FOREWORD
The material in this booklet is coined from
notes and meditations used during my ministry
in the Pentecostal Movement during the past
thirty years. It has been gathered from many
sources, and put together by the leading of the
Holy Spirit; is sent forth with the prayer that it
will quicken all who may read it into a deeper
consecration.
As a movement we have the remedy for the
ills of mankind and the means whereby this remedy
may be transmitted to the needy world.
May "them that believe", be led to minister
in the power of the Holy Ghost and Fire, is our
prayer.
D. N. BUNTAIN
Pastor, Pentecostal Tabernacle
Edmonton, Alberta
Principal, Canadian Northwest Bible Institute, Edmonton, Alta.
7^
"They drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them, and that rock
was Christ."
I Cor. 10 :4
THE ROCK PUBLISHING CO.
10047-108 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
\ c\ a i -7 a /
To those who know me true, and
who have stood by me in the glorious
work of the ministry, I lovingly
dedicate this booklet.
D. N. BUNTAIN
Oj^to
CHAPTER
THE DECLARATION OF
JOHN THE BAPTIST
John the Baptist appeared in the Jordan
Valley, great crowds were drawn to his ministry.
That universal hunger which always draws men to a
messenger from God was satisfied when they met the
demands of God s message, "Repent and be baptized".
Obedience to the revealed will of God brought peace
to their hearts. Waves of interest flowed over the land
from that Jordan scene, reaching even to far away
Galilee. From here honest hearted men journeyed to
the Jordan Valley and felt a strange warming in the
soul as they heard the flaming messenger who had
been filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother s
womb.
One day there appeared from Nazareth, the lime
stone city on the northern Caravan trail, a peerless one,
so different, so wonderful, and as John was preaching
he declared, "I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance but He that cometh after me is greater
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." When
John spoke of fire it would recall to the minds of those
honest hearted listeners, scenes of the past which were
familiar to them through tradition and writings. It
would suggest that something new was about to trans
pire in the Providence of God. It would cause them to
think of when Father Abraham was waiting for a con
firmation of the promise, when buoyed up by an
increasing faith, he placed the divided carcasses of
animals on the plain and saw the Shekinah fire pass
between them. They would recall that before Moses
started for Egypt to carry out God s program, that the
same Skekinah fire appeared to him in a bush that was
not consumed. They would be reminded of that same
Holy fire which took the form of a pillar and guided
their forefathers through the desert for forty years.
They could not help but think that it was this same
fire that fell upon the sacrifice in the Tabernacle when
it was completed according to the pattern at Sinai. How
their hearts would be set aglow as they thought of this
same Shekinah fire falling in the Temple as Solomon
finished his dedictatory prayer. They were to learn that
this same fire was to fall upon and indwell obedient
surrendered men and women, not only to cleanse and
purify but give power for service.
John upon whom the fiery mantel had fallen, tells
them that there was in the midst One who could and
would baptize, not with water as he was doing but with
the Holy Ghost and with Fire. Three years were to pass
during which they were to be conscious that their Lord
possessed this Fire which cleansed, revealed and em
powered, but they did not possess it. On the other hand
in spite of His fellowship and teaching, they were pain
fully aware of their need of it. No doubt they often
referred to the promise of John and wondered when
that promise, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and fire," would be realized. Finally one day He clearly
pointed out to them that they were going to receive the
promise. He referred to the experience as "The Com
forter", and pointed out some of the gifts and powers
that would be theirs when He would come in to possess
and empower. They were alive with expectancy. Finally
one day He amazed them by stating that it would be
necessary for Him to leave them before the Comforter
could come. He calmed their anxiety by assuring them
that when the Comforter would come, He would not
only be with them but in them forever and that He
6
would teach them all things, bring all things to their
remembrance and give them His peace.
The succeeding events left them stunned. He gave
His life betwen two thieves, and they saw Him as a
common malefactor. They saw Him buried, and turned
away to wonder He was gone no Comforter no
Baptism no Fire.
After three days He appeared to them as they were
closeted in an upper room for fear of the Jews and
breathing upon them said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost".
As they here and now truly believed, peace, blessing and
courage flowed into their hearts but no Baptism and no
Fire. During the following days He fellowshipped with
them, giving them directions as to how to organize the
Christian Church. As those days ended He gave one final
command with one promise they were to go into all
the world and preach this Gospel to every creature and
the promise was if they would be true to this command.
"Lo I will be with you, even unto the end of the world."
Linked up with this command and promise, another
one, "Depart not from Jerusalem but wait for the
promise of the Father . . . "For John truly baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost,
not many days hence." They had yet to learn what was
involved in the purposes of God and clung to the idea
of their own national Kingdom and began asking ques
tions re "it". He made it clear that it was not to be
their concern when His world Kingdom would be set
up, it would be their great privilege to preach repent
ance and remission of sins among all nations. Their
eyes were opened to the great purpose of His coming
to the world but they staggered as they realized how
powerless they were to meet the challenge. He assured
them that provision had been made in the councils of
Heaven for them, "Ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
"What power they might ask of Kings or Rulers?
No! An indwelling power that will enable you to be
witnesses unto me in Judea, Samaria and the uttermost
parts of the earth.
It gradually dawned upon them that it was to be
their responsibility to carry the message of deliverance
to the ends of the earth, and that the necessary power
to carry out the undertaking would be imparted not
many days hence.
Events moved fast at the end of those days, and
as He led them to Olivet, the power of gravity was
suspended and with the parting command in their ears,
they watch Him enter the clouds of glory. As He went
up the promised Comforter took over in the surrendered
hearts of those who believed in Him and loved Him,
leading them in beautiful simple faith to seek the
familiar upper room where His presence had been such
a blessing to them.
CHAPTER tl
TARRYING
FOLLOWING the scenes on Olivet the company hurry
to Jerusalem. This caravan trail had felt the impact
of many feet, but no happier group had ever gone along
its way than these, for they were new converts, alive
with expectancy. They had tasted of a living fountain
and were eager in anticipation of greater things ahead.
The scenes of the ascension were still vivid in their
memory and the voices of angels in their ears. The
Comforter was coming not many days hence. They soon
enter the City with great joy, and we can be sure that
they go straight to the Upper Room. Most of them
had entered it time and again with Jesus, but at no
time had they entered it as they do now. They have a
wonderful experience, an experience that had thrilled
them beyond words to express, and with buoyant ex
pectancy and are launching all upon a great new
flowing tide. Their Master was gone, but in such a
blessed way that they could not mourn. No, they enter
the Temple blessing and praising God. From here they
go to an upper room. The street and number is not
given, because mankind from that day on would want
to go to that same spot in the hope that by some magic
or power they might re-enact the drama of the waiting
company whose names were to live as long as time.
With them were a few women who had loved their Lord,
and for the last time, Mary the Mother of Jesus is
mentioned as one of the company. If our Lord was
crucified on the last day of the feast of the Passover
and He was in the grave three days and if He spent
forty days on earth after His ascension, this leaves
seven days out of the fifty to be spent in the upper
room. The day of Pentecost was fifty days after the
Passover so it was in all probability on Saturday evening
when they gathered and began with one accord to pray
with supplication that they might receive the Baptism
of the Holy Ghost and Fire.
We do not know whether they expected to receive
it that first night or not, but we do know that they
were sure of it before many days. We also know
that from now on, all prayer intercourse was to have
a new meaning. All conceptions of Jehovah were to be
changed from this moment. Infinity had now received
a centre. Every beam of Glory now converged towards
the person of God manifest in the flesh, now received
up into Heaven.
Here for the first time human beings discerned in
a human form the glory of the Father. They had heard
His Words "If ye love me ye would rejoice, because 1
said, I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than
I". Now they had seen Him pass within the veil; seen
the angels attend His presence; and heard the music
of their voices. They would not feel as though He had
forsaken them, but as the High Priest went each year
within the veil bearing the Blood of the atonement, He
had gone in there for all mankind. He was out of sight;
there on His first great mission before God. No longer
would man need a high priest to carry his sins inside
the veil and make an atonement for him. No, the
Blessed Lord with His own hands on that resurrection
morning, had torn assunder that veil and as it was rent
from the top to the bottom its "V" spelled V for Victory
for all mankind. From now on, "whosoever will" could
go right into the Holy presence by faith and share in
that victory. As they thought upon Him their hearts
overflowed with joy. Peter, Mary Magdalene, John, and
all the rest became deeply conscious of all that He
had done for them as they had looked to Him with the
10
eye of faith. Even Mary the blessed, whose spirit had
rejoiced in "God my Saviour" as she saw the fulfilment
of Gabriel s word "He shall be great" was filled with
joy unspeakable and full of glory."
They were filled with joy for their Master s exalta
tion, and with one heart exclaimed "He has entered
the veil for us. He bears our names before the throne.
He makes intercession for us there." Those words
which only recently had warmed his lips and their
hearts came to their remembrance. "If ye ask anything
in my name." During those 40 days He had opened
their understanding, He had shown them the scriptures
which bore upon His death, and its connection with
remission of sins for mankind. They no longer looked
to temple or altar. He had purged their sins and was
now in the Holy presence. A wonderful fact gripped
them; He had given them authority to use His name.
We shall have to wait until we reach the glory
world, when it may be possible to have communion
with some of that company, to know the joy of that
first hour of praying in the name of Christ. Think of
Martha who had asked on that day when her brother
lay in the tomb, think of her faith as she said "I know
that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God
will give it thee." Now she is conscious that He is asking
for her, and she is asking in His name. And the others;
as they would think of their contacts with Him, would
pour forth in words of joy and supplication, the cry
of their hearts. What burning petitions would go up as
they would quote His promises and press them home
with "whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name,
He shall give it Thee"! None of their prayers are re
corded. Prior to this they had a prescribed form of
prayer. Their Lord had given it to them; it was an
outline of generalities embracing in its statements all
the needs of men over the years, but now they were to
pray in the Holy Ghost and each would be moved upon
as his or her need required. The Holy Ghost does not
11
record any of these utterances for had He done so, men
would have gathered them together and used them
down through the years. He will pray through honest
hearts today, and it seems clear that believers praying
in the Holy Ghost will not imitate or use the prayers
of another. Apparently only John and some women
were at the cross. The rest of the disciples may never
have seen it, but having heard the story from eye
witnesses and having been in the company of their
Lord over the years, we can well imagine them going
over the whole story, carefully weighing every word
from that night when He had told Nicodemus that "as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
the Son of Man must be lifted up" to the night in which
He said, "The hour is come." What had been a mystery
is mystery no more.
On the following morning as the first day of the
week dawned the day upon which He arose, and the
first Lords day He had spent in the Courts of Glory
since His Ascension, we can be sure that they would
expect the promised blessing to fall on this day, but the
day passes without anything unusual happening. We can
imagine them spending Monday between pondering over
the words that had fallen from His peerless lips and
periods of praise and adoration waiting, yes and ex
pecting, for He had said "not many days hence". Monday
passes and no baptism of fire. Then Tuesday comes.
Its hours are filled with lovely experiences as waves of
blessing and joy sweep their hearts, but it comes to its
end without the experience which they are waiting for.
Wednesday comes and goes and they are still in the
temple "blessing and praising God", or in the upper
room in "prayer and suppli cation". They are in one
accord. "Though He tarry, yet will they wait for Him."
They are waiting for a great event, and like any
one waiting for something or event, they have their
minds set on a given point. They are looking forward
and preparing; every moment of delay increases the
12
sensitiveness of their minds as to that one thing. When
we think of a servant waiting for his master; a wife
waiting for the footstep of her husband; a sailor waiting
for the sight of land; a mother waiting for her expected
son; a monarch waiting for tiding of the battle; all
these are cases wherein the mind is set on one object
and cannot for any time give attention to another.
We can easily imagine one of them saying, "To
morrow will be Thursday, tomorrow the Comforter will
come and we will be fitted to do the greater works."
The Word does not tell us how many went to that upper
room; probably the whole 500 that had seen Him. It
is quite probable that by Thursday many had lost hope
and their faith very feeble at first, had waned and by
the end of a week they had slipped away. If they were
like most modern crowds, some would be saying, "Well
this is pure fanaticism," others, "I never did have much
faith in this thing". But about one hundred and twenty
were holding on in one accord and prepared to wait
until.
What times of joy and satisfaction they would
have as they would go over again and again the times
they had together with Him! Each would call up some
incident that centred around His life and ministry. They
would go over again and again those last days and that
walk to Olivet; then His last words so sweet and wonder
ful, Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is
come upon you and ye shall be witnesses." As they
would go over again and again these scenes and say
ings, their faith would be quickened and they would
say, "We shall receive power, we shall be intercessors,
we shall do greater things." This promised power had
made Elijah the wonder of his day, had equipped Elisha
to do the miraculous; had made psalmists and pro
phets out of ordinary men; had made the words of Isaiah
as coals of fire; had made Daniel mightier than any
King. Baptized with the Holy Spirit they were to pro
claim that these men foretold but never saw, The Child
13
born, the Son given, The Prince cut off for sin, but
not His own, the Lamb upon whom was laid the iniqui
ties of us all. All this they had seen fulfilled in the
person of their Lord. All this they had heard explained
from His own lips before and after His death They
were to go and prove to others as He had proved to
them, that "thus it was written and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day, and
that repentance and remission should be preached in
all nations beginning at Jerusalem". We can be sure
however that it was not the universality of the gospel
that occupied their minds so much at this time, as the
experience of power. When He the Comforter would
come, He would lead them into cities and towns with
one great message and purpose . . . "look unto Him
all ye ends of the earth and be saved."
This day also wore on and passed, and no promised
power. Will some fail and not return to the morning
prayer and praise service, will some go fishing and say,
"Well, it is His business to baptize me in the Holy Ghost
and fire. I can get it wherever I may be when He is
ready to fill me." They must learn that if they are
going to receive the power they must be prepared to
wait with those of like faith and expectancy and where
the Holy Ghost falls. Probably some of that five hun
dred said, "We have done our part and must leave the
results with God."
