods was that of flagellation. Every physical torture known was resorted to. Long whips were plaited and applied to the body; the flesh was bruised and lacerated, but still sin remained. Sin is not located in the flesh, bone, blood, nor in the nervous system. You may cut the body to pieces, but still sin is not destroyed. Others of that age retired to monasteries and convents to find deliverance from sin, but some of the wickedest spirits to be found were in the monk in his cell. Oh, the blessedness of genuine Holiness that can be in the world, and yet not of the world!

Another method in those days of trying to get rid of sin was that of fasting. Some fasted so long that they looked like skeletons, and still the old man" remained. Sin does not live on flesh and blood or bread and meat. One of the most refined errors which is now being taught is that of suppression. The trouble with this cult is that it does not "suppress." The "old man" refuses to stay in the background all the time. This, then, not only robs Christ of His power as an uttermost Savior, but it disqualifies the Christian worker as a real soul-winner. He would like to be instrumental in saving others, but he has himself on hand with this inward foe to keep down. Oh, the beauty and comfort there is in being delivered from the body of death!

Still another theory is that of counter-action. In this teaching the "old man" is said to be overpowered or held down, but not destroyed. One of the expressions used in this doctrine concerning the "man of sin" is that it is made "null and void" and rendered inactive. This is only Keswick belief dressed in a somewhat different robe; it really is not essentially different from the suppression idea, both leaving, as they do, carnality in the heart.

The soul is not to be a cemetery for the "old man." He is to be put off. Just as there is no more provision made for a corpse in this life, so we are to put off the "old man" and make no more provision for him. There is yet another class which tries to educate the "man of sin." Their idea is to improve and polish him so that, after all, he will not be so unpleasant. You can educate almost any wild animal, but you cannot take out of them the vicious nature. You may pet and caress them, but some day they will slay you.

The Apostle calls the carnal mind an outlaw. He says it is "not subject to the law of God." You may dress up old Adam, but you have not changed his nature. Some of the vilest wretches of earth have been noted for their polished manners and their soft, siren-like voices. We will have to go deeper than education, culture and polished manners to get rid of the carnal mind.

Let us notice God's "more excellent way" for the body, which is to cleanse and make it a temple for the Holy Ghost. The wordsoma, body, has a two-fold meaning -- the outer and the inner parts conveying different definitions. The meaning of the outer division is the organized physical body with its flesh, bones and blood. The inner part is designed as the seat of the passions, appetites and desires. This is the part with which the Holy Ghost deals.

What is a sanctified body? It is a body that is saved and cleansed from all lust and impurity of every form, with its appetites and passions brought under control. God's plan is for the spiritual nature to control the physical; and the more one lives in the spiritual realm, the less trouble he has with the animal nature. A sanctified body is a dedicated body -- all of its members and faculties are dedicated to God.

I. Take the tongue. While it is a little member, yet in its power of evil it is a deadly member. A sanctified tongue is one that is saved, not only from falsehood in every form, but from gossip and from slander, and even from "small talk." In Deuteronomy we read, "There shall not go up and down the land, a talebearer." The "shall not" here is just as binding as the "shall not" in stealing or killing. The Bible pictures and figures of the unsanctified tongue are fearful. St. James says, "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." A spark of fire is dropped in a forest, and, behold, millions of dollars worth of precious timber that for years has been growing goes up in smoke in a few short hours. An old woman, one stormy night, went out to milk. The cow kicked over the lantern, and a great part of Chicago was wiped out by the flames.

Oh, the havoc that can be wrought by a word from a slanderous tongue! A word of slander is dropped, and the reputation and influence of some child of God or Christian worker is ruined, the cause of God hindered, and perhaps souls lost as the result.

Again, an unbridled tongue is likened to a deadly poison. India is the home of the most poisonous serpents of the world. A native was one day out hunting when he was bitten on the toe by one of these vipers. He sat down on a log, deathly sick. In a few moments he said, "My foot seems perfectly dead." In but another moment he said, "My leg is dead to the knee." As the poison traveled rapidly upward, his shoulders became benumbed; then, in agony, he fell to the ground and died an awful death. But there is nothing more deadly than the slanderous tongue with its blighting touch. Homes have been broken up and families have been forever separated by this instrument of gall.

Reader, are you sure that your tongue is sanctified, under the control of the Holy Ghost, and seasoned with grace and the law of kindness? An unbridled tongue is a sure sign of an unsanctified heart. You cannot judge one's piety by the loudness of his profession. James says that the tongue is a test of Christian character. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." A sanctified tongue has put away all evil speaking and repeating all it hears. Even though true, why repeat many things that neither help man nor the cause of God? The Holy Ghost alone can rule and control the tongue.

II. A sanctified body means cleansed eyes that refuse to gaze on an impure object, if you will study the history of the fall, you will find that the entrance of sin was through the channel of the eyes. "The woman saw the tree." The eye conveys more to the mind than any of the five senses. It is like a camera taking in millions of pictures. It will pay us at times to close the shutters.

Some of the darkest sins that have ever been committed commenced by a look. The woman saw the tree, and "it was pleasant to the eye." This is where sin has its birth. The impure object becomes fascinating. When an unholy object becomes pleasing to the mind and is permitted to remain until it forms a mental image picture, it is then that impurity is injected. David looked from the housetop at an unlawful object. His lower nature was set on fire with the lust of hell. The animal nature, ascending the throne, dethroned and crushed the spiritual. Lot got into the corrupt city of Sodom, lost his property, a part of his family, and was, himself, saved as by fire. First, he "looked in the direction of Sodom" until the lure of the city got hold of him. Second, he "journeyed toward Sodom." He was going after the object at which he gazed Third, he "pitched his tent outside the city." Last, we find him in Sodom with influence gone and angels pulling him out to keep him from being destroyed. All of this began by an improper look. No one can keep sanctified and gaze at the impure, unholy objects of this sensual age. We had better see to it that we close the blinds from seeing evil.

III. A sanctified body is one in which the ears are dedicated to God. They have lost all desire for blood-curdling stories, for gossip, for tattling and for tidings of aught that is evil. "A person who will lend his ears to listen to a slanderous report and feel inwardly tickled, is just as evil as the person who is doing the talking." Some people permit their ears to become a sloptub or a sewer for all the filth to pass through, and then expect the Lord to keep their souls pure. Sanctified ears are ears that are dedicated to hear the "still small voice.”

IV. A sanctified body is one that dresses for the glory of God. It will never rig itself out with painted cheeks, like a Jezebel, or as do the harlots of Paris, but it will robe itself in modest apparel as becometh saints. The word habit originally meant clothing. "Habit makes character." Then it might be said that the outward dress is an indication of the inward condition of the soul. The dress that is worn by some of the leading modern church members in our days would have made a harlot blush with shame a quarter of a century ago. A young man in college wrote a piteous letter to a magazine, asking the question, "How can we poor fellows live right and keep pure and clean when the average girl dresses, or fails to dress, as she does?"

A leading rescue worker said that the bathing beach, with its thin, immodest suits, paves the way for the downfall of many precious girls. The standard of morals has been lowered in some circles until modesty is almost a thing of the past. Samples of modesty in dress are needed in this age of laxness, and, be it said, even in our so-called Holiness ranks.

Thank God for a Holiness that touches the threefold nature of man, causing him to live where the Shekinah glory dwells, shedding its influence through every part and faculty of spirit, soul and body. The "old man" has been slain, and Christ is enthroned within.

Chapter 8

PENTECOST AND ITS RESULTS

"But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." --- Luke 24:49

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." -- Acts 2:4

Pentecost, with its fiery baptism, was an epoch in the lives of the disciples, and they were never the same again. They were lifted into the realms of the supernatural world until spiritual truths and things Divine became a living reality in them. They learned more about Jesus and His divinity in three hours, after they were filled with the Holy Ghost, than in their three years association with His bodily presence. They were changed in a moment from moral cowards to heroes, until all traces of man-fear were completely burned out of them; whereas, before Pentecost, they were dull and slow to grasp Divine things; the Holy Ghost now opened up their understanding, clarified their vision, and gave them an insight into the Old Testament scriptures until they took on a supernatural meaning to them.

The more we study the upper-room experience, the more we are convinced that the Twentieth Century church has reversed God's Divine order. The outstanding command in the New Testament istarry. We are persuaded it would pay the churches of today to stop all of their religious activity, and human fuss, and find an upper-room and tarry until Pentecost was fully come. The coming of the Holy Ghost would solve all of our church problems, fill our empty pews, burn up stinginess, and fill the empty treasury. Oh, to be struck with Pentecostal lightning that would knock sleepy devils off of the church roof, drive infidelity out of the pulpit, and melt the ice and the frost in the choir and Amen corners!

Let us notice what Pentecost meant to the church.

I. It attracted the multitudes. The question has been asked how to reach the masses, and how to bring the different classes together. Many answers have been given; but, nevertheless, there are more preachers preaching to empty pews than filled ones.

Wesley preached to sixteen thousand people from his father's tombstone; George Whitefield preached to as many as forty thousand, and would often see thousands converted in one service; Roland Hill never lacked for crowds, but preached to them by the acres.

Has the Gospel failed? Never! Let Pentecost, with its heavenly flame, strike a church nowadays and the crowds will come to see the heavenly glory. A big church caught fire some time ago and an infidel of the town came and made himself very free in fighting the fire. As the crowds were leaving, a lady approached him and said, "This is the first time I have ever seen you in our church." He said, "This is the first time the church has ever been on fire.' Fire has always attracted, and when it falls on the pulpit and pew, we will not have to resort to worldly methods to reach the people, but they will come from far and near to get to a devil-driving, sin-killing, blood-and-fire revival.

II. Pentecost meant conviction. The average church is trying to have revivals now without conviction, and conversion without regeneration. Remember, there is no such a thing as regeneration without conviction. We need a conviction that will cause men to repent, that will go deep enough that it will not have to be done over. At Pentecost, men smote their breasts and cried out, "What must we do to be saved?" The great need of the Twentieth Century church is old-fashioned Bible Holy Ghost conviction. In the early days of Methodism, those old-time preachers were limited in their education; a great many of them had only a hymn-book and a Bible for their library, yet their souls were aflame with Pentecostal fire. Wherever they went it meant conviction and a revival. There was a power and glory that went with those early preachers that seems to have dropped out of the pulpit in these latter days.

Frequently, under the ministry of such men as Hezekiah C. Worcester and Benjamin Abbott, men felt as if shot in battle.

Speaking of Worcester, Dr. Bangs writes: "The grace of God wrought mightily in him. Oh, what awful sensations ran through the assemblies while Calvin Worcester and others of like spirit were denouncing the just judgments of God against the impenitent sinner!"

"Such was the unction of his spirit," says another, and the bold, resistless power of his appeals to the wicked, that few of them could stand before him. They would rush out of the house or fall to the floor under his word."

It is recorded of this holy man that when so far reduced as not to be able to speak above a whisper, utterances conveyed to others of the assembly would thrill them like a trumpet, and fall with such power on the hearers that stout-hearted men were smitten to the floor; and his very aspect is said to have so shone with the Divine glory that it struck conviction into the hearts of many who beheld him. Dr. Bangs further says: "At a quarterly meeting in the Bay of Quinte Circuit, as the preacher commenced his sermon, a thoughtless man in the front gallery, in a playful mood, began to swear profanely, and otherwise to disturb the congregation. The preacher paid no attention to him until he was in the midst of his sermon, when, feeling strong in faith and the power of God's might, he suddenly stopped, and fixed his piercing eyes on the profane man. Then, stamping his foot and pointing his finger at him, with energy cried out, 'My God, smite him!' He instantly fell, as if shot through the heart with a bullet. At this moment such a Divine afflatus came down upon the congregation that sinners came, crying to God for mercy, from every direction, while the saints of God burst forth in loud praises to His name. Similar instances were not uncommon in those days."