If it were some modern groups that were waiting,
there would arise about this time much wondering
among themselves as to why the promised power does
not come, but we find none of this in this group. Faith
and love abide upon them. John does not turn upon
Peter and say "it is your fault, you denied your Lord,"
Philip does not turn to John and say "it is your fault,
you wanted to lord it over the rest of us" Andrew does
not turn to Thomas and say "it is your fault for you
would not believe even when He told us" the women
do not say "it is your fault for proving so weak and
14
unfaithful when He fell into the hands of the enemy
that night." No, no, there is none of this. Each knows
that he or she had indeed been most unworthy of such
a gift; that He had not come to save a perfect race but
a very imperfect one, that they had all failed in their
several ways, and each was crying out "it is not my
brother, but me, oh Lord, that is standing in the need
of prayer."
The Thursday is gone and Friday and Saturday
follow it. What a testing? He had said not many days
hence. It must come. He cannot fail. Each day is
marked by the same persistence in prayer and praise.
One can imagine Peter, that impulsive character, during
those days. So eager to get at the job. He never wanteid
to hold back for anything- "Let us get at it and get it
done," was ever his motto. And here he could say,
"The Master took us from our occupation, and trained
us for this work, He has unfitted us for every other
thing, He told us to go into all the world, we are ready
to go . . .the world stands in need of His message.
Why does He not equip us and let us go? He told us
to tarry in Jerusalem He said not many days. Why
does our Master delay? Why cannot we set to work?
Are not His teaching, and our training enough? "No",
He said, "Tarry until ye be endued with power from on
high." And so they settled down to wait. They knew
that He had power and that He had promised it to
them. That was enough.
15
CHAPTER II!
THE TONGUE OF FIRE
THERE have been great days in the history of the
world. It was an awful day for Egypt when with
the awakening dawn it was discovered that there was
not one house in all the land but mourned one dead.
It was a wonderful day however, for Israel, for on that
same day, God, by the sprinkling of a pure lamb s blood
upon the door of the Israelite homes, arrested death,
and led a nation away from yoke and taskmaster to a
goodly land. Fifty days later on that memorable day
at the foot of the Mount, God manifested Himself in
the Glory and fire. There the dispensation of the la\y
was inaugurated with voice and flame; its covenant
sealed in Blood.
Here in Jerusalem, centuries later, was a day of
days Fifty days had elapsed since the Lamb had been
slain and captivity broken. Forty days He had been
with them following His resurrection; the rest He had
passed within the veil.
One wonders if some of the waiting ones were
conscious of what day this was and had inspired the
others to persevere until the anniversary of Moses des
cent from the Mount in the glory and fire. At any rate
they waited expectantly. They had no interest in any
thing else. The Kingdom that He had been talking about
for three years was at hand. Had He not promised? He
could not fail. They would wait as those who expected
at any moment. Some may have been too idle and
foolish to wait. They may have said, "My Lord de-
layeth His coming and we may as well sit still." That
16
is not waiting; that is idling. Here were men and wo
men who in all probability knew that this was the day
of Pentecost. He surely will come today in the same
fire and glory that attended Moses on Sinai.
The true and faithful are all in one place; no one
is missing. Thomas has gotten over his doubting. There
is no discord. They are all in one accord no one is
late or slow. They had assembled early in the morning
because after the spirit fell and all Jerusalem had been
filled with the noise and glory the multitude had come
together. Peter said it is but the third hour of the day
9 o clock in the morning.
We are not told what form the prayer meeting took
that morning, for had we any means of knowing, groups
would have fastened upon that form and cramped the
Holy Ghost movings all down the years. The Holy
Spirit records only what is best for us to know about the
whole scene. They were all in one accord, all in one
place, when "suddenly there was a sound from Heaven."
Jerusalem was filled with sounds on that early morn
ing, but these were waiting for a sound from Heaven,
and it came out of a calm. There was no natural wind
but a rushing, mighty current flowed down direct from
Heaven. Nothing was disturbed or moved but this wind
blew right through each one of the assembled company
where they were sitting. The air in the room was as
still as death but each was conscious of a mighty rushing
wind filling the place and leaving them with a conscious
ness of its purifying power. As it passed they felt a new
cleanness and purity which was beyond description.
It was a mysterious sound and would occasion sur
prise. Was this the wind that Elijah had felt in the
cave? Was it the Lord breathing upon them again as
He had done at the first meeting in the room after the
ressurrection? What was it? Wonderful, sweet, glor
ious, causing each heart to bow in lowliness before Him
while a holy urge would form one word to be upon
17
every lip "Jesus Jesus Jesus, Wonderful Jesus.
How" sweet in Thy purity and power . . Jesus . . .
Jesus, come as Thou hast promised, and indwell me
. . . possess me and use me". Then as they look around,
John sees Peter s head crowned with fire; Peter sees
James head crowned with fire; James sees Nathaniel
crowned with fire; Nathaniel sees Mary crowned with
fire, and all around the room as they sat, each head is
crowned with fire. The Lord has been mindful of His
promise. "He has been exalted to the right hand of
the Father, and has shed forth this." With smooth un-
controlable delight, language flowed from their lips
which they had never learned. Millions throughout the
world can testify that this experience of speaking in
tongues as one receives the fullness of the Holy Ghost
eclipses every other experience that we will ever know
until in actual reality, we walk the streets of the New
Jerusalem and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
The millions who have had a like experience down
through the years will all agree that the first impulse
when the glory falls into a soul is to glorify God. A
measure of uncontrollable emotion swept through their
bosom and caused them to burst forth in a super effort
to magnify the Christ. Only those who have received
the promise of the Father can understand what was
going on in each soul and life at that moment. Body,
soul, and spirit were blended into one harmonious
whole in fullest power pouring out "Glory be to God"
. . "Praise Jesus" . . . "Hallelujah!"
We note it was a baptism. To be baptized one must
be in something. Here it was fire. It was shed down,
poured down and "it sat upon each of them." It is also
of interest to note that they were not plunged into the
fire, but the fire was poured upon them. As when
under Moses they were all baptized by Moses in the
cloud and in the sea ... they were not plunged into
the cloud, but the cloud was poured upon them. The
Spirit is never promised under the figure of dipping,
18
but rather such as I will pour out my spirit upon you/
I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall
be clean/
Fire is a shapeless thing. It may take the form of
Abram s lamp in the desert, the coal of Isaiah, the in
folding flame of Ezekiel; here it takes the form of a
tongue. On each brow glows a sheet of flame, parted
into many tongues. Here was the symbol of the New
dispensation- Christianity was to be a tongue of fire.
It was a symbol of the promised power. With the
appearance of this fire, the old was to pass. Tongues of
fire, warm, and glowing with the message of His love
were to take the place of the altar and cherubim and
incense, ephod, breastplate, Urim and Thumin. Even
the Ark of the covenant of the Lord must pass out of
their life and memory. All the emblems of the old
dispensation were now fulfilled and forever superqfcded.
In their place their Lord appointed only two water
baptism and the Lord s supper. In one the mind could
see a symbol of the cleansing spirit, and in the other
could be seen the way to virtue and victory through
His broken body and shed blood. This moment marked
the coming of that day when religion would rest upon
conviction and experience, leaving nothing to fancy, or
to dead works.
This tongue of fire was the symbol which once for
all announced to the world that the Church of Jesus
Christ was to have conquering power, the power by
which she was to stand before kings, to confound coun
cils, and arouse men and women everywhere; a power
by which starting at Jerusalem where the name of
Jesus caused men to spit and hate. They were in the
power of that name, to proclaim the glory of God
throughout Judea, Samaria and unto the ends of the
earth. A tongue, symbol of man s means of communica
tion with his fellow man. A message in human words
to human faculties, from the mind to the mind, from
the heart to the heart. A tongue of fire man s voice
19
conveying God s truth, not our tongue but a cloven
tongue in every form of speech. Attempts have been
made down the ages to have people around the world
worship God in a single tongue . . Latin. How we
should praise God for those tongues of fire; had they
not come there would have been no Bible no Christian
church. We might have been bowing down to wood
and stone or slaughtering an animal in our effort to
satisfy an unknown God.
20
CHAPTER IV
EFFECTS OF BEING FILLED WITH
THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE
WHEN the tongues of fire sat upon each of them we
read. "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost."
John the Baptist, it is recorded, was filled with the
Holy Ghost from his mother s womb. In this case there
was an inward silent experience which took place in
the child s heart preparing him for his life work. We
read that the qualification for a deacon in the early
church was that he be a man filled with the Holy Ghost
and wisdom. And we read that Barnabas was a good
man full of the Holy Ghost and faith. Then when Peter
rose to bear witness before the Sanhedrin it is recorded
that "he was filled with the Holy Ghost." The man who
when left to his own strength, denied his master, now
is filled with moral power which amazes all who listen.
Then when they were in the midst of their first perse
cution they appealed to the Lord saying "And now
Lord behold their threatenings and grant that with all
boldness we may speak the word," we read how God
answered. As they prayed the place was shaken," and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. When we
realize that by this time the number had grown in all
probability to several thousand in the company, it shows
that the experience was for all. Here being filled with
the Holy Ghost was followed by miraculous results- Not
only were they given strength to conquer, to meet dan
ger and shame, strength to declare the whole Gospel
but everyone of them spoke in tongues as the Comforter
took possession, they were to see the place shaken,
21
prison doors opened and bodies delivered from the af
fliction of the enemy.
Their Lord had promised them miraculous light
and power by the spirit; but it was not so much miracle
working power as spiritual power, a comforter, a guide
unto all truth, a revealer of the things of God, a re
membrance of the words of Christ; one who would con
vince the world of sin and judgment; one who would
embolden the Lord s servants to bear witness before
the greatest of adversaries; one who would guide their
life in wise convincing speech. Miraculous power of
course would j^ojaagany the infilling but the great pur
pose was toQffjecjiy^j^a^t^n> x witnesses.
The Comforter was to come as a substitute for
Christ s own presence and He clearly defined who
should know him and those who would not. Only those
called out of the world would receive him. "Because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know
him because he dwelleth with you and shall be in you."
The promise is not to all, no but to those "who are not
of this world." He promised to dwell no longer with
them but be * them. And more it was not merely
for the Apostolic age but the believers of all ages.
This promised substitute for the personal presence
of Christ was One whom the world should not see; who
was invisible to the natural eye or mind; yet known
and discerned by believers, though not seen; known
not by outward signs, but by inward consciousness.
"The world seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but
ye know Him." Neither the world nor they could see
Him but they could know Him.
The apostles had experienced some degree of the
spirit prior to Pentecost because He had breathed on
them in that upper room and said receive the Holy
Ghost. We do not know how much progress they had
made between that time and the scene that is before us
but only when they had tarried until, had they been
22
filled with the Holy Ghost. One thing is sure . . the
command of the scripture. Be filled with the Holy Ghost
is clear for all believers, and a second thing is clear. ^
The Lord has provided; the fountain is open; the river
is flowing down from Glor
will stoop down and drink.
is flowing down from Glory; there is plenty for all who ^
Many honest hearts believe that they have received
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit without any supernatural
evidence at the time. The writer held to this view for
years but when with an honest open heart he went all
out after the Pentecostal experience and received the
same on the 23rd of September 1925, it changed, not
only his opinion in this matter but lifted him from
bondage to power. It is the writer s conviction after ^A
years of observation that every person who has the J ..
experience which Peter said was "For your children ^g
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord
your God shall call," wJlL^e^Jn^jigue^aiidjn^gnify V
Gpd atjhejime, as the company^did at Ephesus^ when
Paul visited them and sensed their need, or as they did
in the house of Cornelius when Peter visited them. v
Those who have entered into this experience are
not only conscious of a sweet comforting, indwelling
presence, which gives the recipient a glow and glory
which lifts them above all the disturbing things of time
and grants all the necessary power to live Godly in his },
appointed sphere, but gives power to witness before men
to the saving and keeping power of Christ. It is true
that these supernatural powers will be more pronounced
in one than in another, but in each case there will be
one great motive and purpose the glory of God and
the good of men. ^
Let it be noted that the Holy Spirit is the author
of every good thing, and a consciousness of the Holy
Spirit may be a progressive experience, leading the
candidate first by the way of conviction and repent
ance into Salvation and on to the fullness experience
23 -v.
when He manifests His indwelling control by speaking
in an unknown tongue. The extent to which one can
go on from here can only be limited by the extent to
which one is willing to yield their all.
Just as in a room the light may have only reached
the dark chamber, disturbing the darkness but leaving
shadows and gloom, but open more windows and as
more light enters all the shadows flee and the whole
room is filled.
A person may have perfect hearing and yet not
have a musical ear. The musical ear is a gift, and so
one may be filled with the Holy Ghost and yet display
no spectacular gift, no supernatural powers. One may
be well saved and enjoying the things of God and yet
lack power to appropriate the victory of Calvary and
transmit it to others- Every faculty may be illuminated
and every affection purified by the application of the
Word and yet the candidate be very conscious of his
need of that something which possessed used men of the
past that something is a gift which can only be mani
fest as the candidate becomes conscious that he has
received the fullness of the spirit. He will not need
someone to tell him that he has it. He will know when
it happens and everybody around him will know it too.
Let no one believe that to be filled with the Holy
Spirit it to have all carnality removed He leads the soul
into the Truth, into the Word of Christ which cleanses
and sanctifies, by the water of the Word. Peter was not
cleansed of his bigotry by the baptism. Paul was not
delivered from his old nature by the baptism. He saw
this afterwards, and in Romans 7, shows the way of
deliverance. A person may be filled with the Holy Ghost
and with it receive a gift; they may go back on God
and lose the presence and the glory but the gift once
given remains. This explains how God may heal honest
humble seekers whose hearts cry unto Him in faith
through the instrumentality of unclean workers minis
tering in revival meetings or elsewhere. He honors His
24
word and answers the cry of humble honest hearts using
the gift which operates clean and pure as when given.
A gift once given, is not taken back. The recipient may
fall into sin and backslide but that gift cannot be des
troyed. It is part of God Himself.
With the coming of the Holy Spirit, Christ had
declared that He had returned to His temple in the
human soul and now He had filled all the house with
His glory. Paul, writing to the Ephesians in Chapter
3 and verse 19, expressed the hope that they might
be filled with "all the fullness of God." Now it is just
as impossible for one of us mortals to have all the
fullness of God as it is for a chamber to contain all the
glory and light of the sun, but it is possible for the
chamber to be completely filled with the light of the
sun- Paul no doubt, as he offered that prayer was over
whelmed at the immensity of it but read on, and what
do we find? "Now unto Him that it able to do exceeding
abundantly above all we ask or think. Here we find his
secret. He is not going to struggle on in a super attempt
. . . no, but according to "the power that worketh in us."
What is this power? The Holy Spirit. Hear Paul again
in II Corinthians, Chapter 9 verse 8. "And God is able
to make all grace abound toward you; that ye having all
sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good
work." There we have abound twice and all, four times
Abound means to overflow. Christ overflows to us and
we overflow to others. As the cistern fills and over
flows, so the heart fills and overflows and happy is the
one who thus fills and overflows for it is such who
walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruit
ful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge
of God; strengthened with all might according to His
glorious power unto all patience and long suffering,
with joyfulness." Col. 1:10-11.
When we place all these expressions together we
have a view of the riches of His grace- If one is truly
filled with the Holy Spirit his human spirit is restored
25
to its original and highest fellowship. Such a one is
destined to travel much alone in this world because he
will be misunderstood and even abused by those of his
own Christian circle. He becomes conscious that every
thing in nature is an instrument for his comfort, but
he cannot find fellowship with them. As the sun enter
ing a room changes the whole setting, so the noiseless
entering of the Spirit changes the whole being. The
room is the same room with the same contents but
the coming of the sun changes everything. All objects
require a suitable faculty or they are unperceived.
There could be no sound if there were no ear to record
the vibrations; no color if there were no eye to record
the light waves. The wheelsman cannot perceive the
force that is influencing his compass; only the compass
can perceive this. Our Lord said If any man love me,
he will keep my word; and My Father will love him, and
we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
We have an inner Presence which can perceive and
know what others cannot. It is as if two men are walk
ing towards the setting sun near which there hangs a
heavy cloud. One from the North East and one from the
South East. The one can see the full glory of the set
ting sun; the other from where he is walking can only
make out a dim outline of it, and why? Because there
is a cloud between him and the sun. So two men stand
in relation to God; one may have a heart belief in Him,
but the other having been baptized in the Holy Ghost
spiritually discerns, and feels His presence, enriching
and empowering.
Let us suppose that an invalid has spent his whole
life in a room where the sun has never shone. He has
heard of it; he has a mental conception of it, and has
seen enough of its light to have formed a high idea
of its glory. Down in his heart he wants to see the sun,
so they take him out into the night and show him the
heavens. He is enraptured with what he sees but it does
not satisfy; he wants to see the sun. Then one bright
26
day he is carried outside. His quest is at an end, he
sees the sun. He is perfectly satisfied that there can be
no experience that can eclipse this great sight. So with
the soul; it enjoys every spiritual experience, but when
it enters into the full, complete, real experience of the
Baptism of the Holy Ghost, where one is caught into
the heavenly glory and sees Jesus, a sense of satisfac
tion settles upon the soul. It is real and it is wonderful.
Let no one be satisfied with anything less.
In the temple under Solomon, just as soon as man
had done his part according to the pattern given, God
came in and manifested His glory. In the human
temple He does likewise. Just as soon as a man sur
renders his heart and does what he can in repentance
and restitution, the Holy Spirit comes in manifesting
His presence in truth, purity, tenderness, forgiveness
and justice. He not only inhabits the body making it
the temple of the Holy Ghost, but blesses the soul
with unutterable blessings. The body of a truly baptized
believer becomes a vessel, the instrument through which
God can work The natural man disappears as the new
life develops within the believer. He is a new creation
with new life and impulses which cause him to obey
the spirit and the Word. Man s spirit gives way to the
Spirit of God. His mortal body is quickened by the
Spirit "that dwelleth in him." He not only lives in the
Spirit, but walks in the Spirit A new creature lives.
A new life is lived because the new birth creates "a
new creation,, "Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield
yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteous
ness unto God." The unconverted man has a spirit but
it is carnal. Every action of his life is actuated by the
flesh, all his actions are dictated by motives which range
below the sky, and finally lead to doom. The Holy
Spirit comes in and reverses all of this. He quickens
all so that instead of spiritual powers being carnalized,
27
the mortal body becomes spiritualized, flesh and blood
become instruments of the spirit. A purpose originates
in the mind of God and is transmitted to the spirit of
His child. It is then that others "see his good works and
glorify his Father which is in Heaven." He becomes
"God s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto
good works."
A piece of iron can be imbued with a certain degree
of heat without changing its appearance, but let more
heat be poured into it, and it becomes solid fire so that
it sets everything it touches on fire. A piece of ice
without heat is solid; but let a measure of heat be
applied and it melts. Let enough heat be applied and it
soars away to the skies. An organ filled with the
ordinary air is dumb. One can press its keys without
any sound, but let a volume of air be pumped into it
and touch its keys and every pipe swells with music.
Such is the soul without the "Holy Ghost; and such are
the changes which pass upon it when it receives and
is filled with the Holy Ghost. In the latter state, it is
imbued with the divine nature, manifesting a resembl
ance to its God, conveying to all on whom it acts, some
impressions of Him, mounting heavenward in all its
movements, and harmoniously pouring forth from all its
facilities, the praises of the Lord.
The remarkable change with the power of the in
coming presence is demonstrated particularly in Peter.
Here was a body of people who had put Christ to death
on the cross, who had mocked and scourged Him. Peter
rises and boldly tells them that they had done a most
wicked thing and not only that, but triumphed in it.
We will suppose that some man would have been bold
enough to have gotten up in a great crowd in England
fifty days after the execution of Charles by Cromwell s
soldiers to have declared that they had killed a good
man as well as a King. Even England, known for its
brave men would not have such. But here in Jerusalem
a man was needed who would stand up under the
28
shadow of the Temple and braving Chief Priests and
mobs alike declare that He whom they had so shame
fully executed seven weeks ago was Israel s long-
looked-for Messiah: that they had been guilty of a sin
which had no name, "had killed the Prince of Life."
Who could carry out such an undertaking? We see a
man rising, filled with Holy Fire, so that he totally
forgets his danger, and seems not even conscious that
he is doing a heroic act. He casts back upon the mockers
their charge and proceeds to open and press home his
accusation as if he were a king before defenceless culp
rits.
Who is this man? Why, it is Peter, the man who
always took the line of least resistance. It is within
this breast, where quailed a weak and tremulous heart,
that we see glowing now, a brave heart that dreads
neither the power of the authorities nor the violence
of the mob, which faces a crowd of bitter Pharisees and
ignorant soldiers as though they were a flock of sheep.
Is this the Peter of Pilate s hall? Yes, and no. Out
wardly he is the same but inwardly something has
happened. He has been filled with the Holy Ghost. The
fullness of the Spirit has flooded his soul. Tongues of
fire have rested upon him and the promised Comforter
has signified his presence by speaking in other tongues.
As they looked upon Peter, they observed that his
countenance glowed as though it had a lamp behind it.
His eye shone with a purity that was unknown in the
natural. His limbs were agile for any act of prayer or
praise, or errand of compassion and his tongue was a
tongue of fire. They were all silenced and could only
say "he is a good man and filled with the Holy Ghost/
How sad to realize that the Christian Church has
drifted so far from this standard; that church leaders
have become satisfied with education and intelligence,
with a form of Godliness. Here in the hour when the
perfect standard was being set for the ages to follow,
the learned found simplicity, and the ignorant found
29
wisdom. Oh, may we turn back to God and realize
that without a real Baptism in the Holy Ghost, we can
do nothing; but filled with the Holy Ghost, "the ex
celling of the power will be of Thee, God, and not
of us!" 2 Cor. 4:7.
30
CHAPTER V
SPEAKING WITH OTHER TONGUES
WE READ that as the tongues of fire fell upon them,
they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance. It is not said "with unknown
tongues." The expression "unknown tongues" was
never used by an inspired writer. In the Epistle to the
Corinthians it is found in the English version: but the
word "unknown" is in italics showing that it is not
taken from the original. On the day of Pentecost God
awakened men to listen to the gospel truths. As the
waiting company received the promise of the Father
they burst forth speaking in languages they had never
learned. It would appear that they knew what they were
saying. Whether they could or not, God knew and the
listeners knew. Men from every tribe and nation must
be awakened. Christ had died for all. His messengers
were about to declare a gospel for all, and as they
broke out in uncontrollable utterances, God was assur
ing them that the promised power had been bestowed
and at the same time was awakening the multitude to
stop and listen to the message. Not one tongue was
spoken that day but men who walked in the streets
of Jerusalem could say "that is my language wherein
I was born." This was and is a miracle of the highest
possible degree.
Mind is greater than matter. Mind makes matter
the subject of its will. Prior to this, miracles in mind
had been experienced in two forms inspiration, and
prophecy; but now a new miracle in mind was to chal
lenge the world. This miracle differed from all physical
31
miracles; even the complex miracle of raising the dead.
It differed from the miracle of inspiration or prophecy.
To witness a sea dried up or a wilderness covered with
manna was to behold miracles in which people found
themselves close to the God of nature and life, but in
the miracle of tongues we feel ourselves near the fount
of all mind where a strange solemnity falls upon us. We
feel as though we had crossed a borderline into the
Spirit world and were standing before the one great
Eternal God. What a mystery! What an indescribable
wonder! The great mind links His Powers to our minds
and possessing us pours His message through our lips
in a language we have never learned.
What a day it was as a number of Gallillean peas
ants rush from an upper room into the streets of Jeru
salem. A strange fire is in every eye and a strange
light on every countenance. Each one feels that he is
carrying the balm for the world s ills in his breast. The
promised power has come, an inner glory possess them,
each has a message for the world and seeks listeners.
They probably go to the Temple and as they go, they
speak to every race of people. Whether they be Arab,
Roman or Persian they are spoken to in their own
language. They not only tell a strange story but tell
it with a new and unaccountable liberty and power
of utterance, wonderful not only for grace, expression
or sweetness but for power.
One hears in Latin and wonderingly asks "Art
thou not a Gallillean, how it is that thou speakest so
fluently in Latin"? The reply is: "I received it today as
a gift from God." A smile curls on the Roman s lips
but he turns around to find a group listening in Egyp
tian and another in Parthian. People from Jerusalem
are saying "These men are filled with new wine" but
as the people of different languages consult one another
they find that the same message is upon every tongue;
they find that the speakers are unschooled peasants yet
are all gifted with the same strange power. The tongues
32
are the tongues of all mankind, but the message is the
same.
This experience at Jerusalem confounds and re
pudiates the claim of agnostics that God has never
spoken, and that all doctrines are but the guesses of
thinkers and the juggling of priests. Here God spoke
through human lips and continues to do so today. God
spoke out of the fire on Sinai giving simple laws which
if obeyed would bind man to God and man to man,
laying sure paths to peace and blessedness. As in the
Pentecost of Israel God speaks again out of the fire.
This time, however, He makes not one nation but all
nations feel and know that He hath spoken. The way
to Holy living is being declared; the way to happy dying
is being traced by the hand which rules both worlds.
The question arises, did the person speaking know
what he was saying? It should not be hard for any
reader to believe that those in the upper room did but
Paul, however, writing to the Corinthian church says
"Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray
that he may interpret." It would appear from this
that some could speak in tongues which they could
not render in their own language. Paul here teaches
that one who speaks in tongues or someone else present
should possess the power to translate the message at
once into the language of the listeners; that the church
may receive edification.
All doubt as to whether the person speaking always
understood his own utterance is removed by reading
I Corinthians 14 verses 14-19. "For if I pray with an
unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my under
standing is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray
with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding
also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the
understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with
the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the
unlearned say "Amen" at thy giving of thanks, seeing
he imderstandeth not what thou sayest? For thou
33
verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all".
Paul no doubt in private devotion had great periods
of heavenly communion, but hear him say "Yet in the
church I had rather speak five words with my under
standing, that by my voice I might teach others also,
than ten thousand words in a tongue which none would
understand." Here publicly praising "with the under
standing" is taken to be, so to speak praising God that
a common man may understand; and publicly preach
ing that we "teach others also." Praising with the
understanding means worshipping God in the native
tongue which all present can understand, or giving
forth a message, for the edification of the assembly.
For a man to pray or prophesy in a tongue not under
stood by those present is to defeat his own purpose.
To speak to God we need no sound, but when we
speak to man we need words. The one who had the
gift of prophecy or inspired utterance that could be
understood by the listeners stood highest in the cata
logue of effective messengers
It is the writers conviction that a believer may
have the gift of tongues which to him is an unknown
tongue, but in the assembly if he had not received the
gift of interpretation, that he should keep silence if
there is no interpreter. This marvellous experience
at the outset set men and women aglow speaking in
languages they had never learned and which were
understood apparently without an interpreter. As the
church became established God continued the miracle
of tongues with interpretation as a sign to unbelievers
and a means of edifying the church. We must remem
ber, however, that the mighty Holy Ghost not only
enabled these men to speak languages which they had
never learned, but He also gave liberty and power to
their utterance as they rose to speak in their own
tongue. Men have always, when possessed with a great
truth, felt their inability to give forth that truth. The
34
problem of suitable language had always confronted
them. But here were men who had the greatest mes
sage of all time who without any hestitation set out
to declare it. The promised tongue of fire does not in
itself give men power to speak a foreign language but
it does make it possible for our own tongue to be set
on fire. When the occasion warrants in the sovereign
will of God men can break forth in supernatural langu
age, which by the same spirit can be interpreted in
the known language, so that all believers may be edi
fied, and unbelievers have a sign which if they are
as in Jerusalem, serious minded men they will be
awakened to believe the gospel and be converted.