III. Pentecost meant oneness. This oneness has a threefold relation.

It is a oneness with Jesus. We read in Heb. 2:11: "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." The best way we can illustrate this wonderful relation is through the relation of marriage. The Bible teaches that in true marriage two become one, duality is lost in oneness. Where this takes place there is a growing likeness to each other, not only in ways and manners, but there is an increased resemblance to each other as the years pass by. When the soul is wedded to Christ in Sanctification, there is a growing likeness to Him day by day. The look of restfulness deepens in the countenance, the spirit grows more tender, and the voice more mellow, until you cannot look into the face of some of God's sanctified ones without thinking of Christ.

It is a oneness with each other. A truly sanctified soul is in blessed fellowship and unity with all other holy beings. This does not necessarily mean that we see eye to eye in little minor points, but we can agree to disagree, like John Wesley and George Whitefield, who failed to see alike on the fine point of Calvinism, but loved each other dearly. Dr. Daniel Steele said, "There are two kinds of church unity: mechanical, like the staves of a barrel, held together by the external pressure of the hoops; and vital, like the roots, trunk and branches of a tree which unifies by the mysterious inward force which we call life." There are two ways of holding a substance together; one is to freeze it, like a block of ice, and other is to melt it until the liquid runs together. The sanctified are melted together into a holy oneness. There is a great deal of difference between a big union meeting with a worldly choir, a popular evangelist with his easy catch, card-signing, hand-shaking, skim through, so-called conversion, and a unity meeting where the Gospel plow is put into the beam, and the truth is not rounded off at the corners, and God's people are in heart-union for an old-time revival.

IV. It means a oneness with one higher and spiritual nature. There are three conditions of life we may live. A base, fleshly life, where one is controlled by the fleshly appetites and passions; or we may live in our soulish nature and be governed mostly by our affection and emotions; or, higher still, we can live in the spiritual realm. where the spiritual controls the soul and body. The great majority of believers, or, more strictly speaking, half-believers, are sadly mixed in their religious experience, partly carnal and partly spiritual. But the Bible standard is an unmixedness of character. Pentecost, with its cleansing baptism, unmixes the believer, until in our prayers affections, motives, and faith, there is oneness of purpose and desire.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost harmonizes and unites all the powers of the soul. High over all is the law of God written in the heart, with its radiating light falling on conscience; and a well enlightened conscience and will harmonize with the purified affection, until all the trends and powers of the soul are turned into one channel.

V. It meant an increase of membership. "And the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved." We are told that there are forty thousand pulpits in America without a preacher. Churches are waning and losing members every year. Some conferences and assemblies are just holding their own. Pentecost, and Pentecost alone, will bring a revival where our membership will be increased. A revival makes preachers and sends missionaries to the ends of the earth.

VI. Pentecost meant power. It is not power for service only, but it is the power of a holy character, power to keep sweet and power to suffer. Some seem to think power consists of noise, so what is lacking in real unction and power they try to make up in noise and human fuss. It is not power to do miracles, but to live in a holy way, and show a Christ-like spirit when opposed and misunderstood. Many an infidel has been converted to Christianity by the sweet example of a Christian, where argument, sermons or logic would have been powerless to have won them.

It is that indescribable something called unction. We have seen the great intellectual giants and star preachers at the camps, after argument, preach logical sermons which failed to move the audience, then some poor, unassuming preacher be put up to preach who never said a thing new, but, in less than an hour, he had melted and gripped the people. The altar was crowded. Amid the cries, laughter, clapping hands and shining faces of the newly born souls the outsiders looked amazed, while the service seemed to drip with unction and heavenly sweetness. Our fathers had the old-time power, and we may have it, too!

To your knees, O people of God! Pray until Pentecost, with its results, are repeated.

Chapter 9

ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN

When Moses, the leader of Israel, was called up to Mt. Sinai, he left the multitudes in the plains below and ascended the holy mount alone, where he spent forty days with the Lord. During that time the Ten Commandments were given him, and also a perfect vision of the tabernacle -- its shape, size, curtains, boards, vessels, the holy place, and the holy of holies. Before he descended from the mount, he was commanded to build this beautiful structure according to the pattern shown him in the mount.

There is something analogous to this that takes place in the life of every true saint. Some people will never be the same because of the wonderful visions they have received while in this holy mount. From this we wish to draw several lessons. First, he who would get God's thoughts and plan for his life must leave the crowds below and ascend some holy mount of prayer, tarrying there until the plan be given. Too many wait only long enough to obtain a partial vision, and in consequence their lives are lacking in symmetrical Christlikeness and their characters are never well rounded.

Second, God has a plan for each individual life. "The Bible is full of this thought, that for each one of us there is a course, a race, a work, an individual life to be lived, and to this end we have been created and redeemed, and for this purpose there is ample provision of grace and inspiration to accomplish the purpose of God in our life." Not only has God a plan for each individual life, but we separate and distinct from every other creature. It is of supreme importance that the individual ascertain this purpose and this plan. Multitudes are drifting without one purpose or one aim in life. There is no such thing as success or greatness of character without a high and holy ideal or pattern by which to build. For some, to "build according to the pattern" means to cross oceans and live and labor and die among a people of darkened minds and benighted souls. To others, it may mean to declare the everlasting Gospel and live a life of self-denial and sacrifice.

Third, it is possible to lose sight of the pattern and begin to build according to our own notions. Truths that are distasteful to the carnal-minded are left off. When this takes place, the glory and sweetness gradually departs from one's life. Dr. G. D. Watson says, in Bridehood Saints, "There are many Christians, it would seem, who miss their true mission in life, and, although they may be saved in the end, yet because of lack of perseverance, or by being influenced by other people's conscience, frustrate the special vocation to which they were called. . . . Here is a gifted preacher whom God distinctly calls to preach Sanctification, but for policy's sake he neglects it." He may get thoroughly awakened and allow God to make something out of him in his last days, but he has certainly frustrated God's plan for his life.

The story is told of the man who drew the plans and blue prints for the great Brooklyn Bridge, and, while it was under construction, he took sick and was bedfast for months. But the work went right on according to the blue print. Finally, when the bridge was completed, preparations were made for the great architect to see the workmanship. Tender hands lifted him from his sickbed, and he was conveyed to the bridge, and lowered in a boat to inspect the work. After carefully observing it, a look of satisfaction and a deep smile spread over his face, and he was heard to say, "It is according to the pattern." Wouldn't it be well to stop and ask ourselves the question, if we are building according to the pattern? Have we ever seen brighter and better days? Do we manifest a lamblike spirit when abused and misunderstood? In other words, if we are building "according to the pattern," we should have a larger faith, deeper joy, and more Christlike spirit.

Chapter 10

THE TABERNACLE

Some of the most deeply spiritual truths are taught in connection with the tabernacle.

I. It is a type of Christ. "And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us" (John 1:14, R. V.).

II. It has its fulfillment in His saints. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" (I Cor. 6:19).

When a believer enters into the blessing of Entire Sanctification and the Holy Ghost takes up His abode in the heart, he becomes God's tabernacle. His body corresponds to that of the outward court which was rough and visible to the eye his soul to the holy place, and his spirit to the holy of holies, where the Shekinah dwelt.

This beautiful structure was forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The holy place was fifteen feet by thirty feet. The holy of holies was fifteen feet square. Let us notice its spiritual meaning. The first thing we approach is the outward court. There were two objects in this place -- the brazen altar of burnt offering and the laver or fountain of water. The altar where the blood was shed was at the entrance of the door, in order that every one coming into the tabernacle had to pass this altar. The priests were required to have their garments sprinkled with blood from this altar. Their right ear, right thumb and right toe must be touched with blood before they could minister before the Lord. All of the vessels in the holy place were sprinkled with blood. Oh, how God burned into the minds of His children the need of the blood! Even the High Priest did not dare go into the presence of God behind the second veil without first taking blood from this altar and sprinkling it seven times before the mercy-seat and once upon it. This done, he confessed the sins of the people; he then reappeared and blessed them because the blood had made atonement for them. Blood is life. The blood of Christ is the heart of Christianity. Christ's life reaches us only through His blood. Salvation through the Blood is the only salvation. To reject the blood of Christ is to reject the whole plan of salvation. The blood of Christ is the touchstone that tests every religious teaching, hence salvation or damnation depend on the attitude toward the Blood.

Let us notice some places where the blood was found. First, we find it on the door posts of the houses of the children of Israel just before they passed out of bondage. A death sentence had been pronounced on the firstborn of all Egypt. God's promise to the Israelites was: "When I see the blood, will pass over you." The blood was not only to be shed, but it must be applied in order to avail. It is not sufficient to believe in the blood in a general way; we must believe in it in a specific way -- to the extent that we will have it applied to our hearts. Notice, He said: "When I see the blood," not "when I see your good works." Good works apart from the precious Blood count for nothing, some unwise ministers during the World War went so far as to tell the soldiers, who were on their way to the battle's front (many to meet death) that, no matter what they believed nor how wicked they were, if they fought and bled and died for their country that they made their own atonement and were saved. Could anything be more blasphemous? St. Paul said that we may give our bodies to be burned, but without Divine love it profits us nothing. God does not say, "When I see your prayers and your tears," essential though they are, but it is the Blood that is the plea that avails with Him for the guilty soul.

Second, we find blood on Abel's altar. In Heb. 11:4, we are told that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than did Cain, by which he obtained the witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. Real faith in the blood always brings the clear witness of the Spirit-not a feeling forced from the brain, but a living, heart-faith, moving God into instant action. He will break the silence of eternity to let a soul know its standing. We are told in Gen. 4:4 that the Lord had respect unto Abel first, then to his offering. "But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." This was because Cain made no confession of his need of the Blood.

Nothing insults God more than to reject the blood of His precious Son. The world is full of Cain religion, which is a bloodless, fireless, powerless, juiceless, formal religion, which denies the virgin birth and Deity of Christ, and tries to rob Him of His Divinity. Concerning Cain's innate depravity, God says, "Sin lieth at the door;" or, this is translated, "Coucheth like a wild beast, ready to spring on its victim." The picture is not overdrawn. Inbred sin, that devilish twist in the warp of the nature, is truly like a wild animal when it is stirred. In Heb. 12:15, inbred sin is compared to a "root of bitterness" springing up and troubling believers. Notice that a root is something below the surface and is out of sight. This is true of carnality. It can remain invisible for a long time. A root remains after the tree is cut down; so does the "old man" remain after conversion; and not until the refining fire goes through the soul, purifying every part, is the root of bitterness removed. No believer is safe as long as this powder-like nature remains in the heart.

Another thought concerning the Blood is this: It atones for and covers our mistakes. If provision were made under the old covenant for a Jew who sinned through ignorance to be restored to favor, would not an all-wise and loving Father, in the new covenant, which is far superior to that of the old, make provision for a remedy in case of lapses, blunders and mistakes? Let no one despair here, for our all-sufficiency is in the cleansing Blood. John says the Blood cleanseth from all sin. (See I John 1:7.) This one verse forever does away with the old dark-age theology that bodily mortification, penance, pilgrimages and long seasons of fasting are invested with saving power. There is nothing in these to cleanse the soul. It is all right and necessary to fast and to humble one's self, but it is the Blood, after all, that finally saves and sanctifies.

John also says that it cleanseth from all sin now. The verb is in the present tense. There is no efficacy in waiting, or in the flight of years. to cleanse the soul. Christ can save in two minutes just as easily as He can save in two years.