Those disciples had no doubt heard Jesus speak
and observed how His words flowed with smoothness and
power. They had heard their Lord again and again and
could not realize that from their lips also would flow
language sweet and convincing. But with the coming
of the Comforter they found themselves addressing
multitudes with an urge and power that was beyond
their wildest dreams. They found themselves using
words that melted and burned; words that broke stony
hearts; words that not only made them orators beyond
the most famed of Alexandria but flaming ministers
of the glorious gospel. They found themselves speak
ing in a language other than their own and that so
fluently that those of Gyrene and elsewhere declared
"we hear them speak in our language".
We note further that this tongue sat upon not the
twelve only or the seventy chosen evangelists but upon
the ordinary believer, including the women. Instantly
all became active witnesses for Christ.
The fire did not fall on the twelve to be communi
cated by them to others. It did not leave the ordinary
men to be mere spectators; to see the work of the Lord
committed to the selected ministry. It swept away
the priesthood and made a way whereby every man
35
and woman might enter into the heavenlies. True all
were not apostles, all were not evangelists, but all
were priests in that all had equal access to the throne
of God. From now on no man was to be a depository,
or store house wherein spiritual favours might be
stored for the use of those who might purchase or
otherwise secure them.
We note further that "they all began to speak."
This shows that the testimony of Christ was not borne
by the ministry alone; that this chief work of the church
was not confined to official hands. The multitude of
believers were not mere adherents, but living, speak
ing, burning agents for the universal diffusion of God s
message. So many have thought that the whole testi
mony should be left to the preachers, that religion
with others should be a sort of silent secret between
them and God. But when we study that first Christian
scene, we behold every countenance lighted up with
joy and hear every tongue speaking under a common
impulse. The plan and experience of that model church
is surely God s plan for today. God never intended that
speaking the truths of the Gospel should be a pro
fessional work, that preaching the gospel of Christ
should be the cheerless work of set times raising a
testimony in the ears of a people, all of whom make
it a practice of hiding it in their hearts. God s plan
was and is that while the preacher is proclaiming the
message that the Holy Spirit had burned into his soul,
hundreds around him are ready, each one in his sphere,
to make this message their boast and song. Spiritual
office, and spiritual gifts vary greatly in degree, honour,
and authority, and he who has the less should honour
him who has the greater, remembering who it is that
dispenses them; but the greater should never attempt
to extinguish the less. All can and should testify for
Christ in every day life.
36
CHAPTER VI
THE TONGUE OF FIRE AND PETER
TT CAN BE truly stated that when Peter rose and
*- began to preach on the day of Pentecost the Chris
tian church was born, and since that time no matter
what other exercises may make the service of the
church a blessing to the assembled company, the true
church member is not satisfied with any but Holy
Ghost inspired preaching.
Coupled with the tongues of fire, Holy Ghost
preaching was a gift less startling but more influential
than any other in the life and history of the church.
The supernatural utterance accomplished its purpose
in awakening an interest in the gathering multitude.
They were next to see the effect of the power that
was to accompany the experience. Peter fired with an
inner urge, rose and began to preach. He undoubtedly
spoke in his own native dialect. He had often in all
probability spoken before but there is nothing reported
about it, but now this same man, with the same natural
intellect, and the same natural powers of speech, speaks
with a power, the effect of which is instantly apparent.
No preacher ever had such a difficult audience as
did this poor fisherman on that occasion. Jews with all
the prejudices of their race, inhabitants of Jerusalem
with the recollection of the part they had in the cruci
fixion of Jesus of Nazareth, met in the city in their festal
solemnities, jealous for the honour of the temple and
the law; men of different nations, rapidly and earnestly
speaking in their different tongues; one in Hebrew
37
mocking and saying "These men are filled with new
wine." It was a babel of confusion, doubt and wonder.
The fisherman stands up amid this scene and begins
to speak. It is not a tongue of silver, for they say "He
is an ignorant and unlearned man." The rudeness of
his Galillean speech still remains with him. He had,
however, been for three years under the tutorage of
Jesus the peerless One and had learned from His lips
"the deep things of God." Even though he was well
instructed he had no flattering, honeyed tongue to allay
the passions and capture the fancy of the multitude.
As he opens his message and quotes passages from the
Word of God with explanation, the tongue of fire burns
its way into the hearts of that multitude. The mur
mur subsides, the mob becomes a congregation; the
voice of the fisherman sweeps from end to end of that
multitude, unbroken by a single sound; as the words
rush forth like a fiery stream. The prejudice that en
cased the minds and souls of men is burned through
until it touches the very soul itself. Presently one
would think that in that mob there was but one mind
that of the preacher. Finally shame with tears and
sobs possess the assembly. A head bows, a heart groans,
tears begin to fall and some who have no tears in their
hardened make-up, stand and tremble. At length from
the depth of the crowd there rises a cry, it is as if a
man is mourning for his only son. With this cry
the whole body of listeners is carried away and as one
they cry out "Men and brethren what must we do!"
Here was a man who in all probability had passed
the period of life when eloquence is most possible
without having distinguished himself in any way. He
came forward with a most unwelcome message and
addressed a most unfavorable audience with an effect
the like of which had never been known before in the
history of mankind. Never before had three thousand
people been persuaded in the course of an hour to
forego the prejudice of their youth, the favor of their
people, and the religion of their fathers.
38
Here we have the first occasion of New Testament
prophecy, as understood and practiced down through
the ages, the gift of inspired utterance. The gift of
delivering a message from God, under the impulse of
the Spirit of God. This gift in the language of Paul,
was greater than that which had been experienced
and observed in the speaking tongues. "Greater is he
that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues."
The gift of tongues was "for a sign to those who believed
not." Paul makes it clear in the 14th chapter to the
Corinthians that while the gift of tongues in the
assembly would make an impression upon the believer
who might recognize the wonder of one whom he knew
was unlearned using fluently a language which he had
never learned, the unbeliever listening to it would only
think upon it as gibberish and would mock.
This higher gift of prophecy has two great func
tions: first it edifies the believers, and secondly it leads
the unbelievers to a knowledge of Christ. "If all pro
phecy, and there come in one that believeth not, or
one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of
all; and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest
and so falling down on his face he will worship God,
and report that God is in you of a truth." Here is a
man who knows but one language who has no faith
in the Christian church, yet he enters an assembly
where men are speaking in his own tongue; the tongue
of his childhood, but the words spoken in supernatural
power pierce his heart and arouse his conscience. It
seems as though the speaker knows all about him.
There sweeps over him an unaccountable impression
of God s presence. A warning; a call from God sinks
down in his soul. He feels as he never felt before that
"God is in this place;" and falling down upon his face,
he cares not who knows or sees, he gives his heart to
God, and leaves to tell everyone that he meets that
God was in that place. It was the gift of prophecy
operating, that searched his heart and worked the
39
miracle. It differs from Old Testament prophecy in
that it conveys no revelation of truth hitherto unre-
vealed or of future events. It differs from the gift of
tongues in that the intellect and organs operate accord
ing to natural laws, though under a supernatural in
fluence. Here the intellect is illuminated with divine
light, the moral powers are quickened by Divine feel
ing and the physical organs speak with Divine power.
The apostle regards this as the greatest gift in that
through it the prodigals are called home, and taught the
way to overcoming victory. It was the gift which gave
glory and power to the church in all ages. When it
was lost the church dwindled into a natural agency for
social improvement. God s plan for the church ever
will be that ordinary men be endued with extraordinary
power. Men may have brilliant talents and great ora
torical powers and be capable of controlling things, or
by their natural wit and diplomacy manoeuvre even
whole conferences of people, but if they lack what is
known as unction they will fail to accomplish what
a mere school girl can do with it.
When Peter rose that day to face a hostile world
he had a new religion to introduce, a religion without
a history and without a priesthood. This new religion
had not a single school or college, had no people nor
patrons. This proposed church had but three things
her two sacraments water baptism and the Lord s
supper and the tongue of fire. The latter was her
sole instrument of aggression, and against it all that
was venerable and ancient rose up before her in solid
opposition. No passion of the mob, no theories of
the learned, no interests of the public favoured her; nor
did she seek by flattery or favour to win them. With
her tongue of fire she assailed existing systems and
every evil habit; with that tongue of fire she burned
her way through every form of opposition. Her force
and power lay in her preaching with that "tongue of
fire"
40
All received the Baptism of fire as tongues of fire
sat upon them, but all did not receive as Stephen did,
the gift of prophecy. It is recorded of him that "they
could not resist the wisdom and the power with which
he spake".
The first leaders realized the need of speech by
the tongue of fire. When they were opposed and im
prisoned we read that they gathered for prayer and
as they prayed their petition was, that they might
have the "power to speak the word with all boldness,,
and Paul prayed "that utterance might be given unto
me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known
the riches of the gospel".
Again and again we are reminded that such utter
ance is "the gift of God". Even before Pentecost we
have Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin uttering great
and glorious things by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yes and Jeremiah and Isaiah were not strangers to the
same powers.
Down through the early church we find traces of
how men possessed with this tongue of fire swept whole
communities in spite of persecution and danger.
They had no press, radio or modern agencies to
help. They had, however, the tongue of fire. This
was God s highest and most powerful agency and even
though in most cases they did not have the advantage of
scholarship, prestige, or polished manners, they swept
great audiences like a prairie fire. One listener would
be broken down, he would seek the promise and re
ceiving it would ignite his neighbour until a new song
would be heard in country lane and village street. The
song of rejoicing.
In all the history of the church religion has never
sustained itself except by the tongue of fire It has
only been when men have spoken not with "words which
man teacheth, but, which the Holy Ghost teaches" have
sinners been converted and saints been prompted to
41
seek a saintlier life. Wherever this gift has not been
in evidence men and women have introduced every
natural advantage to replace it more learning more
system more order more economy in fact every
scheme has been employed from the deeper reflection
of the ancients to the modern Bally-hoo and entertain
ment of the theatrical. All these, however, have only
left the church less efficient. With it all we find, a
lower standard, fewer saints, but wherever holy men
have preached with the tongue of fire men and women
have entered into an experience in God which has
urged them on to possess more of Him.
The sermons of Whitfield have not lived, nor do
they when analysed, set any standard of perfection in
homiletics, and yet thousands were converted as he
preached. What was the secret? "The tongue of fire."
When we turn to Wesley we do not find any special
natural qualities as should be stamped upon a man
of such far-reaching powers, yet he had power, power
which cleansed hearts and produced holy living in
hundreds of thousands. It was a power deeper than
logic, and more moving than any pathos. It raised in
the breast of hearers thoughts of God, eternity, sin,
death, heaven and hell. This tongue of fire leaped from
the pulpit messenger and caught in the tinsel of melted
heart strings and in turn gave power as each one wit
nessed, whether around the dining-room table, by the
plow, in the store or wherever God brought the one
aflame in contact with the miserable sinner.
Here is the secret of success in every phase of
Christian effort. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST
AND FIRE.
42
CHAPTER VII
THE ABIDING FLAME
is no further mention after the first outpour-
-*- ing of the visible flame. It stands related to the
Christian dispensation as the fires of Sinai did to the
Mosaic the solemn token of supernatural fire.
We can, however, be conscious of an abiding inner
flame which in its reality gives joy and glory to life.
This flame sweetens language, warms the soul and in
many cases is felt even in the mortal flesh. Some are
conscious of it at all times, and more as they minister
in prayer, read the scripture or lay hands upon the
sick. It is this inner flame which prompts and guides
in the ministration of the gifts. The exercise of all the
spiritual gifts is intended to be the permanent privilege
of the Church, but there is an apparent special emphasis
placed upon the gift of tongues for we find it in evi
dence in the house of Cornelius and at Ephesus. Aquila
and Priscilla instructed Apollos in the deeper way
and Paul laid hands upon the group of disciples that
they might receive the Holy Ghost.
It is quite clear from the letter to the Corinthians
that the gift of tongues operating in a meeting is a
sign to the unbeliever. We quote "tongues are for a
sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe
not". The specific use assigned to the miracle is that
it is a sign to them who believe not. Many otherwise
dull Pentecostal meetings would be set on fire if the
gifts were in evidence and interpretation was practised
more. Many would be used of God to receive a message
from God and many would enter into the glory of in-
43
terpreting that message if they had some sound instruc
tion. Every baptized saint should be following the prea
cher as he is caught into the glow and glory of prophecy
and is giving forth the Word. As he does the one having
the gift of tongues will be powerfully moved upon to
rise and speak in tongues, then that inner, flowing
satisfying sweetness which one the baptized believer
knows will burst forth in uncontrollable utterance. All
the rest should plunge as it were at once into the spiri
tual tide and have faith for the interpretation. The
message in tongues will always be a confirmation of
the message or point in the service and the one fired
with the urge of interpretation may rise and start in the
natural but pass into the spiritual. As he proceeds he
will know and all listeners will know that God has truly
put His seal upon the words of the messenger.
On the day of Pentecost we believe that the gift
enabled the recipients to address the different groups
in their own language but we do not find any suggestion
that it was ever used for this purpose afterwards. Its
one use was "for a sign" to unbelievers and when pro
perly interpreted to edify the believer. Prophecy was to
be the most profitable gift.
Let it be stated again that a religion without the
Holy Ghost, though it has all the ordinances and doc
trines of the New Testament is certainly not true
Christianity. The presence and power of the spirit is the
vital element.
All who sincerely embrace Christianity must recog
nize the Presence of the Spirit as an integral part of
its system and power; and this Presence must be felt in
the hearts and lives of individual believers.
Ecclesiastical leaders have divorced the Presence
from the individual as it suited their purposes and
pretended that this indwelling nower belonged only
to them. This of course is error for the clear language
of scripture shows that He came to indwell the body,
44
soul and spirit of believers everywhere until the end
of time. No leader has any scriptural authority to de
part from what has been the clear testimony of surren
dered hearts all down the years.
We cannot expect the presence of the Spirit in the
church in the Romanish sense, and yet we can expect
that where a body of believers filled with the Holy Ghost
gather that He will manifest himself in a real way. There
may not be visible signs such as the tongue of fire,
and miracles, but there will be the presence of the
Holy Ghost manifesting Christ to the believers hearts,
edifying the church and convicting and converting the
unbelievers in the midst. These are necssary to the
identity of the Christian reigion, and were bestowed
for all ages, and will until the end of time be poured
forth upon all who will wait for Him satisfied with
nothing less.
The church may teach man the holiest of truths
and yet leave him a wretched man. Thousands learn
in childhood that "God is love" yet live and die dis
regarding and blaspheming God. Thousands hear from
their earliest days the words "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved" and yet neglect this
great salvation all their lives. The mere truth does not
suffice to bring about the conversion of a soul. There
must be a Divine working power in evidence and this
power is the Holy Ghost.
No one should stop waiting upon God until He
fills and satisfies. When he does, this inner flame will
be felt and if encouraged by the opening of the corri
dors of the mind and heart will operate. The candi
date will be conscious of it and all others will realize
that a gracious presence goes with him.
The belief that truth is mightly and by reason of
its might must prevail, is false as demonstrated in
society everywhere. The passion and habits of men
yield to error unless a supernatural power opposes it.
45
The facts are that truth in itself is power in pure
natures, but error has right of way in depraved ones.
A religion without the Holy Ghost, though it had
all the ordinances and all the doctrines of the New
Testament would not be Christianity. The presence and
power of the Spirit is the vital element, just as the
atmosphere that surrounds our world is necessary to
sustain life. It would be just as impossible to conceive
of human beings existing without air as to conceive of
the New Testament church thriving in the true sense
without the presence and power of the Holy Ghost.
It is quite clear that all who minister Christianity
must recognize the presence of the Spirit as an integral
part of its system and power, and this presence cannot
be maintained in a so called holy church made up of
unholy members. The Spirit lives in the hearts of
individual believers, sanctified souls, whose bodies have
become Temples of the Holy Ghost. It is a sad and
terrible state that millions are living in, victims of a
great error. The idea that the presence of the Spirit
belongs only to popes and priests, and that they alone
have power to promulgate doctrine and withold the
word from the masses of the people on the pretext
that they are not capable of interpreting it. They deny
the masses the one and only safe guide, because gener
ally speaking they are total strangers to such them
selves. We have not the slightest evidence that the
presence of the Spirit can abide anywhere but in indi
vidual believers who are consecrated to His will. It is
when we are conscious of that Presence moving upon
the believer s heart, through His ministerial influence
acting upon the church, and His converting power act
ing upon the world we have the Christian church. These
are necessary to the identity of the Christian religion
and were bestowed for all ages, and will to the end of
the world be shed on those who perseveringly wait for
the Baptism of Fire.
46
It is quite a common persuasion that whilst man
can draw knowledge from physical objects and from
the minds of other men he cannot have access to the
source of all knowledge. There is no scriptural ground
for any other idea than that the Spirit of God does
communicate directly with the spirit of man. If man
were cut off from the source of light his soul would be
entirely lost. It is the sense of sin that gives to one
the feeling of banishment from the presence of God,
but when one acknowledges sin and believes in Christ
as the Saviour then a bridge is thrown across the chasm
and communion is established.
Some shrink from entertaining the idea of God
having communion with man on the grounds of its
mystery. How is it done they ask? No one sees God.
No one hears God. There is mystery everywhere. We
all can ask questions about most anything we use and
handle which cannot be answered, but there is no more
mystery about God holding communion with those who
are surrendered to His will than there is about a man
on a platform holding communion with an audience.
He is conveying his ideas and thoughts to them but
none can see the thoughts passing, all one can see
is a man in action but as his lips move expressing his
thoughts, those thoughts are conveyed to the mind of
the hearer. As they register upon the brain they form
pictures and impressions but no one would refrain
from sharing in it all, because he could not understand
it.
The only real difficulty that has existed down
through the ages has been how could a holy God
hold communion with unholy men and remain holy?
That problem has been solved. The Holy One meets
the unholy over the blood of atonement. There is
death for evil doing wrath against iniquity yet mercy
for the repentant.
Truth is power but only when the Holy Spirit ap
plies it. Many today who are not ready to acknowledge
47
any supernatural element in religion take refuge in
the idea that we are not to expect what the primitive
church enjoyed. They may expect no miracles and only
a limited amount of grace. Nothing could be more
contrary to the whole spirit and genius of revealed
religion than that the progress of the years and events
should be coupled with a diminishing amount of Divine
life and grace among men. All things promise progress
not retrogression. There is nothing in scripture to lead
anyone to believe that Christianity is to decline with
age. God has not changed over the ages in His relation
to the universe. He does not allow the very least of
His created things to shift for themselves No, He has
in His care the same as He ever did, every daisy of
the field and every creature of the forest and sea and
air. Is it inconceivable that He would cast aside the
ones made in His own image and remove the means
whereby he held fellowship with them. He did not
exhaust His power in bringing into being the church.
He did not withdraw from it after Pentecost, no, the
promise is "He shall abide with you forever" "and lo
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world".
Those promises will never be withdrawn while there
is a believer who will embrace them. There never was
to be any withdrawal but on the contrary a going ahead.
"Greater things than these shall ye do." Every added
convert properly instructed elevates the standard and
with the greater light, and example which is ours we
should present a character more complete.
It is significant that our Lord did not say "without
me ye can do little" He said "without me ye can do
nothing". It is clearly settled then that our stength is
not in the natural but in the Spirit. How wonderful
to know that grace which was poured out so fully in
the primary hours of the church knows no limitation or
weakness but from age to age and from generation
to generation flows on as sure and steady as the sun.
Some are ready to admit that the church as a whole
48
should advance but cannot see how the individual should
even share in the experience which was so common in
the first church at Jerusalem. Let us note that Peter
on the day of Pentecost said "unto as many as the
Lord shall call" and our Lord in His high priestly
prayer said "neither pray I for these alone but for all
which shall believe on me" and later hear Him say,
"I in them and thou in me; that they may be made
perfect in one". It was by this manifestation that the
world was to know that He was sent. This, however,
was to be for those who would honour and receive the
Holy Spirit "ye are in the Spirit; if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you" "now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ he is none of His". If we will walk
in the spirit we can enjoy all that anyone ever enjoyed
in the Spirit.
It can hardly be imagined that God would do as
some teach, call a man into the liberty of the new life
and leave him in doubt as to his future progress, that
God would tell a man who has been saved under the
same covenant of grace, and with the same promise of
adoption as his brother ages ago, that the experience of
his brother at the beginning of the church is not his
to enjoy today.
All Heaven rejoiced when God the everlasting
Father decreed that guilty man might be pardoned for
his offences, recognized before the angels and made
an heir of His glory. But more than Heaven rejoiced.
The King had proclaimed a pardon and that proclama
tion must have effect.
The Comforter sped to the mourner s heart and
with His coming the captive found deliverance and he
that was bound found the "opening of the prison doors"
and tasting the liberty of the children of God sang out
"Oh Lord I will praise Thee, Thine anger is turned
away and Thou comfortest me".
49
Modernism would have us believe that God has com
pletely changed. His plan of dealing with the sinner,
that repentance and faith in Christ which bring pardon
to a sin sick soul and a consciousness of liberty which
inspires a shout are outmoded. Praise God they are
wrong. The Everlasting Comforter of the pilgrims who
travelled this heavenward road before us has not lost
His wings or grown weary with the lapse of time.
That believers become conscious in the fullest
measure that being "justified by Faith, they have peace
with God and become fellow citizens with the Saints
and of the household of God". Once in darkness, now
in the light. It is only when this Comforter comes in
that joy flows and strength possesses men making them
ready to face reproach and dare hard service. Paul
said, "But I obtained mercy that in me first Christ Jesus
might show forth all long suffering". What for? "For
a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on
Him to everlasting life." It is quite clear from it all
that what Paul enjoyed all may enjoy.
The three persons of the blessed Holy Trinity all
have a part in our redemption and preparation for
service. God the Father leads us to repentance and
says thy sins be forgiven, the Son imparts to us His
own righteousness and the Spirit sets a seal upon us
and imparts His power to interpret the Word and to
bear testimony to the world.
This gospel plan is the only one. Burdened sinners,
after their wanderings and discouragements must come
at last to the cross. They must look if they would be
healed, and when pardon is granted they will know it.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit unite to assure their
hearts and give abiding peace. God does not leave it
all to mere reasoning. Faith looks and God responds.
The candidate knows. He knows because "another Com
forter" is within and it is He who cries "Abba Father".
It is He who seals. He who sheds abroad the "love of
50
God in our hearts". He who enables us to know the
things that are freely given us of God. Of course the
man who labours through higher or lower criticism to
understand cannot do so, for the things of God are
"spiritually discerned,/ What God spiritually reveals
can be spiritually discerned. Just as the radio has
the arrangement within to pick up the messages so
with the Comforter within God can reveal his will and
awaken motion of joy and satisfaction beyond anything
imagined before. The scribes and pharisees could not
understand the healing of the blind man, but he could
say "one thing I know whereas I was blind now I can
see".
Many who are sincere and earnest pass the days
of their pilgrimage in gloom, having no inner Presence,
no conscious title to a lot in glory They have no perman
ent joy or peace in believing. Many are not taught to
look upon the cross until they come into a clear cons
ciousness that their sins are forgiven. A sad failure in
our modern evangelism lies in the fact that seekers
are often encouraged to come to a penitent form and
are not prayed with until the Comforter truly and
fully heals their wounds. The emphasis being placed
upon names, numbers or church membership. Many
such go on but to travel in deep shadows or moonlight
when they might be travelling in the clear sunshine.
No seeker should ever be allowed to leave the place
of repentance until he has a clear experience in
Christ. All Christian character depends upon the
relation of the soul with its Creator. If his reaction
be cold instead of joyous, if he is governed by feel
ings of doubt instead of happy assurance of sonship
then the life is overcast with shadows and the candi
date goes on in a sort of fear of an austere Master
instead of being under the care of a kind and loving
Father. How wonderful to know that "our fellowship
can be with the Father and with the Son! That down
through the years by and through the Holy Spirit every
51
comfort and communion that our fathers enjoyed can
be ours. When Peter said "To us and to our children
and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the
Lord our God shall call,/ he meant that no matter how
far distant from that moment by time or space the
call might be sounded, it would carry with it the same
tongues and outward sign. Miraculous gifts were in
separable attendants of the early church and every
thing that they enjoyed remains unimpaired and free
as ever for us.
52
CHAPTER VIII
THE MODEL CHRISTIAN CHURCH
OUR LORD stated that when the spirit would be
poured out "He would convince the world of sin and
righteousness and of judgment." This was His plan
that the miracle which produced an audience and which
brought such results in Jerusalem should be repeated
throughout the world until the end of time.
The gift of tongues produced only an impression,
prepared an audience for the preacher and gave him
power to hold it; but it did not convert; or instruct
them. No one there knew anything about Christian
doctrines. Any modern Christian audience believes be
fore the speaker starts that the Bible is the Word of
God. Some power beyond the testimony of the miracle,
and the appeal of the sermon must be in evidence
if souls are to be touched. What single individual would
embrace truths so dangerous to his respectibility and
comfort no matter how convincingly uttered unless he
were caught in the whirl of some power beyond him
self.
Something tremendously powerful had to take place
if men were to be converted on this day. As an acorn
will produce an oak in spite of every influence to the
contrary, so man will not shift from his natural course
of life formed through the centuries, without a force
being exerted that it stronger than nature.
It is the nature of fallen man to prefer present
pleasures to future happiness, the favour of the world
to the favour of the Almighty; to love himself and for-
53
get his Creator. To change a man s ways from selfish,
sinful habits to those of new creature after years of
continual activity along a different road requires the
operation of the power that created the universe, the
power that rules nature and through nature circum
stances. Everything in nature is in itself totally incap
able of rising above its own nature and more, every
effort of the natural cannot change nature. The thorn
berry will produce a thorn bush. It cannot rise above
it nor can it sink below it.
Many claim that human nature is in itself good,
but what are the facts? Wherever it has been left to
itself over the ages it has produced a crop of sins and
troubles. No man in the natural ever needed any help
beyond himself to go down the path of wrong. He has
always found an inward power pulling strongly down
ward and with real satisfaction he has slipped down
the sin road. But when the same man received an
inclination to do right, he always feels need of help
and instinctively drops upon his knees crying "0 God
help me".
Every beast of the field can trust his nature and
follow it, certain that it will lead him to the best of
which he is capable. But man s most powerful enemy
is his own nature. He may desire to be good and to
do good and noble deeds but his miserable nature be
trays him. At the first opportunity man must be
changed in his heart, then though the world may assail
him it cannot conquer. Make him sound within and he
will ride out any storm. It was strange that three thous
and men and women after one hearing of an untried
religion should accept it and publicly enroll themselves
as its disciples.
And it was strange still that the men at whose
hands they took the pledge of faith were men without
repute, whom they themselves had despised. What
a transformation! And the greatest wonder of all is that
as the days go by and they have ample time to think
54
it all over they not only stand true, but men who up
till the hour that Peter had stood before them with
the tongue of fire, had been persons of as weak a char
acter as can be imagined now stand before the world
as saints. The vile have become noble, the bitted gentle,
the sensual pure. A community drawn from Jews of
the ordinary standard, from persons of every variety
of character and of sinfulness, is a community so pure,
so far beyond what human eyes ever have seen before,
that it must have seemed that Heaven had begun on
earth. Here was a community that was raised sud
denly into a new and glorious way of living, and which
not only maintains their moral elevation, astonishing
their neighbours and friends but withstanding all op
position which prejudice and evil powers could bring
to bear to crush them.
Through the days, weeks and months which follow
these people, "remain steadfast in the apostles doctrine
and fellowship" . . . "the go on from glory to glory".
Happy on earth and inheritors of heaven, they care not
if all the world laughs at them, they have found the
goal of all searching hearts and know it. We cannot
fully comprehend the immensity of it all. Three thous
and sinners soundly converted in a single day, three
thousand folk, weak and sinful by nature, open to the
temptation of Satan as we are, changed in a moment
and going on to maintain a life that was marked for
its holiness.