A little more than twenty years ago, the writer, by speaking unadvisedly to a brother, grieved the Spirit and fell into darkness. Had we had light on the efficacy of the precious, cleansing Blood to avail in case of blunders and mistakes, we could have been instantly restored, as the mistake was an unintentional one. Through doubting, the sweet, warm presence of Christ was lost from the heart, and a horror of gloom settled down upon us. For three months the suffering was like death to both mental and spiritual natures. Satan tempted us to believe that we had sinned against the Holy Ghost. Only God knew the lonely hours spent in the grove weeping, praying and humbling ourselves; but the way grew ever darker. At this time, a copy of Heart Talks, by Rev. B. Carradine, was providentially given us. In commenting on John 1:7, the author said that, no matter the nature or the cause of the sin committed, if only a full confession were made to Christ, and a perfect trust exercised in the cleansing Blood, instant forgiveness would result. This statement proved like a sunburst from behind a black cloud. Tears gushed forth as the floodgates from the skies seemed suddenly to open. Looking up, and without rising from the chair, we cried, "Lord, I believe the Blood cleanseth even now." Like a flash, the Spirit returned, the wonderful presence of Christ reappeared, the birds began to sing, the heavenly choir took up the glad refrain in the soul, and for over twenty years the witness of the Spirit has been ours without a break. We have never quoted "The blood cleanseth" more than once or twice without the precious presence of the Spirit answering to the Blood. When will God's people learn the lesson that we do not forfeit pardon or purity because of errors or mistakes? If we will go at once to Christ and appropriate the Blood, we will find ourselves most blessedly kept.

Do not cast away your confidence. Do not argue with Satan; he will out-talk you. In case of mistakes, errors or weaknesses, fly at once to the all-cleansing Blood; plead its merits, wait until the spirit answers with His conscious, illuminating presence, telling you that you are clean. Thank God for the remedy that never fails!

The second object in the court of the tabernacle was the laver, with its mirrored sides, which held the cleansing waters. This served a two-fold purpose. The priests saw their defilement in the mirror-walls; and the fountain of the cleansing was also revealed.

Dr. A. B. Simpson says: "This laver was a type of the Holy Spirit, as our fountain for cleansing and our way of approach to the holy place of Christ's immediate presence. Only as we are cleansed in that laver can we enter in as the priests of God and feed upon the Living Bread, dwelling in the light of the golden lamps and breathing the sweet odor of the incense that fills the chamber with the atmosphere of Heaven. At once it reveals and removes the defilements of our hearts and lives." But there is a constant liability to contract at least the stains of earth, if not the taint of sin. The very atmosphere is so laden with the breath of evil that it is almost impossible to escape its touch and taint. But the blessed Holy Spirit stands ministering within the sacred temple of the heart, ready every moment to wash away the faintest touch of earth or evil, keeping us spotless, undefiled and perfectly accepted in His sight.

In the description of the tabernacle furniture, we read not only of the laver, but of its foot, also. For what purpose was the foot used? Perhaps it was a little outlet through which the waters could more easily flow within reach of one who sought cleansing. The laver itself was too high to be easily reached, at least at its brim; but through this little pipe, which probably could be opened by a simple mechanism, the waters flowed to the ground and were always within reach of even the smallest child who had need to come. How truly and beautifully this illustrates the blessed nearness of the Holy Ghost! Not in the highest Heaven do we need to seek Him, not afar off do we have to cry to Him but He is our Paraclete; one by our side, one very near, ever near to help in time of need. He is to us the Presence of the holy God already given, and ever present in the heart of His Church. He is as ready to enter the yielded and trusting heart, as light is to flow into the open window and as sunshine to meet the petals of the opening flower. Let us send Him this whole-hearted prayer:

"Blessed Holy Spirit,

Welcome to my breast;

In my heart forever

Be my holy Guest!"

Chapter 11

THE HOLY PLACE

The tabernacle was divided into two apartments -- the holy place and the holy of holies, which beautifully sets forth the two works of grace.

There were three articles in the holy place: the seven-pronged candlestick, or lamp; the table of shewbread, and the golden altar of incense.

On entering this place, the first thing that meets our eyes on the left is the golden candlestick, illuminating the room and revealing all of the articles in this place. This lamp is a type of the Holy Ghost. Its purpose in shining is to reveal not its own beauty; the Holy Ghost is given to reveal Christ. He throws all of His heavenly rays upon the face of Christ until it becomes the fairest among ten thousand and the One altogether lovely.

The only light from the holy place was from this seven-pronged lamp. The Holy Ghost alone can reveal the deep, hidden things of God. I am persuaded that if the teachers of theology of our prominent church schools had depended more upon the Holy Ghost for their light than did they on German-soaked theology, we would not have so many infidels in the pulpits today denying the virgin birth and the Deity of Christ. Instead of turning out higher critics and men tainted with evolution, they would have produced Spirit-filled, fire-baptized men with a burning message and a passion for souls.

In Proverbs 20:27, we read that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. A candle is made for the purpose of shining. God wants to so illuminate the saints that they will shine. The radiance from His Spirit will cause the eye to sparkle and the countenance to shine. Charles G. Finney had so much of the Holy Ghost light that his very face shone with it. At one time he went into a cotton mill to observe its work. The operatives began at once to gaze at his shinning face. The effect was electrifying. In a few moments every one in the whole mill was in tears. The foreman, coming through, took in the situation, and ordered the machinery stopped, saying that it was no time to run a cotton mill when the Spirit of God was at work. Mr. Finney was then asked to help the tearful, trembling souls, and scores prayed their way through to God.

In revival meetings we have witnessed the faces of the saints shining with a light that was reflected from the City of God. Dr. S. A. Keen says the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a Presence, imparts a kind of physical transfiguration to the child of God. It illumines the face, brightens the eye, sweetens the voice, hallows the manner. It shines him up. God's people need to shine up. Sin and deviltries are putting on their best looks and best airs. If the Church is to win, it must outshine sin. The baptism with the Holy Ghost puts sunshine into the soul and sunshine into the life. Those who have the gift of the Holy Ghost are not always conscious that the light of God shines from their faces, but others perceive it. Moses' face shone when he came from the mount, but Moses "knewist not that his face shone." It was the people who were aware of it.

A Christian worker left his home, spending several weeks in special services for souls. After a most successful meeting he returned home. As he entered the house, his wife said, "My dear, what is the matter with you?" "Oh, nothing," he said. "But look at your face." "Why, what is the matter with my face? Is it soiled?" "No," said she, "but I never saw you with such a face. It is so bright!" Then he had to confess that while abroad he had sought and found the gift of the Holy Ghost. His face had told on him before he could say a word.

Again, this light is given us to walk in. St. John says that it is only as we walk in the light that the blood cleanseth. Light calls for more sacrifice, self-denial and devotion. Men and women who used to have a glowing, red-hot experience have cooled off, and are powerless and juiceless and dead. If the truth were known, they balked on light. A man went to camp meeting shouting happy. He received light on tithing, but refused to walk in it, and lost the victory, and darkness came over his soul.

We have seen preachers face the light on Holiness, and at first they seemed to walk in it. But as light continued to shine in, revealing things that had to be given up, idols that had to be smashed, advance steps that had to be taken, and finally the reproach that was connected with Holiness, their hearts failed and they refused this light and failed to enter in. A powerless life and a fruitless ministry, after this, were theirs.

A great evangelist came to the forks of the road where he had to make a choice between Holiness and popularity. He weighed the two, finally deciding against Holiness. Some time before this he had held a meeting in which five hundred souls were converted. Five years after his rejection of light for Holiness he made this statement: "If I have had a single conversion in five years, I do not know it." Deplorable indeed!

When souls refuse to walk in all the light the Spirit turns in, they get in a confused state and invariably lose the "keen edge" from their experience, the Bible becomes a sealed book, and religious duty is irksome. Remember that, "Light once is light forever."

The second article in the holy place was the table of shewbread. This is typical of nourishment and soul food. "The soul has its appropriate food and its mystical way of eating and digesting, just as really as does the body. The soul feeds on truth and love and the Divine personalities. It feeds on truth through the intellect; it feeds on love through the affections." A loaf of bread, when it is eaten and properly digested, is taken into the blood and then converted into flesh and bone. There is a correspondence to this in the soul.

The spiritual nature has five senses, as has the body, and when quickened by the Holy Ghost they are just as real. The sense of taste is just as conscious as that of the body. We read in Heb. 6:4, 5, of tasting of the heavenly gift, which means Jesus. Not only can we taste of Jesus through the Holy Ghost, but the soul feasts on Him -- His Divine personality and His attributes. John speaks of eating the little book which the angel gave him, and it was sweet in his mouth (Rev. 10:8, 9). The relationship the mouth sustains to the body in taking in and masticating food for its use, this same relationship does faith sustain to the soul. Faith takes hold of the Word and transforms it into soul food, and it becomes spirit and life. What blood is to the body, feeding every part of it with nourishment, this Divine love is to the soul.

These loaves had often to be replenished and renewed. This shows our need of fresh soul food. The soul cannot live on stale bread and cold theology. The Holy Ghost makes the promises of God fresh each day. We do not have to live on old straw that has been threshed last year, while God has for us a land flowing with milk and honey.

Chapter 12

THE SWEET INCENSE

One of the sweetest things connected with the tabernacle was the altar of incense. This little altar was three feet in height and eighteen inches in breadth. It was of acacia wood, and covered with a crown of pure gold. On the altar was burned the sweet spices of incense. When set on fire, they would rise in a cloud of aromatic fragrance and perfume, filling both the holy place and the holy of holies.

Prayer is a sweet fragrance going up to God and filling both earth and Heaven with a delightful odor. First, this is a type of Christ's intercession for us. Second, it represents our intercession with Him. Real praying is more than words; it is more than calling on God. In order for our prayers to have power with God, they must first be indicted by the Holy Ghost, fanned into a state of Divine fervency, then caught up into all the all-prevailing intercessory current of the Spirit until they reach the very heart of God. There are what may be termed ordinary and extraordinary promptings of the spirit of prayer. There are times when the Spirit catches the believer up into the all-prevailing current of intercession, where the prayer seems to be drawn from him. Everything depends on times like this when these heavenly gales began to fan the soul. If the believer remains in this current of power, soon prayer is answered and a mighty victory is won which makes an epoch in his life.

These spices were fragrant and highly perfumed. The Holy Ghost brings to us the very fragrance of Heaven. As the smell is the keenest and most refined sense of the body, prayer is the deepest spirit of worship. It is while in prayer that our spirit touches the heavenly world and we breathe the very atmosphere of Heaven, the odors of Paradise.

Prayer so quickens and illuminates the spiritual senses that the heavenly world becomes as real to the spirit as the physical world does to the outward bodily senses. Like the ascending incense, it is borne up to God on the breezes of Heaven as a sweet savor to Him.

These spices were very costly. It cost Christ the bloody sweat of Gethsemane. If we would enter the life of intercession with Him, we, too, must have our Gethsemane, follow Him to Calvary and die the self-life. Just as the veil that hid the holy of holies was never rent until Christ's flesh was rent; so there is a veil, which is the flesh, that keeps the believer out of the holy of holies and the life of deep intercession. As long as we pamper the flesh-life and yield to its soft pleadings, we will live on this side of the veil. Self-indulgence and a life of prayer never go together.

The Holy Ghost is seeking for vessels of prayer to pour His life current through and kindle revivals that will astonish hell and bring back the old-time power to the Church. The history of nations would read differently if some one had wept between the porch and the altar.

These spices had to be set on fire before they could rise in this cloud of sweet perfume. Thus it is that our prayers must be set on fire by the Holy Ghost if they are to prevail with God. Cold praying gets nowhere. Dead praying is just a little better than no praying at all. St. James tells us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. This means burning, glowing, boiling hot. The word fervent is the same word which Peter uses when he speaks of the heavens melting away with fervent heat. A prayer like this, we are told by the Apostle, availeth much. How much? Anything contained in the promises of God, and anything that the child of God believes for. The world is yet to see what God can do through a man who fully believes Him.

This incense was not to be counterfeited. There are no substitutes for the Holy Ghost or for prayer life. The penalty of death was declared on the one who tried to counterfeit this holy incense.

Are we using the holy ministry as a mere profession and for commercial gain? Or, do we preach the truth and our God-given convictions regardless of high officials or men or devils? Whenever the Church loses the supernatural and the old-time power, it always tries to substitute something for that loss of power. What is culture and human learning without the Holy Ghost?