Of all the features that awaken our thoughts as
we try to survey that peerless drama of Christian activi
ty this one of thousands being so completely changed
speaks the loudest of all. Here we see not only in
Word but in actual demonstration our hope. Not in
one poor worldling saved, not in a couple of solitary
converts, but in thousands of men and women of ordin
ary wants and employments, to whom life has become
a joy through fellowship with God and a straight road
into His presence forever.
55
There are physical miracles and mental miracles.
Here is a moral miracle a miracle in which the heart
which controls the man is changed. The problem of
the ages, how to make the bad good, is solved once
for all. Human hearts were changed and as mind con
trolled by the heart is greater than matter, changed
hearts through the mind began to do what was impos
sible in the natural.
In the physical miracle we see the God of nature
accrediting revelation; in the mental miracle we see
the God of mind accrediting revelation, but here we
see a higher and grander miracle we see the bad
made good; the impure pure; a clean thing brought out
of an unclean; the devilish made like Christ. "Instead
of the thorn comes up the fir tree."
The regeneration of a sinner is an evidence of
power in its highest sphere not the creating of a
man but the recreating of him after he has fallen. It is
in this that the glory of the gospel is displayed, giving
hope to all. For "whosoever will" can look back upon
those three thousand and say: Redemption is wrought
out! Even a human being like me can be sanctified,
yea even whole communities may be salvaged and made
to dwell in peace and love. Sin has found a conqueror.
Sin in my heart and nature can be cleansed away. I
too, can be made free".
The Christian church has largely lost sight of the
great possibilities that are before her. Too often she
has not looked upon the possibility of having a whole
community converted but has been hoping only for the
few. She has been satisfied with so little. It is good
that we look back at the church at her beginning. She
sought not the few in some isolated corner; no, she
started out right in Jerusalem and made the religion of
Jesus Christ the religion of the multitude, the religion
of fathers and mothers, of traders, landowners, widows,
men and women of every class and colour. She em
braced every trade and creed and tongue of every age!
56
No one can examine the record of this miracle in
Jerusalem without being struck with the suddeness of
their conviction and the permanence of the results.
When Peter began to preach there was not one
amongst them that was even respectful, some were even
mocking. As he proceeded, however, a sword went into
the very hearts of these men. They were paralyzed
as they stood there and their whole life was laid
bare before them, processess of thought which other
wise would have required a long time to work over
were crystallized into flashes across the soul and
each found himself a sinner in the midst of his own
sins and submerged in a sea of conviction. All cried
"What must I do to be saved"? Why could not these
men control themselves? Why did they not do what
so many in modern congregations do, go home and
think it over? Why make themselves a spectacle to
men? They were wounded to the quick and forgot all
natural considerations. They saw that their souls were
sick and must be healed. All the natural forces were
in eclipse and feeling that they had fallen into the
hands of an angry God, they cried out for mercy.
The suddenness of their conversion proves that it
was wrought by supernatural means. Natural forces
or means can never change a nature even though they
may modify it. Long steady training can do much but
when God begins to work on a penitent soul time is
not a factor. The Holy Spirit can accomplish in a
moment what man cannot accomplish in a life time
of effort. God s plan for the church was demonstrated
here, by sudden conviction and sudden conversion.
The most triumphant saints have been those who hav
ing been stirred by the gospel for the first time yielded
and found Christ. These have gone on and become
pillars in the church, while others who left the meeting
and allowed the fire of conviction to wear off stood in
danger of ever having a real experience in Christ.
57
The world today is looking forward to the coming
of a day when peace will be assured and many are
the proposals that are being put forward in the hope
that a new and better society will be coined out of the
old. Here is the infallible recipe for a new and better
world. "They continue steadfastly in the apostles doc
trine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and
in prayers." Here was a people who had found in
regeneration a certain plan for the transformation of
a community. Statesmen and philosophers occupied
with the idea of forming a family of happy nations are
looking to good institutions as a means of doing so.
They are all doomed to disappointment for good institu
tions presuppose a good people. But with the state of
society as it exists in the world today, good institutions
cannot be maintained. So long as leaders have to build
institutions out of depraved and unprincipled people,
these institutions must ultimately fall into disrepute.
The only way to hope for a regeneration of society is
to see to it that the individual is regenerated. Make the
tree good and the fruit will be good. Here is the great
fault of all statesmen throughout the world, they forget
the heart of the individual. Let us remember, however,
that while it is of the utmost importance that we aim
to bring men to repentance and regeneration ,it is also
of great importance that we study ways and means
whereby we can make an application of Christianity to
social needs.
It is true that Christian teaching when continually
addressed to a community lays a foundation for social
advancement but it does not follow that a true Christian
community will automatically be the outcome. Fearful
evils do co-exist with a state of society where many are
holy. See in our land of churches with its groups of
truly converted ones here and there, the strangling
liquor traffic, commercial frauds, neglect of children
and of the aged, immorality and every lewd debasing
thing. To be indifferent to these things is to be as
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unfaithful to Christian morals as to hope to remedy
them without conversion of the individual.
The gospel which Peter preached at Pentecost was
more than a salvation of the soul only: it was a salvation
of the whole man fitting him into society in a clean
noble way. It made him "a living epistle known and
read of all men". It was a gospel which looked forward
to forming a holy community right here in this world.
Satan does not worry much about the religion which
only deals with the subsoil, he knows that such a religion
will not be effective so long as he keeps the surface
for his own cultivation. The gospel which Peter
preached had as its purpose the cultivation of the whole
garden and making its bloom, blossom and bear fruit.
It made no provision for weeds and thistles. It was
wheat and not tares that Peter had in mind as he
plowed the souls of men and sowed the seeds of the
Kingdom. We should note also that it was a preaching
church and praying church that the Holy Ghost started
on its way. "They continued steadfastly in the apostles
doctrine, and fellowship, with the breaking of bread,
and prayers."
The proof of a man being sent by God to do any
work is found in his being qualified for the task. All
the authorities in the universe cannot make the man
who is not sent by God His ambassador. If Christ sends
a man He will give him power to beseech men to be
reconciled to God, power to warn every man and teach
every man that he may present him perfect. A minister
that only carries out rituals and reads prayers that
some other has written is only a pretence. Christ s
messengers are equipped to "rightly divide the word
of truth" and "preach the gospel with demonstration
of the spirit and power". It is the apex of calamity that
with the Holy Spirit in the world to empower men the
human family has to suffer under what is so often
palmed off on them as Christianity.
We can be sure that whilst teaching formed an
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arch in the whole structure of the church, prayer was
one of their habitual exercises. Not merely listening
to the prayer of one gifted leader but prompted prayers
meetings when all lifted up their voices as one,
prayers without forethought, prayers without a book,
prayers from those who had no other gift but who
could pour out their heart to God, prayer by those who
apparent to all were "unlearned and ignorant men"
but "praying in the Holy Ghost". We have no record
that Peter ever stood up and said, "I must regulate
this church, must see to it that all is done according
to plan. The use of vulgar tones and uneducated lan
guage must cease. No one must pray in public who
cannot do so without exposing us to shame and ridicule.
We have prepared forms so that in the future all our
services will be in beautiful language for we want to
gain and hold the respect and good will of the multitude
who come in to look us over."
No, we do not read anything of the kind. Had
Peter done so we would never have heard of that
church. The prayers in that church were prayers which
Holy fire had kindled, prayers that came from the
unschooled disciples, from rough, ignorant peasants,
from timid women and broken hearts that had been
healed by the touch of the Loving Hand.
No church can call herself a church which depends
upon trained leaders to do the praying. It is true that
where the members have never been shown the privilege
and joy of praying in the Holy Ghost and as a conse
quence only one or two monopolize the public prayers,
a solemn well worded prayer is to be preferred. The
fact remains that the gift of prayer that comes upon
every believer who receives the baptism of the Holy
Ghost is the very life of the church and wise leaders
will encourage it, and will see individuals and churches
grow in power and blessing. In no form is the tongue
of fire more impressive, more calculated to convince
men that a power above nature is working, than when
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poor men, who have no genius of preaching, who could
not frame an argument for public utterance, lift up their
voices amid a group of fellow believers and in strains
of glorious trust and emotion, plead in prayer, using
language of which they would be quite incapable at
other times.
The Christian church as moulded and directed by
the inspired apostles was not framed on the idea of an
accomplished circle but on the idea of a church which
included in its membership the learned and the un
learned, the refined and the rustic, the honoured evan
gelist and the most humble member, but all rejoicing
as one.
It had leaders who were powerful in leadership
and members who were powerful in prayer.
It must be noted also that they continued steadfast.
They had struck oil and knew it. Nothing could shake
them from their conviction that Jesus was their Saviour.
That He had baptized them in the Holy Spirit and Fire.
That He was their Healer and coming King. Let phil
osophers and others try to argue the experience away
if they like, this multitude was "steadfast in the apostles
doctrine and fellowship". A powerful factor in the
whole church was its fellowship. Here was a com
pany of over three thousand in which everyone could
look the other in the black of the eye and truthfully
say "I love you". It was this unity, this fellowship, that
kept them powerful, reaching out to embrace Jerusalem,
until we read later that the company numbered five
thousand men alone. There was no envy, jealousy, back
biting or self seeking in that church. It is the Holy Ghost
who declares that they were in one accord in fellowship,
Friction and division between members could not con
tinue in that model church for they took advantage of
the regulator which God had provided. They observed
regularly with a correct understanding of the same, the
sacrament of the Lord s supper and we read "and break
ing of bread".
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If we had been there we would have heard Peter
or one of the leaders announcing the sacrament of the
Lord s supper and declaring that as in the Old Testa
ment feasts no one dare absent themselves from the
same and let no one dare to observe it unworthily, for
to do so would as Paul speaking to the church in Corinth
later put it, "For this cause many are weak and sickly
among you and many sleep or are dead". If by chance
there should arise a division between any two in that
church it would be soon adjusted because neither one
would dare present himself at the "breaking of bread"
without first being reconciled to his brother. In this
way a beautiful fellowship v/as formed and maintained.
How beautifully God plans things. Here at the
beginning of the Christian church He sets the church
in order along the line of a family where there can be
fellowship, men and women born again become mem
bers of the family of God. A glow of family loveliness
runs through the New Testament. Here we find brothers
and sisters, friends, lovers, who cling to each other as
the members of a family. They have a common exper
ience in being delivered from the power of darkness
and translated into the Kingdom of God s dear Son, a
common experience in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost
with signs following. Something had happened as they
had burst frth in other tongues which made them dif
ferent, stangers to the world and even the ordinary be
liever. They had been initiated into a secret relation
ship which no argument or criticism could rob them of.
How lovely the admonition of Paul is as years later he
addresses the church family "Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admon
ishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Here we have an injunction for the ordinary Christian
to be well acquainted with the Word of God, with a view
to the edification of one another, by teaching and ad
monition. Such counsel could never have been given
62
had it been the plan, that all teaching and preaching
must come from elected, gifted leaders. It is quite clear
that in God s plan the gift of every member is to be
exercised and that for the edification of one another
in the great church family. We read again "From whom
(Christ) the whole body fitly joined together" and com
pacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love. Here "every joint" has a part in the supply.
Every part must effectually work and in this way the
body is to increase. It was never intended that all would
depend upon the inspired leader. No! all were to have
a lovely helpful part in the work of the church. All
are admonished to "speak often one to another", "ad
monish one another in psalms and hymns."
The regular ministry of the word of course must
always take a leading part in the instruction of the
people. Prepared addresses must continue to be the
prime source of teaching, but those who reject the
practical or home teaching of free hearted "fellowship"
are standing in the way of men and women who need
something beyond the solemn pulpit utterances to keep
them in victory. -They need the inspiration that comes
from actual persons who by song and testimony tell of
what God is doing for them. The minister who has a
church family of "lively stones" which are known and
read of all men, can see daily practical demonstrations
of his pulpit doctrines. These if encouraged will by
their testimonies and life preach greater practical ser
mons than his pre-worded ones.
Religion is a life to be lived in fellowship; a conflict
which can only be carried on in groups. It is a redemp
tion of which we are to impart the joy. It is a hope,
for we are told that "they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard
it, and a book of remembrance was written before him
for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon
63
his name." This religion finds expression through a
church wherein every person from the minister down
in his own order "according to the grace that is given
to him" is called to exercise his gift, effectually working
for the general good of the whole. When all this is
recognized and practiced hearts will be open and fellow
ship will be free and inspiring.
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CHAPTER IX
THE TONGUE OF FIRE AND
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
THE New Testament ministry rests not on mental,
emotional, or educational strength but using each
of these as occasions may serve, finds its own power
in spiritual influence.
It is well to note that the miraculous gifts imparted
to many in the early dawn of the church are marked
by the hand of the apostle as inferior to those gifts
which were "for edification and for exhortation and
comfort", "and God hath set some in the church, first
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then the gifts of healing, governments,
diversities of tongues." Here miracle working, healing,
and speaking with divers tongues are set as inferior
gifts to those of Wisdom and understanding, exercised
by teachers or prophets. The same thought is expressed
in Ephesians 4:11, "And He gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pas
tors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ." The gifts of the Spirit were distributed
according to the Spirit s will among these ministers,
the superior gifts for the building up of the saints no
doubt, and the more spectacular gifts as signs to the
unconverted to convince them of the truth and to turn
them to Christ as a Saviour. True many prophets and
teachers down the years possessed and exercised mirac
ulous gifts but it was not by these they effected the
"perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, or
65
the edifying of the body of Christ". The important thing
in all cases to have like John a call from God, with
the Holy Ghost equipment. It was and is the Word "that
our Lord promised to honour in the midst with signs
following".
Whether we take the prophets under the old dis
pensation, or the Lord s messengers under the new, we
find that the distinctive characteristics of a true minister
of God lay in a call and a qualification. The qualifica
tions involved a gift, a power and a training. He who
had a call from God, a gift from God and a power from
God and He only, was a true prophet, pastor or teacher
in the true sense. The training varied with the age,
dispensation and circumstances; but none ever did or
ever can make him a minister who does not have a call,
and a gift and power sent upon him by the Holy Spirit.