Popular evangelism, with its great union meetings, a mammoth choir, a handshake and a card-signing is being substituted for the mourner's bench and the cry and sob of a broken-hearted penitent. Thus it is that our churches are loaded down with dead, unsaved material.

Dr. A. B. Simpson, in his book, Holy Spirit, or Power from on High, says, "The sublime oratorio may lift your soul to raptures of delight, the perfect harmonies of the classic hymn may charm your cultivated taste, but this is not religious feeling. Nay, you may even bow beneath the magnificent arch of yonder cathedral, and in its religious light you may feel a kind of awe that you think is worship, but it is pure sentiment, and you can go down from all this to live for self and sin. It is mere psychology. It is only the kindling of the human mind. Thus, heathen idolatry rouses its votaries to interest, feeling and overpowering enthusiasm. Thus, poetry, art, music and eloquence in every age have charmed and filled the human mind. But it is but human feeling after all, and has nothing to do with the work of the Holy Ghost."

"There are counterfeits less glaring and daring: intellectual brilliancy, eloquence, pathos, often presume to imitate the operations of the Spirit, and produce the impressions which only He can bring."

Some try to make up for the loss of power with noise and demonstration. The ruin of deep spirituality is putting the fussy things ahead of the deep things of the Spirit. Others try to imitate the unction of the Holy Ghost by substituting their own selfish emotions. That peculiar "something" called unction can no more be imitated than a cold stone in the winter can throw off heat-rays. It must be kindled like the hot, boiling springs which throw out their water the year round. The ice and snow on the outside does not affect them, because they come from an internal fountain in the bowels of the earth. If we would speak loaded words, they must come from the Holy Ghost element in us, and not from the mere human.

Finally, the altar of incense was the highest object in the tabernacle, showing us that prayer is the highest thing in the Christian experience. It outranks preaching big sermons or cutting a figure in the ecclesiastical world. Prayer makes the preacher and puts life into his message. Prayer is the most powerful factor in the universe of God. It is more powerful than all the forces of nature, such as wind, lightning, storms, earthquakes, electricity, or the law of gravitation. We hear a great deal said about natural laws. Infidels and destructive higher critics tell us that natural laws govern this world, therefore there is nothing in prayer. But God is above all natural laws, and if we move the Arm that moves the world, He will suspend the laws of nature to answer prayer. Joshua prayed and arrested the sun in its course. The three Hebrew children prayed, and fire would not burn them. God will reverse every natural law in the universe, if necessary, in order to answer prayer.

If prayer will move God to do things, if He would not have done had we not prayed, then prayer is the most powerful thing in the world. It makes a holy character. It changes things. Jeremy Taylor graphically says, "Prayer can obtain everything; it can open Heaven and shut the gates of hell; it can put a holy constraint upon God, detain an angel until he leaves a blessing: it can open the treasures of rain and soften the iron-ribbed rocks until they melt into tears and a flowing river. These strange things and secret decrees and unrevealed transactions, which are above the clouds and far beyond the region of the stars, shall combine the ministry and advantages for the praying man."

Real prayer is immortal; it never dies. The Holy Ghost never inspires a prayer that He does not mean to answer. Prayer lives on after the lips which offered it are sealed in death.

A final picture of the altar of incense is found in Revelation 8:3-5: "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." This takes place after the saints are caught up in the rapture and God is pouring out His judgments on the wicked nations of earth.

Notice, the revelator says that in that censer were contained the "prayers of all the saints." Think of the prayers of the martyrs, the lonely missionaries, and the persecuted saints, whose cries went up to God! Where they were not answered in mercy, they are now being poured out in judgment.

O child of God, tested and tried, hold on; thy answer may be on the way!

Chapter 13

THE HOLY OF HOLIES

The holy of holies was fifteen feet square, and separated from the holy place by a thick curtain. There was only one article of furniture in this place. This was the ark of the covenant, which was a little chest about three feet high, overlaid within and without with pure gold. In this ark were three articles -- the table of the law, known as the Ten Commandments; the golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, which budded, bloomed and bore fruit. The lid of the ark was the mercy-seat, and on each end were the cherubim; while between their hovering wings dwelt the Shekinah glory.

This ark, we know, is a type of a sanctified heart. In it was the law. God has been working for ages to get His laws in man's heart. In Heb. 8:10, we read: "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." When God writes His laws in our hearts, they enter into our wills, our choices and our affections. Duty is transformed into a delight and into a spontaneous love service.

Concerning this new covenant, we read in Ezekiel 36:26, 27: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit also will I put within you.

“And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” Here is something more than writing His laws in our hearts. It is Christ Himself coming to dwell there by the Holy Spirit, causing us to be Christ-like, holy, and heavenly minded. The best that man can do by his most strenuous efforts is but failure. It is God that worketh in us to will and to do.

"I will cause you to walk in my statutes." There is so much religion and service that is of self-effort that is a strain, a pull and a tug. This class live under the lash of conscience. "I will put my Spirit within you." Just as a watch-spring causes every wheel to move and the hand to keep time, so God proposes to work from the inside until the whole being will respond to Him in a spontaneous love service.

The difference between the first and the second covenant is the contrast between Sinai and Calvary. At Sinai, the law was given in thunderous tones, and Israel fled from God. At Calvary love was poured out, and love is stronger than law.

Those who serve God from the standpoint of fear and duty find "Zion's road a hard one to travel." This type of religion is irksome, burdensome and wearisome. But the heart that has God's law written in it finds that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, because a love service causes the chariot wheels of the soul to run smoothly and easily.

The second article in the ark of the covenant was the golden pot of manna. The manna of the wilderness, as we know, was a type of Christ. There are multitudes who feast on His outward life found in the Gospels, but the hidden manna in the golden vessel behind the second veil represents Christ's inward life, which only the Holy Ghost can reveal. The manna that fell in the wilderness, remaining only a day, is a type of the transitoriness of the blessing in the lower state of grace. The manna in the golden pot in the ark kept sweet for hundreds of years. It surely has its spiritual significance for us. Gold in the Bible is a type of holiness and of divinity. When the Holy Ghost puts in us the Divine nature, the manna in our hearts will keep sweet. There is nothing more odious or obnoxious than a holiness grown sour.

In Rev. 2:17 we read, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna." Now, the manna which fell on the ground in the wilderness was not hidden, but visible for everyone to see. This undoubtedly has reference to the manna in the ark behind the second veil. You will notice that it is promised to the overcomer -- to the believer who dares to go behind the second veil, entering into the death of Jesus, and dying, not only to the world, with all of its attractions, but to his own fleshly, carnal nature. Thousands of preachers are kept out of this rich blessing by refusing to place reputation, ministerial standing, big salaries and ecclesiastical power on the altar.

Friends, it is worth dying a hundred deaths to eat of God's hidden manna. The reproach connected with the blessing of holiness is nothing compared to the glory that accompanies it.

Just as the manna behind the veil kept fresh and sweet, there is a striking similitude in the freshness and sweetness about the second blessing. It is difficult to describe. One must experience it in order to understand it. It is beyond expression. To awaken in the morning with a honey-like sweetness in the soul diffuses blessing all through the trying hours of the day. After a certain writer received the blessing of Sanctification, he described it as "like a big lump of honey lodged in the heart, dripping its sweetness as the days went by."

Another said that he felt as if he were buried in a bed of roses with their fragrance filling his soul. You can generally tell those who have gone behind the second veil and have eaten of the hidden manna. There is a sweetness in the countenance, a tenderness in the eye, and an unmistakable expression of sympathy on the face when the deep things of God are being preached.

Since our great High Priest has rent the veil and opened the way in the holy of holies, let us press our way in until we are assured that we are feasting with Him on the hidden manna The third article contained in the ark in the holy of holies was Aaron's rod, which budded, bloomed and bore fruit, all in one night.

In Num. 17:7, 8, we read, "And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness: and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." There are three features mentioned concerning Aaron's rod: buds, blossoms, almonds. These typify freshness, fragrance, fruit.

Just as the falling dew brings a freshness in nature, so there is a Divine freshness which belongs to the sanctified life. Numbers of believers are straight and orthodox in their life and teaching, but, oh, how lacking in freshness! Their sermons are dry and stale and unctionless.

D. L. Moody said that after his wonderful blessing and fiery baptism, he preached the same sermons, gave the identical illustrations, told the same incidents, but all seemed new to the people, and not a single sermon did he preach after that which did not bear fruit, and souls were saved. When a believer arises to speak with the dew of freshness on him, the people give attention and lose not a word. He may not say anything that is new, but the people get blessed and hearts are gripped. This heavenly freshness is that peculiar unction, that strange something that cannot be explained. Just what the perfume is to the rose, this dew of freshness is to the soul.

The blossoms stand for fragrance. Natural dew produces a fragrance. There is an unseen power and holy atmosphere that goes out from a Spirit-filled life. Fletcher had it. You can detect it in his writings. It is like walking in a garden of spices to read his life. Fragrance comes best from crushed flowers. Oh, for a holiness that is so lamb-like when it is crushed by the cruel hand of an enemy that it can shower them all over with a holy fragrance. Dr. G. D. Watson very beautifully brings out this fact in his comment on the Song of Solomon 4:16:

"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.' The north wind brings cold, and cuts the fragrance from the flowers, whereas the south wind brings warmth, causing the flowers and spices to blossom. Both winds are necessary to bring out all the functions of fragrance in shrub and flower. We need the softness of the Holy Spirit, like a south wind, to open our desires, to win us and cause us to unfold the secret parts of our souls in perfect abandonment to our Lord, and then we need the cold winds from the north to chasten our souls, to cut the fragrance out of our hearts. We need the baptism of tears, the touch of winter frost, the cold and unkind treatment of our acquaintances, or our relatives, or our Christian friends. We need the pressure of occasional severity or hard times. We need the harsh words, the slights, the neglect of our fellow-creatures. We need the buffeting of Satan to bruise the sweet spices of our affections in order that the delightful odors may exude from us, in order that we may be rendered mellow and gentle and submissive and long-suffering, and thus the fragrance of God's grace within us is brought out and scattered on the air. Oh, the sweetness of that perfume which goes forth from the soul of the pure saint when it is bruised and bitten by the cold north winds of adversity and sorrow. It is then that Jesus flies to such a soul to enjoy their lovely worship and their complainings of crucified love, and hence she says to the Bridegroom, 'Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. As the south winds cause the graces to grow, so the severe north winds cause them to ripen, and Jesus cannot enjoy the fruits of His love in us until it is ripe and mellow.'"

The rod, we are told, bore fruit. There is no life so fruitful as the sanctified life. All inward hindrance has been removed, and the fruit and graces of the Spirit grow and flourish without being choked by the bitter weeds of carnality. In Second Peter, the first chapter, we read of the Christian's having escaped the corruption that is in the world, which means the corrupt, fallen nature, and being made partakers of the Divine nature. Then he bids him add all the graces of the Spirit. "It makes us that we shall neither be barren or unfruitful." Here is a sure guarantee that we shall be fruit-bearing Christians.

Just as Aaron's rod, a dry stick, budded, blossomed and bore fruit all in one night, a believer who goes behind the second veil and gets the experience of holiness will grow more in a short time than he did for years in his justified experience, fighting, as he did, the “old man” of inbred sin.

Finally, God Himself is behind the second veil. This is the crown of all blessings, "Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth." In Exodus, the fortieth chapter, we read that when the tabernacle was complete, every article of furniture in its place, every curtain hung, that it was dedicated to the Lord, anointed with oil. Immediately the pillar of cloud and fire began to descend, and entered the holy of holies there between the wings of the cherubim and the blood-stained mercy seat, the glowing Shekinah took up His abode.

Friends, this is the climax of the atonement. There is nothing sweeter, higher, nor deeper than God enthroned in a human heart. This is the Christian perfection, sanctification, soul-rest – the fullness of the blessing, perfect love! It is Heaven on earth.

Chapter 14

THE LIFE BEHIND THE SECOND VEIL

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." – Heb. 10:19

The Apostle, after speaking of the way into the most holy place being opened through the rent veil, that is, Christ's torn flesh, mentions four things we have, and then exhorts us to perform four important duties in order to retain the blessing.

I. Boldness through the Blood.

The blessing of Holiness imparts a heavenly boldness and a supernatural courage. It is impossible to go behind the second veil, eat of the hidden manna, have the law of God written in our hearts, the glowing radiance and heavenly Shekinah to take up his abode in our spirit, and ever be the same again.

Fletcher, Inskip and Finney all went behind the second veil and returned filled, thrilled and fired with a burning message that awakened hundreds of dead churches and started a wave of salvation to rolling that is still being felt.

Catherine Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, went into the holy of holies, came back with a shining face and a holy boldness, and led the Army to victory that transformed the slums of East London and started a movement with its blood-and-fire spirit that has belted the globe.

The world took knowledge of the disciples when they came from the upper-room experience, when they saw their boldness. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is death to cowardice and man-fearing spirit.

Then we are exhorted to seek and enter into the holiest with boldness. The contrast is between our entering in by the blood of Jesus and that of the high priest of old, entering with fear and trembling. There is a difference in conviction for pardon and holiness. Conviction for sin strikes the sinner like a flash, but conviction for Holiness steals over the believer like the dew and breath from Heaven. This was illustrated in the two crossings of the children of Israel. There was such a marked contrast between the two that we are sure they stand for some spiritual truth and experience. At the Red Sea they were driven and were fleeing from something. A dry path was opened for them before they moved forward. However, at the Jordan, which is typical of our entering into the Canaan of Holiness, they were drawn toward the beauties of the land. They were tired of wandering and the tent life, and longed for rest, the stone house, and the food of Canaan – noticed at the Jordan. They were commanded to march forward into an overflowing river without any outstretched rod or outward sign, but with a boldness they stepped into the flood and the waters parted.

In entering into Holiness a child of God should not have to be driven by threatening sermons, but his faith ought to be strong enough to make him step right in with a confidence and assurance that the waters will recede while he enters Canaan.

II. "And having a high priest over the house of God."

What worlds of comfort in these words! The high priest of the Jewish covenant not only offered sacrifices and blood for the sins of the people, but for their errors also. Jesus fulfilled the office of a priest in every sense of the word. He was the lamb and altar, too, and through the eternal Spirit offered up His own life and blood, which not only atones for sin, but takes in our mistakes, blunders and human weaknesses. Let it be known that a soul does not forfeit its pardon or purity because of some blunder through ignorance, providing it will go to Jesus at once and plead the merits of the all-sufficient Blood. If one is wounded by some fiery dart of the enemy, which may cause a cloud to come over the soul, why wait until we get to class meeting or some great camp meeting to get restored? Why not go at once to the great High Priest and wait until the Spirit answers to the Blood?

III. And “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”

A sprinkled conscience means a purged, quickened conscience, which approves of the right and condemns the wrong. Nowhere is an unenlightened conscience a safe guide. It is only as it is washed and purged from dead works, then illuminated by the Holy Ghost, that we are safe in following the dictates of conscience. Still, there is a higher power than conscience. We read in Col. 3:15, "Let the peace of Christ arbitrate your hearts." (Revised Version Margin.)

"Whenever," says Bishop Lightfoot, England's greatest ex-pastor, "there is a conflict of motives or impulses or reason, the peace of Christ must step in and decide which is to prevail." For instance, I may be invited to take part in some amusement. Reason and conscience may not see any harm, but the peace of Christ does; so I decline. Anything that causes a veil between the soul and the face of Jesus should be avoided the same as sin.

A sprinkled conscience is a tender conscience. A sanctified conscience should be as tender and sensitive as the eye is to a grain of sand. A host of professors seem to have no conscience when it comes to keeping vows, meeting obligations, paying pledges and scores of other little things. There is no such thing as real, vital Godliness without a quickened conscience.

IV. "And our bodies washed with pure water."

There were two objects in the court of the tabernacle – the brazen altar, where the blood was shed and the laver, or fountain of cleansing. Here the high priest washed his body five times before he went into the holy of holies. Surely God would not require a higher type of Holiness under the old covenant than He does under grace. If it were necessary for God's Priest to wash his body, that he die not before entering into the holiest, the believer that would go behind the second veil must bring a body that is free from all unholy habits, appetites and passions and present it, a living sacrifice, to God. The word soma (body, in Greek) has an inward as well as an outward meaning. The inward meaning refers to appetites, passions and desires. It is this which the Holy Spirit cleanses and brings under subjection to the spiritual nature.

Next, we want to notice four important duties enjoined upon us if we would live behind the second veil in the holy of holies.

I. Let us, who have thus entered, "hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering."

Confession and fruit are like twin sisters; they go together. The term confession embraces our public testimony, confessing with our lips the inward contents of the heart. The term fruit includes holy living, heavenly graces and tempers. This was beautifully set forth in the Old Testament when the high priest went behind the second veil, which was a figure of the believer entering in. Upon the hem of his garment was to hang a bell (testimony) and the pomegranate (fruit). Between each pomegranate was a golden bell, showing that our testimony should correspond with our living. "The sound of the bells shall be heard, that he die not." The figure is still true. A dumb Christian is a dead Christian.

It is impossible to retain the blessing of heart purity without testifying to it in a clear, definite way. The holy Fletcher lost the blessing four times by not testifying to it. When Israel entered Canaan they were commanded to bring the first fruits in a basket and say to the priest, "I profess this day unto the Lord, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swore to give us." Here we see both fruit and testimony, which should always go together.

II. "Let us consider one another."

The nearer we get to God, the closer we will get to each other. Let us consider one another's interest, good name and influence like we would our own, not criticizing one another, but provoking each other to love and good works.

III. And “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”

This is death to come-outism. There is a class of people who roam the earth and who attack every organized church and call themselves the only true church. They are made up of a class, in a great many instances, of these that were too self-willed to come under church discipline. We have never met one yet but what showed a fighting, sour spirit. We need to mingle with God's people. We are essential to each other, not in the sense of leaning upon each other, but there is a spiritual development that we can only get by mingling with the saints.

IV. "Cast not therefore away your confidence which hath a great recompense of reward." – verse 35

It seems that the Apostle had most every heresy to deal with that we have today. There were those that had a tendency to withdraw fellowship from the saints. But the worst calamity that can happen to a child of God is to cast away his confidence.

It is alarming to know how many good people in these last days are casting away their confidence. There are numbers of God's people whom, because of ignorance, Satan takes advantage of their weakness and throws a cloud of darkness over them; lacerates their spirit, and discourages them; and, because the blessing has momentarily been forfeited, they think the blessing is gone forever. Therefore, they cast away their confidence and give up in despair, where, if they had gone to Christ at once and confessed all to Him, they could have been instantly restored.

Still others, who have been mightily used of the Spirit for years, because they meet someone who apparently seems to have more power than they have, will cast away their confidence and seek what they call their real baptism. Now, if Satan can succeed in deceiving them once and tell them what they had at first was not God's pure gold, who knows that when the newness of the blessing wears away and they get down to good, old, plain, everyday living by faith, that he will get them to cast away their confidence the second time and perhaps make a shipwreck of faith.

If God has given us the pure gold experience, and if it has been tried by the acid test of hard trials, then why should we cast it away for mere brass or human fuss? Whenever a millionaire wishes to make a few more millions, he takes what he already has and makes more. Let us use that much wisdom in grace and spiritual truths, by holding fast to our confidence and gaining more.

Chapter 15

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped, the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” – 2 Pet. 1:3-11.

The above scripture was addressed to a class of Christians who were not only saved, but sanctified wholly. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, denotes an act definitely performed in the past. For this very reason, because of what had been done in them by the Holy Ghost, the Apostle exhorts them not to rest content with merely a clean heart, but to add to and develop all the Christian graces already begun in them.

There is no end to the soul progress, enrichment and maturity after being sanctified. Sanctification washes away all impurity and puts the soul in a healthy state to grow. There are three stages in the Christian experience:

First, when the soul is converted, new life is imparted, new affections, new desires, motive and dispositions.

Second, when the soul is sanctified by the cleansing Blood through the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Third, when the graces and fruit of the Christian experience mature and ripen for eternity. It is just as wrong to neglect this as the first two. The last stage is sadly neglected by a great many professors of Holiness.

"Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." The word "escape" used here by the Apostle is the same word spoken by the angels concerning Lot escaping out of the corruption of Sodom, by fleeing to the mountain. Believers are to be separated from the corrupt, fallen nature by the cleansing Blood, until there is nothing within that will lean towards temptations. God wants to cure us by the mighty purging, fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost.

We hear about fireproof buildings and waterproof vessels. God wants to make His saints sin-proof by taking all the Adamic, earthly nature out of them.

"Ye might be partakers of the divine nature." Here is a truth that is too deep for human brains to fathom. Just as the Holy Ghost formed the spotless, pure body of the Son of God and blended the human and the Divine, so He is still forming Christ within us, the hope of glory.

This was beautifully set forth in the types of the fine flour offering mingled with oil. The fine flour is typical of His humanity, which was fine, smooth and even, no roughness or coarseness in it. The oil is typical of His divinity. As the oil was worked into the flour, so the Holy Ghost imparts the Divine nature and softens our hearts, conscience and affections with the heavenly oil. There is no such thing as real Sanctification apart from the Holy Ghost.

"Besides this, add to your faith, virtue" -- that is, besides being saved and sanctified. All these graces which are already in the regenerated heart like a grain of corn has wrapped up within its heart the stalk, ear, roots and foliage, but needs developing and unfolding. The graces are imparted in Regeneration, perfected in Sanctification.

First, we are to add to our faith courage. That means to dare and to do; dare to stand by your God-given convictions. God has no use for cowards; the demand is for heroes.

In this compromising, easy-going age, when the modern pulpit is tainted with higher criticism, there never was such a demand for men with God-given convictions and a burning message for the day. Dare to be a Daniel, and when the smoke of the battle is blown away, God and His angels will be hovering near. When Martin Luther was brought before the authorities of Germany for the stand he took against the Romish Church, the powers of earth and hell were arrayed against him. The Emperor asked him two questions. First, "Did you write these books?" He answered, "I did." "Will you recant?" He answered, "Unless I am convinced by proofs from the Holy Spirit or by sound reasons, and my judgment by this means is commanded by God's Word, I cannot and I will not retract anything. . . . Here I stand. I can do no otherwise. So help me God! Amen." He won a victory for God and truth that will live forever.

Add to your courage, knowledge. We need an intelligent Holiness, where we will not throw our lives away in fruitless effort, spending our energy attacking something useless. Then, it means more than a book knowledge or knowledge of science. It means an inwrought assurance or heavenly wisdom, the ability to apply our lives in the right way. The reason some people fail in the Christian life is not because they do not live straight, but they lack tact and adaptability. "And to your knowledge, temperance," means a Divine poise, self-control, where all the body, with its desires, appetites and passions, are brought under subjection to the higher spiritual nature. Temperance has a broader, deeper meaning than just to abstain from wrong things. It means the right use of legitimate, good things -- not lopsided, stressing some non-essential out of proportion of holy living. Some people are very strict when it comes to the dress question, which is right in its place, but are very slack and loose when it comes to controlling their tongues.

And to temperance, patience. Here is a rare grace, but a needy one. Patience is the power to bear anything with an evenness of spirit and sweetness of temper. Patience never scolds nor answers in an angry voice. It always hurts the soul worse that talks harsh, than the person spoken to. Harshness and unkindness do not live in the same breast with patience. When one comes in, the other goes out.

One writer has said, "Patience is perfect love in full bloom in the soul from January to January." It is Holiness being tested. All kinds of excuses are made for getting impatient. Some say, "It doesn't last long." Neither does powder last long when it comes in touch with fire. The beauty of being sanctified is that the stirring of the carnal mind and gunpowder -- like nature is taken out. It is not cursing and swearing that is hurting Holiness; it is having spells in the home. An impatient mother went to answer a knock at the door. A little tot clung to her skirt. She slapped it, and when she returned, the child had lost its balance, stumbled and fell in a pot of boiling water in front of the fire-murdered through an impatient spirit.