The call presupposes the gift, for God is too wise
a leader to call soldiers and send them forth without
equipment, and to give a gift to an unregenerated man
would be to arm a rebel. The call and the equipment
can never be separated. The love of Christ constrains;
and those constrained find themselves as they are pos
sessed of a gift to speak to edification, or exhortation,
or comfort and has in the exercise of his gift the evi
dence that God is calling him into His vineyard. What
they feel is not a mere desire to enter the ministry as
a good and useful office or to spend life in an honour
able and happy vocation; but is a constraining move
ment of the love of Christ, as if issuing from the heart
and working there a strong impulse to cry out and labor
for the recovery of the lost. No matter how strong this
desire, if it is not accompanied with a gift for public
effort it can be quite clearly taken that God is not calling
to public service. Let it be stated again, him whom God
sends to any work He qualifies for that. work.
A man may have a true impulse to labor for Christ
and misjudge his own gift. There has been no more
false notion that the idea that one has to be a
66
preacher in order to truly and fully serve Christ. He
gives gifts for every field of human service and one is
as noble and honourable as another. Here we deal with
those who feel a call for the public ministry who may
be far from qualified for it. The final responsibility
rests not upon such but upon the church. The can
didate only can judge as to the inward motive of his
soul, whether or not he in his heart is moved by the
Holy Ghost to undertake the work; or whether he is led
by an ordinary professional motive.
The church has her responsibility and before she
seals the credentials of any, if she would not like
Rehoboam of old fill her pulpits with false priests, she
should make sure whether the Lord Himself has sealed
them by gift of the Holy Ghost. The church must make
sure that candidates have the marks of grace, gifts and
fruit. That the whole life testifies that they have felt
repentance to which they are to call sinners, exercised
the faith which encourages penitents and have exper
ienced that sanctification to which they must lead be
lievers into. If the evidence of this is not clear the
church sins a grievous sin in accrediting them in the
world as those qualfied "to warn every man and teach
every man that he may present every man perfect."
No circumstance of time, age or place can authorize
any church to dispense with the qualifications so clearly
set forth in scripture. We read further "The same
commit thou to faithful men" and again "who is that
faithful and wise steward". In these passages and all
through the word of God, the spiritual qualification is
set as a consideration antecedant to that of the gifts.
First faithful not merely faithful but "who shall be
able to teach others also."
When therefore, any one comes forward to offer
himself as a loborer in the vineyard of the Lord, before
he can be rightly assigned to any sphere, the question
as to his spiritual character must be favorably decided
and then his sphere should be determined by his gifts.
67
Which of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit have been
conferred upon him? If none of them, who will take
the responsibility to say that he is one who should be
made responsible for the souls of men? In the New
Testament Church the only warrant for credentials was
based on the facts that the candidate had one or more
of the gifts. His work was not gauged by any process
of schooling or otherwise to create gifts, but from among
the Holy Ghost gifted brethren select those whom the
Lord had by His own will and act previously fitted for
special offices. The church did not call men, she separ
ated, as directed by the Holy Ghost, those who had
been called.
Let us note further that the Spirit not only calls
but fits the candidates for the Christian ministry. This
is seen in the whole of the Old Testament. Not in the
priestly office, for the work of the priest was not to
teach, edify, warn or forewarn but to be a medium of
access to the presence of God on His mercy seat. His
office ended forever with the atonement and ascension
of our Lord. The office of the prophets however was
to warn, reprove, rebuke and exhort as well as to fore
tell, for until revelation became complete prophets
recorded inspiration. The New Testament urges upon
us to desire and indeed follow after "spiritual gifts"
Hear Paul saying "I would that ye all spake with
tongues, but rather that ye prophesied". Judas and
Silas, being prophets also themselves exhorted the
brethren with many words and comforted them. In
the old dispensations the prophet needed the Holy
Spirit in order to look forward to Christ. In the New
Testament he needs Him in order to look back upon
Him. Isaiah needed spiritual light in order to make
a future Redeemer real to him, and the present preacher
needs the same light in order to make a past Redeemer
present. It is one thing to have an expectation or a
belief but quite a different thing to be on fire with the
living presence of a loving, redeeming Prince of Life.
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The same, which gifted the Old Testament prophets,
gave gifts and power to the New Testament ones.
The Old Testament prophet however, was empow
ered as a forthteller but the New Testament one, since
the revealed word is completed becomes a herald of
good news the gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost
transferred throughout his preaching giving it a moral
effect which ordinary speech, however wise could not
carry. The scripture declares "Not in word only", how
ever true and scriptural that word might be, "but in
power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance".
Hear Paul say "my preaching and my teaching was not
with enticeing words of man s wisdom, but with demon
stration of the spirit and of power, that your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power
of God". Here we find the most highly gifted of the
apostles clearly recognizing the fact that his success as
an ambassador to needy men lay not in his intellectual
perfection but in the power of God. He realized that
without spiritual power, any exposition or argument
would fail to convince, awaken or regenerate. Paul
realized that his work was definitely to "turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God that they may receive forgivenesss of sins,
and an inheritance among them that are sanctified".
It is quite clear from it all that no one can be
recognized as a true ambassador from God who has not
this call and gift from God. The fact of the call being
established we survey briefly the training. Training
may be varied to suit circumstances. Our Lord sent
out seventy at one time but we find that He retained
them near His own person, continually instructing them
in the oracles of God, giving them the highest examples
of teaching and a holy life. He did not worry them with
deep theological precepts and formulas, His school was
a severly practical one. We find that Paul after his
conversion was led by the spirit into Arabia. Here he
spent three years. We are not informed what he was
doing but we can be sure that he was studying the scrip
tures. When he came out he had one theme "the
cross". "God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The training of Apollos
lay first in what light he received from John the Bapt
ist, then from Aquilla and Priscilla. The training of
Timothy lay in the early teaching of his holy mother
and grandmother. The ordinary family altar and early
pious home influence was supplemented later by the
fellowship of the apostle Paul. Whatever training was
received by any of these New Testament preachers one
thing is common a knowledge of the scriptures,
coupled with the exercise of their gift or gifts in reli
gious assemblies. In this way the gifts were developed
until such time as their fitness of the ministry was
proven
We can be sure that our Lord was perfect in gram
mar, speech and rhetoric but He apparently did not
attempt to train His followers along these lines, for
they stood out clearly as "ignorant and unlearned men".
The educated ears of the scribes at Jerusalem, at once
recognized them as such. We must observe, however,
that their want of learning related only to matters of
polite education, not to the deep things of the Word of
God; the doctrines, facts and promises of which they
were commissioned to expound to the world. Paul and
Luke had a general education but it was gained with a
view to general purposes and turned to the services
of the church by the grace of God after their conversion.
Many argue that the whole set-up in our world has
changed so that the call, gift, power and training of the
Christian ministry are different today. That ritual and
lineal connection are sufficient for a more educated
world. We are persuaded that the church must obtain
for the sacred office a succession of men able to teach
and edued with the Holy Ghost if she is to preserve to
herself, or transmit to future ages, the primitive and
apostolic ministry. If the spiritual essentials of the
70
minister be lost the sap and life of the original tree
are lost, even though the bark and foliage survive. We
should see to it that every child is given the advantages
of a good education. I remember one of my grand
mothers saying that she had only attended school a few
days in her life, and yet she became on influential and
great woman because no one else had much education
in her community. We live in an educated world and
no one should hope to succeed in the Christian ministry
without the finest education he can afford. Every young
person should spend at least one term in a properly
staffed Bible school. The cultural and spiritual associa
tions of the same will do for a young person what no
other combination of associations can. Those who
show signs of having a call to the ministerial office
should be selected and trained for such. Let us re
member, however, that no amount of training can take
the place of a Holy Ghost call. Jeroboam brought ruin
in the kingdom by making everyone a priest who wanted
to be one.
The Christian ministry of today is not a different
institution from that which Christ founded, and a high
education with beautiful ritual can never take the place
of that gift from God, the sacred and impressive speech
of the "tongue of fire". Learning is invaluable when
associated with the adorning gifts from God, but in
sufficient when offered as a substitute for the power
of opening and enforcing the divine oracles. Intellec-
tualism and ritual have their place, but when instead
of the power which enters the soul we have only cere
mony which fascinates the taste or tallent which regales
the intellect, then we are fallen from the regions of
the Divine so that ordinary human beings are brought
down from the "power of God" to the "wisdom of
men".
To substitute education for the ministerial gift is
as stupid and wrong as if a naval commander were to
put a man in command of a vessel to navigate dangerous
71
waters simply because he had studied charts and the
laws of navigation. No, he would not receive a position
and responsibility unless he had actually sailed the
waters and was familiar with the dangerous shoals. It
would be as foolish as if a medical board were to give
a surgeon s diploma to a man because he had studied
books and heard lectures. To constitute a Christian, three
things as necessary faith, experience and practice. To
constitute a minister four faith, experience, practice
and gifts. Without experience knowledge or belief can
no more qualify a man to teach heart repentance and
heart faith and heart holiness than book knowledge
whatever might be its amount, would qualify a man to
train soldiers, if he had never passed through the pro
cess of military disciple. Without gifts empowered by
the Holy Ghost, education and experience would be
together as insufficient a qualification as if a soldier
had ammunition and discipline without a rifle.
The cry of the church has even been " we need
men to man our fields". And this idea that people must
have a priest or preacher of some kind has caused
many men to enter the sacred profession from a purely
secular motive, but the candidates have not been en
tirely to blame. The desire to have big numbers in Bible
School is good but a disposition to accept all who apply
in the hope that it will finally work out that only those
with a real call will survive has greaty weakened the
pulpit. We should make provision for all of our youth
to have at least one year in Bible school training. In
our schools these young people must be kept continu
ously in touch with the liberty and glory of the pres
ence. In the school they must see the power of God
in action as the gifts operate, and go back to inspire
and encourage the home assembly. We must select
those who have a distinct call or gifts and teach
them how to exercise their gifts. God s plan is that
all men everywhere should know the glory of His
presence and a Holy Ghost filled and a Holy Ghost led
72
ministry is absolutely essential to the promoting of the
glory amont the people.
The cry Our Lord is coming soon and the time is
short also has been an urge to inspire some who know
that they have neither call nor gift to enter the minis
try. Better to have a mission without a priest than to
put a dummy in the pulpit of the same. Decoys are
always a dangerous thing. The only safe thing to do is
to go back to the upper room for our bearings. There
we see men whose commission came from the life
of our Lord Himself whose training had been under
His own eye, who had forsaken houses, lands and all
that could bind them to secular association, who were
ready to set forth on the work of calling and warning
a world that was in the grip of the enemy and yet day
after day they must wait for power from on high.
Sinners were passing out into eternity without hope.
Time was rolling on and death was bearing away its
thousands as the disciples kept silence. There is in
that silence this lesson for the ages that are to follow,
that never are men to be sent out to represent Christ,
no matter how complete their education until first they
have been baptized with the tongues of fire. Better
let the pulpits be silent, than to have them filled with
mere actors. Painting imitation coals in the grate is
not a fire. The church must have schools and semin
aries but she must not depend upon them to produce
her ministry any more than a farmer should depend
upon artificial hot beds to produce a harvest. Christ
can be depended upon to call and equip His own dis
ciples today as of old if we will but put our dependance
upon Him.
He may call them from the fishing boats rather
than the Alexandrian schools but He will call them.
It is the church s part to wait upon Him and not run
before Him. The church should set at the entrance of
the pathway to the ministry a gate which no family in
fluence or education could open; which none could pass
73
but they whom a number of serious godly men would
conclude were worthy to be admitted. Having been
selected, primitive training should be maintained
prayer exhortation, teaching, mutual speaking one to
another and admonishing one another.- A fruitul church
is her own nursery. Meetings for fellowship of saints,
for free hearted prayer, for exhortation are a legitimate
means by which they, whom the Lord is fitting for His
ministry shall be to the development of their gifts. This
training must be held as indispensable and of essential
importance which no other training has any pretence
to comparison. This general education must be held
to have the same relation to the Christian ministry as
a general education has to any other profession. There
are no people who stand in need of prayer like the
congregation whose souls are watched over by uncon
verted scholars. Even if converted and gifted no minis
ter should attempt the responsibility of a church with
out having practiced in prayer, in exhortation, in preach
ing, in all the art of healing souls; and that not in books
only, not in schools but also in lively exercises and
labors of the church. The state of the church on the
whole, bears witness to the great laxity over the years
in allowing men to enter the ministry who were not
spiritually minded. Every wrong brings its own punish
ment. Every young candidate for the ministry has a
right to look to his leaders to possess and operate the
gifts of the spirit. He has a right to be led into a
ministry of power and service. It is a sad state of
things when the members of any communion are found
searching for what the souls of men crave for, the
presence of the glory. This is of such importance that
one must be prepared to lump every hurdle that he
may be where the glory falls and where he may know
the complete provision of God.
No one feeling a call to the ministry should stop
waiting upon God until He fills and satisfies. When
God fills this inner flame will be felt and if encouraged
74
by Holy Ghost annointed leadership it will operate in
in joyful successful ministry.
There is another side to this matter whilst it has
been true that ecclesiastical authorities have been justly
blamed for being far too ready to substitute the church
appointment for a genuine call and gift of God. The
multitude of professing Christians have been no less
ready to accept, instead of the genuine moral power
which is the true pre-eminence of the chirstian minis
ter, a substitute in intellectualism.
A church board or congregation whose ideas of the
Christian ministry have been formed by a study of the
blueprints laid down by our Lord will look and crave
with real heart hunger for men "endued with power"
awakening, converting power, power to meet hearts and
change lives, power which would cause old men to turn
from the ways of a lifetime and youth from thought
less frivolity, power to make the church the most loved
and powerful factor in the whole community. This
is what God has planned for the church. "Ye shall re
ceive power" said our Lord "power from on high".
Those answering the call to the ministry were to wear
an invisible robe, which was impossible for description
but quite appreciable. No one can describe a sunbeam
or a flash of lightning yet all can be conscious of its
power and presence. No one can describe power be
cause it belongs to God. It is only manifst in its effects.