"Add to your patience, godliness -- Godlikeness." We become like the things we admire the most. Live in His presence, drink so much of the Divine nature, until we become Godlike in our nature – not like Him in omnipotence, but in spirit.

At the World's Exposition, some years ago, there was one of the largest clocks in the world. The long hand measured sixty feet. When it would strike out the hours, it jarred buildings for blocks. At the base of this great clock was the smallest watch in the world. When the big clock struck twelve, the hands of this little time-piece pointed at twelve. And so the soul can be so linked up with the Divine until it can keep time with the heavenly world.

"And to godliness, brotherly kindness." It pays to be kind. Nothing wins like kindness. This is a Divine kindness that the Apostle is talking about that must be imparted. There is a lot of so-called kindness today that waits until a poor fellow dies, and then sends a lot of cut flowers to be placed on his grave. Many a husband waits until a wife dies to give flowers, but what good will costly flowers do placed over a cold, still heart? It is a bouquet now, with the words "I love you" that is needed. That will cause the lifeblood to rush to the faded cheek.

"And to brotherly kindness, charity -- Divine love." Notice the Apostle put this last because it is the richest and deepest thing in Christian experience. It is God's highest and best gift. It will put a sweetness in every bitter cup and a rainbow of promise across every dark cloud. Wesley says: "The Heaven of Heavens is love. There is nothing higher in religion; there is, in effect, nothing else; if you look for anything but more love, you are getting out the royal way."

"For if these things be in you -- that is, all these graces of the spirit -- and abound, like an overflowing river -- they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Here is a sure guarantee that we will not be unfruitful nor one-sided in our Christian experience.

Dr. A. B. Simpson says the word "add" is the same as the Greek term epichorego. From this old word our expressions "chorus" and “chorus-choir” are derived. "Chorus unto your faith and life these beautiful graces. Bring them all in tune and work them out in harmony and praise, so that your life shall be a doxology of joy and thanksgiving." This finally brings us to the abundant entrance. "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The Apostle seems to be alluding to the triumphal procession which was practiced among the Romans. In her balmy days, when she stood at the head of the nations of the world, her soldiers would go forth and gain a very decisive victory by conquering a province and then return home to receive abundant entrance. Dr. Adam Clarke describes the scenes as follows: 'On such occasions the General was usually clad in a rich, purple robe, interwoven with figures of gold, setting forth the grandeur of his achievements; his buckskins were beset with pearls, and he wore a crown, which at first was of laurel, but was afterwards of pure gold. In one hand he had a branch of laurel, the emblem of victory, and in the other his truncheon. He was carried in a magnificent chariot adorned with ivory and plates of gold, and usually drawn by two white horses. Musicians led the processions and played triumphant pieces in praise of the General. The people strewed flowers and shouted: 'Io, triumphant.'"

If there was nothing else in the blessing of Holiness but a triumphant death, it would be worth all of our seeking, and, if necessary, dying a hundred deaths in order to obtain it.

When John Inskip, the warrior of the Holiness Movement, lay dying, just before he passed away he raised a palmetto fan over his head and shouted, "Triumphant! Triumphant! Triumphant!" The sainted Alford Cookman said: "I am sweeping through the gates washed in the blood of the Lamb." Dr. S. A. Keen said: "How unspeakably precious Jesus has been," and was gone.

Nearly one hundred years ago there lived one of the holiest men about whom I ever read, named Valentine Cook. This man lived so close to God that at his death God gave a sanctified farmer ten miles away a vision of his home-going. He said he heard an angel shouting: "Valentine Cook is coming Home." (They know us by name.) And as Brother Cook entered through the gates into the City, the angels went forth to meet him, and Heaven's music started, and there was great rejoicing at his home-coming.

This corresponds exactly with Peter's epistle when the saints have an abundance entrance.

Chapter 16

SOME DANGERS IN NOT GOING ON TO PERFECTION

"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." – Heb. 5:11-14.

This letter to the Hebrews is the outstanding epistle of the New Testament in richness, in illumination, in types and shadows, to prove to the converted Hebrews Christian perfection from the Old Testament Scripture.

In the fifth chapter, the Apostle shows us the danger of remaining too long in the milk-baby stage. It is a sad state of affairs to see the majority of church-members of today still in their babyhood, crying for their bottles, when they should be giants for God. The doctor's diagnosis in the condition of a child who fails to grow is "arrested development." Let us notice some dangers of not going on to perfection:

I. Dull of hearing. That does not mean that they cannot distinguish sounds, but that they were dull concerning the possibilities of the higher life and of the deep things of God.

In conversion the spiritual senses are quickened, but because of remaining carnality and the mixed state of the heart, young Christians often get the voice of God and of self confused. God's plan is to cleanse and strengthen the inner senses, that the still small voice and the faintest whisper of the Holy Ghost can be heard.

The complaint that the apostle brought against the Hebrews was that they had so long remained in babyhood and failed to grow until they had no capacity for the deep things of God. There are thousands of Christians possessing latent capacities and dormant gifts which, if only baptized with the Holy Ghost, would cause the possessor to shine and glow for God. He would resurrect and inflame these powers until it would really be amazing what they could accomplish in love, prayer, faith, endurance, and understanding of the Scripture. One can never know to what extent the latent powers of the soul can be developed nor the tied-up capabilities for service until filled with the Spirit.

II. A lack of progress: "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again."

When Israel refused to go over into Canaan at Kadesh-barnea, and turned back into the wilderness, they wandered around in circles and recrossed their track and zig-zagged for nearly forty years; yet were they no nearer Canaan than two or three decades before. In their marches they often came upon the remains of old campfires and ashes that they had left years before.

It is indeed a pitiable condition when one thinks he is growing in grace and making progress in the life Divine, when really he is only "marking time," and he awakes to his true state, as one expresses it, "to find the same low state of grace, the same weakness and sensitiveness, the same disposition to take offense, and indisposition to forgive wrongs and injuries, lying about in the soul." If the truth were known, half the professed Christians would confess that they had more patience, tenderness of conscience, kindness and sweetness of spirit the first part of their Christian experience than after perhaps many years lived in this state. The fact is, there is no decided growth and progress made until one receives the cleansing baptism of the Holy Ghost, which thus removes the hindrance to development.

“And are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat (verse 12).” Milk is adapted to a baby, and has in it all of the needful ingredients until the teeth appear, when there is need of solid food. A young Christian should not live in the milk stage any longer than it is necessary to cut his spiritual teeth. With proper light and teaching, this should not be long.

As long as Israel remained in the wilderness, God fed them on manna, a soft diet, which has its counterpart in the milk for babes. But we read in Joshua 5:12: "And manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land." The "old corn" has for its anti-type the strong meat or solid food, which stands for firmness of character and for the deeper truths of the Bible. One could live a long time on milk alone, but it has not in it the ingredients to produce bone and muscle. This is true in a spiritual sense. Those who for years remain in the milk stage are lacking in spiritual firmness. Many who receive light on holiness, instead of going on to Christian perfection and leaving that miserable dwarf state, consult some carnal-minded person, or a tobacco-using preacher, and get their views and opinions on the matter before their final decision is made.

One characteristic of a baby is its easily hurt feelings; it cries for toys and pouts if it cannot get them. Some baby Christians become offended when they are not elected to a certain office in church; others will leave the church, or, perhaps, conference, unless they get their coveted desire. Oh, this wretched state of having to be petted to be kept in a good humor!

We will never take the world for Christ as long as the greater part of the church is in the nursery, instead of being like an army with banners.

The crying need of the twentieth-century church is for fathers and mothers in Israel who will weep between the porch and the altar, and travail in prayer until a mighty revival of the early Methodism type is brought forth – one which will sweep the church on to Christian perfection and gird her with Pentecostal power.

III. The third danger of remaining in babyhood as mentioned by the Apostle, is that such are "unskillful in the word of righteousness." As the skillful, kind-hearted surgeon, with sharp instrument in steady hand, seeks only to remove the diseased spot in order to save the patient, so a well-trained, illuminated, skillful worker does not go in for the mangling and cutting of God's people, but only to remove the hindrance to their soul's growth. We have seen unskilled workers, with a Jehu zeal, start out, and it was cut, lash, brow-beat, scalp, knock down, drag out, until it reminded one of an Indian war-chief, with his painted cheek and feathers and the scalps of his victims dangling from his belt.

Workers of the above type, in their teaching often get truth and error confused. "There in the human soul a native darkness that no amount of human learning can dispel, though we walk with Solomon or talk with the bodily Savior. Conversion cannot fully remove it; it is something that nothing but the entire sanctification of our souls will ever remove. Hence, the baptism the Holy Ghost is the only safeguard again heresy."

An able minister, known from ocean to ocean after preaching a great sermon on the higher life, told the writer that sin is located in the blood, and no one, therefore, can ever be sanctified on this life. Thousands are tainted more or less with some form of heresy until sanctified wholly.

Let us remember that the Holy Ghost is the only conservatory of orthodoxy.

One trait of the "solid-food believer" is a keen sense of spiritual discernment. "But strong meat belongeth to those that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

When the heart is flooded with Divine love it renders the inner senses strong, keen and quick to perceive the realities of the spiritual world; and the more one is filled with the Spirit, the more acute do the spiritual senses become to grasp things Divine.

We are told that there are three forms of knowledge: instinctive, which predominates mostly in the lower animals; rational, which prevails principally in the natural, soulish man who is without the Spirit; and the intuitive, which obtains among spiritual, illuminated beings. Now, the Apostle tells us that solid food belongs to those who have their spiritual senses so quickened by use of exercise that they can discern by the power of intuition, both good and evil.

We are living in an age where everything is tremendously mixed; as, for instance, the world and the church; politics and so-called religion. Most believers are living in a mixed state – partly carnal and partly spiritual. Things are so blended that there is danger of losing our bearings unless we are endowed with spiritual, intuitive perception, and are thus able to discriminate between the things of God and the things of the flesh.

There is, in various tempers, such a close resemblance between the natural and spiritual that, unless we have a mind which is illuminated by the Spirit, we are liable to become confused. For example, there is a wide difference between the infirm, human self and the carnal self, yet in some instances they closely resemble. Holiness is consistent with human infirmities, weakness, ignorance and mistakes of the head. But it is not consistent with carnality, such as stubbornness, super-sensitiveness, jealousy and a dictatorial disposition. Some professors of holiness, who have allowed the tender spirit of love to leak out of their hearts when under pressure, manifest an ugly spirit, and excuse it under the pious name of human infirmity. Then, on the other hand, it is quite as wrong for some over-conscientious person, because of mistakes and errors of ignorance, to cast away his confidence, and term infirmities traits of carnality. It is possible to have a heart filled with perfect love, and at the same time have a body that is loaded down with infirmities.

We should make a distinction between temptations to sin and yielding to sin. A sanctified soul can be sorely tempted, and still have no condemnation. But when an unholy object becomes pleasant and fascinating to the fancy or imagination, it is then that impurity creeps into the heart, the will is weakened and sin pollutes the soul.

Solid-food believers should be able to discriminate between human and Divine love. While there are some similarities between the two, there are also great differences. Human love has its seat in the soul, that part of the being which opens up through the five senses to the outward world. Divine love has its seat in the spirit, or spiritual part of the being which unfolds through the inner senses to the eternal world. While human love is beautiful and can be developed and refined, yet it can never evolve itself into Divine love which can only be imparted by the supernatural act of the Holy Ghost. Human love is earthly, fallen, love is pure and heavenly. Human love is selfish, and seeks its own gratification. Divine love is unselfish, and seeks to pour itself out in good works to bless others. Human love is easily offended. Divine love can suffer all kinds of injuries and ill treatment, and still be patient and kind.

There is no limit to the illumination and strengthening of the spiritual senses, to the extent that the spirit not only detects the approach of sin, but even the fine lines of compromise.

The keynote of the Epistle to the Hebrews is, "Leaving the baby-milk stage and going on to perfection."

Chapter 17

THE COMFORTER

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." -- St. John 14:16.

Before Christ departed, He introduced to us the Comforter who was to continue His work, whom the Father, He said, would send in His name. "He will partake of my divinity, and impart it unto you." The heart in which the Comforter dwells will have all the traits of the Christ life.

Let us notice the great mission of the Comforter:

First, He is to reveal Christ and make Him more real to usthan He was to the Galilean followers, with His bodily presence while in their midst. It is the wonderful work of the Holy Ghost to take the virgin birth, the shed blood and the resurrection of Jesus and make those facts which occurred nearly two thousand years ago a living reality to our spiritual consciousness. The same Holy Ghost who made real the Bible and the Incarnation and Calvary is here today to make real and vital those same truths.

To the great majority, Christ is just a being who once lived and died and went away, they do not know where. But God wishes to make Him, through the Holy Ghost, as sweet and fresh as He was to Mary on the morning He came forth from Joseph's tomb.

The Holy Ghost not only reveals Christ to believers, but Heprotects His Divinity. Jesus was not only born of the Spirit, baptized with the Spirit, and wrought miracles through the Spirit, but we are told that it was through the eternal Spirit that He made the atonement, and offered His pure humanity upon the altar of His Deity. So the Holy Ghost is very jealous in protecting His Divinity.

The Apostle, in I Cor. 12:3, says: "No man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed." By this he means that no man can know anything about the Holy Ghost and deny the virgin birth and the efficacy of the shed blood.

The Holy Ghost is like an artist, portraying, as He does, Jesus in all His beauty upon the canvas, while He Himself is withdrawn from view. The Holy Ghost in the believer vitalizes all the fundamental truths, and makes them living realities.

Church history proves that no denomination remains orthodox very long after the Comforter is grieved away.

First, the ardor of the experience cools off; then is dropped out the vital truths of the Bible and of the church doctrine. If the Holy Ghost, Christ's successor on earth, had failed to follow up His life, Calvary, with its bleeding Lamb, would have been only a dim outline of God's love, which we would have failed to understand. But when the Comforter illuminates the cross, it becomes the most attractive thing on earth, and, like a heavenly loadstone, it draws our affections heavenward and spoils us for this old world.

The Comforter is to dwell within. "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

The Holy Ghost has always been in the world. When the earth was without form and void, and darkness brooded over the face of the deep, the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters, and out of that chaos of desolation He brought forth beauty, order and a blissful Paradise. He inspired the prophets; He gave Isaiah a vision of the coming Christ from the manger to the cross; He illuminated Joel and let him see the approaching Pentecost and outpoured Holy Ghost. His presence, however, in the Old Testament was external, rather than internal, demonstrating the gifts rather than the graces of the Spirit. But in the New Testament the Comforter unites and identifies Himself with the life of the believer, controlling his choices, affections and desires, and molding holy character.

It is possible for the image and personality of a loved one to enter into the very being until we think his thoughts and are moved by his influence. So the Comforter takes up His abode in our spirits and shines out through our minds and body like the blazing light of the Divine Shekinah in the holy of holies.

The Holy Ghost is to bring all things to our remembrance. "He shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you."

It is wonderful how the Holy Ghost can quicken the intellect and illuminate the chambers of the understanding, making the mind, which once was dull and heavy, grasp with vigor the spiritual significance of the truths of the Bible. The mere, cold intellect cannot understand spiritual truths. It is not for lack of perception or education that men do not know and perceive spiritual mysteries; it is for want of spiritual intuition. He will bring to our memory forgotten truths in the moment of need.

Fourth, the Comforter is a guide.

The Holy Ghost not Only woos and wins us to Christ, but, like Eleazer, the servant who conducted Rebecca to Isaac, He proposes to journey with us, protecting us from the evil of the world, and to present us spotless to our Heavenly bridegroom. Divine guidance is one of the outstanding promises of the Bible.

The record of the Christian life would make a volume, chronicling, as it could, the intervention of God's providences between us and danger, of the impress of the Spirit that prevents our taking certain steps, at the same time. Opening other doors hitherto closed to us, and of the hundreds of like experiences in the life where the soul's ears are attentive to the Spirit's voice.

In Paul's missionary journey he was restrained from preaching in Bithynia and Ephesus by the Spirit, and sent, instead, to Macedonia, giving the Gospel thus to our ancestors. The indwelling Comforter makes the special providences of God to us an absolute certainty, so that we are confident that He is working all things in earth and Heaven for our good.

There is a beautiful Scripture found in 2 Chron. 16:9 which says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them, whose heart is perfect toward him." "The eyes of the Lord" express His omnipotent vision. Even the hairs on our head are numbered. The word runshows how quickly He can fly to our rescue in emergencies. He is never late; as in the case of Daniel, the angel reached the lions' den before he arrived. The words whole earth show God's unlimited care. The expression to show himself reveals His Divine personality in our behalf, while the word strong shows His wonderful power to deliver. But notice, this special providence is to those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.

One of the joys of Heaven will be the rehearsing of God's providences and of His Divine guidance in our lives.

Fifth, He will show you things to come.

The words "things to come" have to do with the future life. Too many live in the gloomy past; their little world dips so near to where they live that all they see in life is a struggle for a living. But the Holy Ghost deals with ages to come. He puts a star of hope in the heart and a rainbow of promise beneath every dark cloud and coming tomorrow. The heart in which He dwells is filled with a buoyant, cheerful hope. If men can be lured by an earthly vision until they go after their ideal, how much more should they be inspired by the heavenly vision.

The Apostle in Hebrews 6 speaks of tasting of the heavenly gift, the good Word of God, partaking of the Holy Ghost and of the powers of the world to come. The more spiritual saints all down the ages have caught the vision and have lived ahead of their age.

When in the North, in the latter part of March, as the cold winter was breaking and a hint of springtime was in the air, the contrast was noted between the sugar-maple and the other trees. These splendid maples were not only budding, but the larger trees, which had been tapped, were exuding sweet water. They were so full of sap that long before the other trees showed any indications of life, the sugar-maples gave full evidence that the spring was drawing near. It is just so with the Spirit-filled believer who has tasted of the heavenly gift and has been made a partaker of the heavenly world to come. Long before the cold winter (which is typical of the reign of sin and Satan) begins to break and the eternal spring morning of His second coming draweth nigh, the bridehood saints will begin to feel the holy sap of Divine life rising within them, and causing the heart to sing:

"O lovely land of Beulah, the summer-land of love,

Land of the heavenly Bridegroom, land of the heavenly Dove!

My Winter has departed, my summer-time has come,

The air is full of singing, the earth is bright with bloom.

O blessed land of Beulah, sweet summer-land of love,

O ever-blessed Bridegroom, O gentle Holy Dove!

O Savior, keep us ever, all earth-born things above,

In the blessed land of Beulah, the summer-land of love."

Sixth, and finally, He is to abide with us forever. Oh, blessed thought – most wondrous truth – that all through the trying hours of the day the heavenly Dove abides!

When we are popular or persecuted, when friends praise or foes abuse, at the wedding, or at the funeral, no matter what the change, the Comforter will ever abide.

The time is coming when the heavens will be shaken and roll together as a scroll; the earth will reel, mountains flee away, seas roar, suns be darkened, moons turn to blood, stars fall, raves open, the Judge with flaming eyes descend; but amidst revolving worlds, falling stars, blown-out sun, bleeding moon, wailing sinners and shouting angels, the heavenly Dove will abide. If we grieve Him not, He will seal our hearts unto the day of redemption.

Chapter 18

THE ANOINTING

"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God." -- 2 Cor. 1:21

There are five beautiful emblems of the Holy Spirit: wind, water, fire, dove and oil.

The Spirit, as wind, revives and imparts life.

The Spirit, as water, washes, nourishes and causes the fruits and graces of the Spirit to mature.

The Spirit, as fire, penetrates, softens, melts, cleanses, molds, refines and sweetens one's manners and disposition.

The Spirit, as a dove, reproduces all the Christ-like traits and tempers, and gives one a loving, winning personality, and puts a softness in the eyes and a heavenly expression in the countenance.

The Spirit, as oil, lubricates, unctionizes, and causes all the powers of the soul to move with ease and liberty. Now, when the Holy Spirit is compared to oil, it always means an advanced stage; it means the Comforter as a Guide, Teacher, and Revealer.

Let us notice the ingredients that went into this holy ointment which represents the Holy Spirit in His different operations in a purified believer:

I. The myrrh, which was noted for its healing virtues and power of extracting soreness from a wound, typifies the anointing of the Spirit, which takes out all soreness from the soul. The heart, in which the Comforter dwells, can receive all sorts of injuries and unkind treatment without getting sore or sour. The Spirit acts like a lubricating oil, and counteracts all soreness from the soul.

II. The sweet cinnamon was noted for its hot, spicy, penetrating fire. How true this is of the fiery baptism of the Spirit, which melts and mellows and produces a Divine heat through all the interior organs!

III. The sweet calamus, noted for its sweet, spicy perfume, is typical of the sweetness and fragrance of the Spirit. A holiness that does not produce fragrance is lacking in something or is pitched on the wrong key.

IV. The cassia was noted for its nourishing qualities. The Holy Spirit not only takes out all the pangs and soreness from the inner faculties, but nourishes and strengthens all the graces of the soul.

V. The olive oil was used as a medicine; especially was it excellent in loosening up stiff joints. How beautifully this typifies the Holy Spirit in softening and liberating all the mental and spiritual faculties! It takes all the stiffness out of one's manners and voice, and brings out all the latent capabilities of the soul; it stirs up and brings out dormant gifts which we never dreamed we had.

This holy ointment was very costly. It cost the Author of salvation His own life's blood the agony of Gethsemane, the cruel mockery of the judgment hall, and five bleeding wounds of Calvary – to give us the Holy Ghost.

It must not be counterfeited. There are many counterfeits today for the Holy Ghost. Thus human culture, fine music, elocution, pathos, oratory, with stirred emotions, have been used to imitate the Holy Ghost. But all these are like a tame candle beside the blazing, shining sun in comparison to the Holy Ghost.

This holy oil was not to be put upon a stranger. The word "stranger" here has reference to the unsaved who are strangers to God. Jesus said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter . . . whom the world cannot receive." That means that the Holy Ghost as an indwelling companion cannot be received only on the conditions that one has been born again. The Holy Ghost can only dwell in a heart that has been emptied and has a capacity for Him.

"Upon man's flesh this anointing oil shall not be poured." "Flesh" here means the carnal mind, which the Apostle says is "not subject to the law of God." The word "flesh" in the New Testament has a two-fold meaning; sometimes it means the flesh on our bones, which we will have as long as we live, and which is not sinful within itself. Another term is sarx, Greek, which means the fleshly, fallen nature, which is to be destroyed and put off. From this we learn that no one receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit in His fullness, only on the condition of cleansing and heart purity.

Millions are ready to receive the Spirit, providing there is no smashing of idols and no death to carnality. Tens of thousands of preachers are willing to seek and receive gifts of the Spirit (which are external), but they are not ready to die to the self-life in order to be sanctified wholly. Heaven's order is: first, purity; then unction and power.

This anointing, we are told, was "that they might minister unto the Lord." Even the Master never went forth into public ministry until He received the heavenly anointing at the Jordan. The disciples were strictly commanded not to depart until they be endued with power from on high. Woe unto the man or woman that goes out as a missionary or preacher without first tarrying! Oh, how easy it is to preach with the anointing! The brain works with an ease and swiftness; the words drip with unction and power. The mistake of the past has been the substituting titles, degrees and culture for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, who alone can make preachers.

Chapter 19

GRIEVING THE SPIRIT

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."-- Eph. 4:30

The Holy Spirit is like a great, sensitive lover who has been sent forth to woo and win our affection and love to Jesus. Therefore we grieve Him when we fail to obey His gentle impressions and allow Him to accomplish in us and for us the highest possibilities of faith and love. When we fail to let Him refine, polish, enlarge, educate and carry out the great purpose of God in our lives, we wound His love.

Even after we are sanctified and separated from sin, and the Comforter comes to abide, the soul has just entered the school of the Holy Ghost. There are lessons to be learned in the way of discipline and suffering; in shaping and molding us in the heavenly image. Let us not disappoint His great love!

Dr. Daniel Steele says, "The Holy Spirit is grieved when ministers of the Gospel and other Christian workers more earnestly desire His gifts than Himself; when they are more eager to be clothed with His power than to be filled with His presence; when they prefer popularity to purity; when they rely more on polished rhetoric than on the power of the Holy Ghost; when they are more concerned about preparing the sermon than themselves; when they are more ambitious to please the church than the Head of the Church; when they subordinate the ministry of the Lord Jesus to themselves and not to the Lord Jesus; when they use the sacred office as a ladder to personal fame or gain instead of a stairway up which they may lead repentant sinners to the bosom of God."

The Spirit is grieved when we fail in mastery of the body, and give way to the soft pleadings of the flesh and self-indulgence, and foster and pamper the self-life, allowing the appetites and body passions to lord it over the spiritual nature. The spirit does not leave one suddenly when He is quenched or grieved; but when this is continually repeated, He gradually leaves the soul.

Let us notice some unmistakable signs of the loss of the Spirit:

I. A loss of tenderness. The heart in which the Comforter dwells will be characterized by tenderness, gentleness and kindness. The sarcastic, sharp, cutting words and unkind spirit, which some professors seem to be possessed of, is utterly foreign to the Spirit of Jesus. We mean, by "tenderness of spirit," a “supernatural work throughout the whole spiritual being. It is an exquisite interior fountain of God's own sweetness and tenderness of nature opened up in the inner spirit to such a degree that it completely inundates the soul, overflowing all the mental faculties, and saturating with its sweet waters the manners, expressions, words and tones of the voice; melting the will, softening the judgment, melting the affections, refining the manners, and molding the whole being after the image of Him who was infinitely meek and lowly in heart. It cannot be borrowed or put on for special occasions; it is emphatically supernatural, and must flow out incessantly from the inner fountain of life, and resembles having every atom of our being soaked in sweet oil." (From "Pure Gold.")

Without tenderness of spirit, which is the very soul and marrow of the heart of Jesus, we shall be failures as to soul-winners. We may be straight, orthodox, preach eloquently, be able to explain some wonderful truths, but without tenderness of spirit our message will lack the melting quality, heart-piercing pathos, summer-heat and burning flame of Divine love.

Oh, how many Christian workers started out with the spirit of Jesus, their lives like the leaves from the tree of life, which brought healing to the nations; their messages seemed to drip with unction and glory! But, finally, they grew abusive, harsh, bitter, brow-beating those whose opinions differed from their own. The Spirit was grieved and failed to use them as before. We need to pray fervently over keeping our hearts tender and our spirit an open channel through which the Holy Spirit's Divine life may flow.

II. A loss of spiritual illumination. One of the great attributes of the Holy Ghost is light. It is His mission to so illuminate the mind and all the soul-faculties that God, Christ and Heaven will become a living reality. As the light gradually fades from the west, and darkness comes over the earth, so with the soul that has begun grieving the Spirit; the first conscious loss is that of light. The Bible, which was once an illuminated Book, and which budded like Aaron's rod, with a delightful freshness, becomes a sealed Book. The brightness leaves the countenance, the flash is gone from the eye and the heavenly throb from the heart. We are only saved on the condition: "If we walk in the light."

New light from the Spirit always calls for more sacrifice, self-denial and a deeper conformity to Jesus. We wonder why those whom the Spirit. has used for years have run aground and dried up in their experiences, when at one time they made earth and hell tremble when they preached and prayed. If the truth were known, they failed at some point to walk in the light, and refused to take the narrow way. Some whom God has given clear light on Holiness and called to preach it, have cooled off, toned down, and compromised God's truth until they have lost the lightning force from their experience. Let us remember that "light once, is light forever."

III. A loss of inward Divine guidance is an indication that the Spirit is gradually leaving the soul. One of the promises concerning the Comforter is that He will guide us into all truth. There is nothing that is taught any more plainly in the word of God than that upon meeting certain conditions Divine guidance is assured. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Here are the conditions upon which He promises to guide the inward and outward life:

I. That we trust Him with all our heart – that is, without any fear or doubting. We are to rest ourselves, with all of our burdens, finances, past and future, in His hands, and without waiting for feeling or emotion; with a perfect trust we are to step forth by faith and act out what God says.

II. "And lean not to thine own understanding" – neither to past experience, our stored-up knowledge, nor are we to depend entirely upon our "good, common sense." Thousands get out of Divine order by depending on some past victories. There is no such thing as a stored-up experience. God never reveals all of His plans for our lives at once. Therefore, we need the daily Divine guidance of the Holy Ghost.

III. The third condition upon which Divine guidance is promised is "acknowledging God in all our ways," which means putting God first in everything. He must come before business, friends, or our own personal comfort. To acknowledge God in all our ways means that we identify ourselves with His cause, His name, and take His part on all occasions in the presence of friend and foe. Upon these conditions we are promised inward Divine guidance.

There are several ways in which the Lord may guide. He may guide us by directing our minds to some special passage that exactly fits our case, or the Spirit may speak to our inner ear.

The Holy Ghost also guides by making strong impressions upon the mind, suggesting certain things to be done. On the other hand, He guides by checking and holding back from doing certain things; or He may illuminate the mind and gently lead to take a specific course, and in due time will cause the outward providence to work in harmony with the inward leadings of the Spirit. This brings a world of consolation and comfort, to know that our heavenly Father is weaving a network of circumstances to throw around our lives, that in every choice made, in every journey taken, we may have the assurance of inward Divine guidance.

Volumes could be written of how God in all ages has delivered His people from traps and snares laid for them. Who of us has not been suddenly checked from opening our heart-secrets to those who seemed to be our friends, and afterward it was proved why the spirit checked?

Some years ago, one of the holiest men we ever knew told how he was saved from an awful death by obeying the inward voice of the Holy Ghost. He had just closed a meeting, and was to leave at nine o'clock the next morning. He slept until midnight, and was suddenly awakened by the Spirit, who whispered to his inner ear, "Leave this city at once." He did so. The next morning a man who had heard him preach and had become enraged over some statement made, came prepared to shoot him. When told that the preacher had gone, the infuriated man crossed the street and shot to death his best friend, trying thus to satiate his revengeful spirit. Tragic indeed would it have been if that preacher had lost the Divine whisper from his soul and failed to obey the voice of the Holy Ghost. We should be left helpless before friends and enemies.

Again, if we obey his checks and live where we can hear His voice, we shall not only be delivered from men and devils, but all that may be brought to bear against us will come to nought.

Still another sign that the Spirit is being grieved is when the sensibilities become blunted. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, the conscience becomes tender and is sensitive to the approach of sin. But when the Spirit is quenched and grieved the conscience begins to lose its sweet sensitiveness.

According to the Bible and human experience, the conscience can be lulled to sleep, stabbed and choked to death. It is a sad day in one's life when conscience dies and its warning voice is heard no more. Such persons can, with pen and tongue, stab a brother, and, like Joseph's brethren, after having thrust their brother in a pit, sit down to eat with an ease as though nothing

had happened.

Thousands of professed Christians murder unborn offspring, and go right on, seemingly without any pang of conscience. It is alarming to know the things that are done in the name of a good conscience. There is no more sure evidence that the Spirit has been grieved away than for one to have a seared conscience.

IV. Another indication of losing the Spirit is a loss of spiritual discernment.

When the inner man is quickened with all might and power, the spirit knows the things of God by the power of intuition. Like a flash it can detect false doctrine or an evil spirit in a meeting, where a dull, unquickened mind would never suspect anything wrong. There is no limit to the strengthening and developing of the inner senses to discern spiritual truths. An acuteness can be attained that is even more marked than that of the outward senses.

Now, when the sensibilities become blunted and benumbed, the spirit of discernment is lost.

When Israel of old were brought to Kadesh-barnea, and, instead of going over into Canaan, believed the evil reports of the spies, and turned back into the wilderness, there were seven distinct calamities that befell them. One mentioned is the loss of discernment. They could not distinguish a false from a true prophet; a brass censer from a gold one (gold, in the Bible, stands for holiness), nor false fire from true, heavenly fire.

The land today is filled with thousands who once had light and a good experience, but who have turned back and are running after every new fad and doctrine which happens to come along, no matter whether orthodox or not. They endorse almost everything, from unitarianism to come-outism. It has been said of them: "With them everything is all right. They believe in endorsing and rubbing down and patting and smoothing everything that is taught in the name of religion, no matter how false the doctrine and dangerous and misleading the error. Perfect love, with them, is to smile and bubble and gush over every teacher and teaching."

What a calamity it is to lose spiritual discernment, to the extent that one prefers brass to gold; to take up with a false, backslidden religion rather than the true and genuine.

In a loss of old-time power, what can one do after the Spirit is grieved away? It is a piteous sight to see one beating the air, trying to make up with noise for the lack of power and unction. Like a shorn Samson, they shake themselves, but no one else is shaken. There is something hard to describe about the unction of the Holy Ghost. Let one who possesses it begin to speak. At once, there is attention, and soon a heavenly atmosphere begins to permeate the audience and almost unconsciously people are gripped and held spellbound. It is not the power of an orator or of eloquence, nor the power of learning. We have seen intellectual giants fail, and then some simple messenger put up to speak, and soon the altar would be filled with weeping, praying penitents.

Preaching without the unction and power of the Holy Ghost is like pale moonlight shining on an ice-covered field. There is no light nor warmth in it. Preaching without the power of the spirit may be orthodox, beautiful, eloquent, logical and entertaining, but it is the mere letter that killeth. There is no quickening or Divine life imparted. "When the Holy Ghost floods a person, truth comes like lightning bolts, in short, epigrammatic, positive assertions, with square edges and short points, without studied effort to interweave it with the philosophies and theologies of men. But when spiritual fever begins to cool, the lightning tones down to a tallow candle, the truth is rounded on the edges and decorated with flowers."

Finally, the Spirit can be grieved away forever. Of all deplorable conditions is the one in which the soul is forsaken by the Spirit. For twenty-three years God left King Saul, the first king of Israel. He was forsaken of Heaven during all that time that he reigned over a kingdom and led hosts to battle. Yet he was given up of God and spent his last night on earth with the witch of Endor, trying to get a message through to the spirit world.

Jesus wept over the doomed city of Jerusalem and told the Jews that their house was left unto them desolate. We doubt not right then that the smoke was ascending from their altars in the temple, and the priest was there busy with its worship, having rejected the Lord God of the temple.

There is such a thing as saying "No" to the Holy Ghost one time too many. It is possible to heat a piece of iron and then cool it, repeating this process again and again until the metal scales off and all that is left is dross. Even so, by repeated acts of disobedience one's love is chilled until the heavenly dove leaves to return no more.

Let us go into an eternal covenant with God, to be true to His leading and checks, that He may abide with us forever.

"There is a time, we know not when,

A point we know not where,

That marks the destiny of men

To glory or despair.

"There is a line by us unseen,

That crosses every path,

The hidden boundary between

God's patience and His wrath.

"To pass that limit is to die –

To die as if by stealth;

It does not quench the beaming eye,

Or pale the glow of health.

"The conscience may be still at ease,

The spirit light and gay;

That which is pleasing still may please,

And care be thrust away.

"Oh, where is this mysterious bourne

By which our path is crossed,

Beyond which God Himself hath sworn

That he who goes is lost?

"How far may we go on in sin?

How long will God forbear?

Where does hope end, and where begin

The confines of despair?

"An answer from the skies is sent:

'Ye that from God depart,

While it is called today, repent,

And harden not your heart.'"

THE END

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