Where the cartridge explodes there must be fire, where
a geyser shoots skyward there must be heat, where
iron moves of itself there must be a magnet. The
absence of the effect is conclusive evidence of the
absence of power. The preacher who knows only the
power of the intellect will merely give the poor sinner
a comfortable feeling so that he may sleep on in death,
but a man of power will awaken the conscience and dis
turb the sinner in his evil ways. He will not merely
feel that a man has spoken but God. The aim of the
powerless preacher is to have faultless, regular service
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but such services are null, they may be splendid but
are cheerless. It never was God s plan that a number
of well dressed people should meet for what they call
a religious service and celebrate something which affects
no one.
The church should by all means be a model in
propriety, and the pulpit the highest example. True
reverence should be observed, but every occasion has
an atmosphere suitable to it. A marriage feast is dif
ferent from a funeral. The sound of music is proper
at an orchestra practice and the whir of machinery
in a mill and the laughter of children on the school
ground. So the house of God has its own atmo
sphere, here where the Holy Ghost is in control and
moving upon all hearts, where the newly forgiven shout
because of deliverance, where the persevering saint is
peculiarly aroused and blessed, where emotion is stirred
by annointed preaching. One must distinguish between
propriety and properness. When intense reverence,
love and joy, meeting and stirring the breasts of the
multitudes are not appreciated by leadership which
has everything well cut and arranged beforehand,
then we cannot expect God to break sinful hearts
and have men cry out "what must I do to be saved?"
Such crying is in harmony with the true propriety of
a true religious service. If such a cry were to be heard
in a movie palace it would not be in keeping with the
place but in a true church it is right in order. Amen
Hallelujah Glory to Jesus coming from blessed souls
is just as much in divine order in the meeting as the
crying of a wolf is part of the atmosphere of a prairie
night.
There is a danger in this free and easy type of
meeting in that some believe that anyone can organize
and lead such, that it does not require much education
and mental equipment to carry it on. It is true that to
the wise of this world, the preaching of the cross is
foolishness, but Christ never sent fools to be the heralds.
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The institution of preaching as a means of redeeming
mankind is in itself foolishness but none of the preach
ers sent of God were simpletons. They were despised
by the great and were of no account with the learned
yet everyone of them was mighty through God to strike
deep at the hearts of sinners and confounded the critics.
The evidence of divine power working through them
was all the more conspicuous on account of their edu
cational defects. They were not like many modern
leaders who pride themselves in stating that God can
use the weak to confound the mighty but who gives
no proof that He is using them. The Christian church
church would have dominated the world by now, had
only men with a real call and a real gift responded to
its need of leadership. There is a vast difference bet
ween a holy man answering a call and exercising the
gifts of the spirit, and a man equipped with natural
gifts becoming a sort of racketeer in Holy things, using
mob psychology to gain his ends with one eye on the
offering.
The man whom God sends may be without the ac
complishments of scholars but never without sense, and
Holy Ghost utterance. He draws the honest hearted and
like a true shepherd will give his life for the sheep.
He may not know all about everything but he will know
the power that acts upon the conscience. He will know
how to transmit the living word so as to have great
satisfying meetings meetings where the rich and poor,
ignorant and educated, black or white will feel re
freshed and blessed. Satisfied sheep never leave their
pasture land. It is the hungry and neglected ones that
wander around. Let it be noted that God is not against
intellect, nor is it in His plan to place any premium on
ignorance. He wants men to have all the education they
can possibly acquire and like Paul consecrate it all to
Holy Ghost leadership. When we survey the insipred
record we find that the Holy Ghost did not ally Him
self with any one order of mind or with one stamp of
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composition. We find Him using every faculty that
He gave to human souls, every faculty of thought,
illustration and speech. Every scene of domestic life,
every thing in earth and sky has been used in His all
embracing plan to reveal His love for humanity. We
can be assured that He has a place for every possible
talent in His holy ministry, God created the master
minds as well as the shallower primary type and wants
to use them all. Success does not lie along any peculiar
style whether it be the extreme plainnesss of the rural
dweller whose opportunities may have been few or the
high elaborations of the gifted scholar.- Let the style
be ruled by every man s natural endowments. Peter
could not preach like John nor Luther like Bunyan.
The important thing is that each be employed in the
one direction, the carrrying of God s message to the
souls of men. The greater the variety and style the
more the pulpit will be like the Bible; but let no variety
or style be accepted in place of power. We must have
power. Power which the ungodly will fear and which
the righteous will welcome. No matter how eloquent
or entertaining a man may be, if the listener is not
conscious that the speaker has power he realizes that
he is listening to the voice of a man rather than a
message from God. As one has a right to expect a
painter to have a gift for his work or a musician to
have a sense of tunes so an audience has a right to
expect a preacher to have an experience in Christ
which empowers him making him a reconciler between
God and man.
The man of intellect may please or astonish an
audience, and find a great deal of satisfaction in all
of this but that man that disturbs the sinners hearts
and brings the prodigal back home, cheering the
mother s heart as she sees her children converted; who
by his preaching has warned and aroused all listeners
to turn in holy devotion to the service of Christ, may
not be acclaimed as one who could weave fine sentences
78
but on the resurrection morning or at the great judg
ment day will stand in joy and not dismay as the crowns
are being passed around.
Every form of talent is effectual for the work of
the ministry when accompanied by spiritual power.
Most persons are in danger of forming a narrow ideal
circle. Let us not forget once more that God has created
all, and in their own peculiar way can use all, as each
weapon is best in its own place. The important thing
is that it be charged and in proper shape to fire. No
one would think of condemning the rifle because it was
not a cannon, no, if it is properly fitted and used it
will do all that it required of it as a rifle.
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CHAPTER X
THE GREAT NEED TODAY
THE GREAT need of the Christian world today is for
men who will sow the seed in the power of the
Spirit. Men who will wait upon God until they are
baptized with the Holy Ghost and Fire. Much seed
has been sown through the printed page, song, music,
radio. The seeds of the Gospel have been sown
almost world-wide. There are very few men in so called
Christian lands in whose minds there is not enough
truth to awaken and point them towards the cross, were
that truth only brought home to their hearts with power.
What the Christian world needs is men who can see
what the people believe and know, in order to bring
them to a decision for God. Multiplied thousands who
have been taught by Christianity are led captive by sin
in spite of the increasing number of churches and de-
moninations. They know the Master s will but do not
do it. The great need is for preachers who can cause
those multitudes to stop and think, to act upon what
they know to be true, to cry out from their hearts "Lord
save me, I perish", right here in the midst of churches".
This is what our Lord referred to when He said greater
things than these will ye do". He was opening the eyes
of the blind, causing the lame to walk, and even raising
the dead. No one could do greater miracles than these,
but greater indeed was the work that is committed to
gospel preachers endued with converting power. God
is looking for a thousand such men, rather than those
who may be gifted, learned and pleasing but who are
destitute of that crowning grace of being sent from
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God. Our Lord said "greater works than these shall
ye do because I go to the Father" note "because I
go to the Father!" Because He was going to send the
Holy Ghost to indwell and empower men to do the grea
ter works which were as He announced to Paul, "to
open then: eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan Unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance
among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me,,
This was the end of His own ministry "thou shalt
call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from
their sins". Only in men actually saved from their sins
did His soul, smitten and afflicted, foresee the fruit of
His travail. Only in seeing men saved from their sins
could He glorify His Father while upon the earth. Only
in this could He see that which He purchased with His
own blood, the church formed out of fallen man. He
cannot present to the Father a backslidden, sin-infested
body of people and call it a church. He must have truly
saved men and women. It is these that He will bring
into glory. He is a Saviour, and mighty to save and "he
that winneth souls is wise". "They that turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever."
It is in the purpose and plan of God for today that men
should be equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit
to cast out devils from the mortal bodies of men. Yes,
but greater still, to cast them out of the souls of sinners
and turn men from the sources of disease to the source
of light and purity. Moses had his rod, and Elijah his
mantle but we have the power of the Holy Ghost and
Fire.
Souls, converted from the ways of sin and death,
this is what the true preacher must have. A farmer
could not be properly called a farmer who would not
with all his efforts be producing a harvest. A merchant
who could not show any profit from his years of trading
would not be regarded as a successful business man,
but how many preachers, who Sunday by Sunday are
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apparently satisfied with warming over the same old
material, who seldom if ever have a soul saved by their
ministry. These do not see the cause of failure in them
selves but lay it to the age the neighborhood the
commonness of the gospel or some other reason. If
they could see what they are missing they would take
time off and cry day and night, until they had "an
enduement of power from on high,/ Oh why should
men be even critical of Holy Ghost revivals when souls
are going to hell all around them. Hannah cried out
for children that her reproach might be taken away, so
should powerless preachers who may smile at the Pente
costal revival, cry out, "Lord give me spiritual children *
A gospel preacher is not responsible for success, but
he is responsible for receiving power. He is responsible
for presenting the truth to the people and so presenting
it, that it is not dry. His lamp must be trimmed and
clean if it is going to give forth a clear light. A hypro-
crite can possess truth and explain it. He can feign
tenderness and ardor, but he cannot feign the power
that searches the conscience and makes men know that
"God is in you of a truth", causing tears of repentance
to flow. A man may as well try to pretend that he
can sing when his voice is cracked or that he is alive
in his coffin as to try to imitate the power of the Holy
Ghost.
WE NEED A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS TODAY OF
THE POWER OF GOD TO SAVE MULTITUDES. THE
IDEA MUST GRIP THE MINISTRY THAT ALL WHO
WALK OUR STREET ARE LOST UNLESS THEY FIND
CHRIST. WE HAVE BECOME SO SATISFIED WITH
THE ONE S AND TWO S.
In many places, if even one receives the promise
of the Father the preacher and people boast of it for
weeks. God s plan is again found in a study of the
early church. We read, regarding the church during
the first century that "mightily grew the word of God
and prevailed". If the church had maintained her
standards and progress the whole world would have
been evangelized long ere this. But the power of the
church has abated until whole communities of profes
sing Christians are little better than the heathen, and
the drift is fast that way. Were those multitudes which
were gathered out of the world in Jerusalem, Antioch,
Corinth, Rome and elsewhere to be illustrative of God s
working plan for the church? Or was it the design of
the Head of the Church that she was to grow weak with
the passing of the ages? We are persuaded that God s
plan was and still is that the Christian church should
shine more and more that she should as the pears
passed by have grown in power and prestige through
out the world.
One great reason for the churchs failure to attract
and convert the multitude has been the fact that too
often she has been concerned with making church
members rather than getting men soundly converted.
When the multitude cried out to Peter that day he had
no thought of church membership, he tells them how
to get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. And note
he does not say some of you, but every one of you.
He is expecting a sweeping revival and sees it.
Another phase of gospel effort that needs fresh
emphasis is the fact of sudden conversion. Some are
great believers in gradual conversions but it is well to
note that all the conversions mentioned in the Bible
were sudden. As to the question whether those who are
suddenly converted are or are not as stable as those
upon whom the work is more gradual, few can judge;
for everyone who is suddenly converted is sure to have
many eyes upon him, and if he draw back to the
notice of all these is excited; whereas many who gradu
ally take up a religious profession gradually drop it
again, and scarcely any notice is taken of it. The facts
still remain that the scriptural examples of conversion
are sudden, and equally lasting. If we are to look only
for gradual conversions we must deliberately make up
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men die impenitent, who, if we would preach and expect
our minds to see millions upon millions of our country-
sudden conversions in every service, many would be
brought to a knowledge of Christ. The jailer was found
in deep sin and about to commit suicide yet salvation
was preached to him and embraced by him at once fill
ing his heart with joy. It is an astounding fact that even
good men look upon a movement in which many are
suddenly converted and say, "it is not real!" "The work
will not last." Then if they find it does last the tend
ency is to not look for any such move in their church.
So they elect to go on steadily, just having meetings.
They cooly consign millions to hell and make no serious
attempt to bring them to conviction and salvation. Oh
that the modern church would take a lesson from that
early church where conversions were numbered by the
thousands! The revival spread because ordinary men
were prepared to launch out; they were not afraid
of being regarded emotional or extravagant. They were
willing to be the laughing stock of men; willing to turn
the world upside down.
Then again when a real revival moves upon men
so that thousands are converted the glory is placed
where it belongs. When three thousand were converted
on the day of pentecost no one said "what a powerful
preacher Peter is!" No, they all knew that this was
none other than the power of God. Had the result been
small, man would have been glorified. When a beam
of light flashes from a window we think of a lamp, but
if we see a light come sweeping over the hills and
finally lighting the whole world we think of the sun.
The converting power of the Holy Ghost has not been
withdrawn from the earth. This is evidenced by the
fact that men and women are being converted. Is there
any reason why we should not expect mass conversions
today? We believe that if the same means are used,
prayer, faith and zeal, the same blessings will be in
evidence. In fact everything that came into the church
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with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pente
cost, remains unimpaired. The same holiness, gifts, and
conviction, the same tongue of fire, the same mighty
annointing, the same awakening interest when it is
"noised abroad" that the Holy Spirit is in the midst.
One can reverently sum up the great need of the church
today by stating
The Church holds the only formula for the salva
tion of the world but she can not rise higher than her
leaders.
The great need is for God called men who will stop
at nothing until they see their people not only have the
gifts of the Spirit but power to operate those gifts.
Leaders who will realize that every member of the
body has an important function to perform in bringing
men back to God.
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CHAPTER X!
THE JOYFUL MINISTRY
AFTER nearly forty years in the Christian Ministry
and having ministered in every office of the same
and served in all types of Churches from the isolated
mission post to our largest Churches, I know that a
Holy Ghost ministry is the only Ministry that will satisfy
the human heart. The Pentecostal Ministry is the most
satisfying, joyful life that can be lived among men. If
we would succeed in this Pentecostal Ministry, we must
not only have the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire;
we must enter daily into a renewal of that experience
where the Holy Ghost witnesses in the depths of the
soul. The experience of receiving the Baptism of the
Holy Ghost must be a daily experience: that something
which was satisfied by the first rush of fire in the soul
must be refreshed daily in a Pentecostal experience.
It is vital that as far as possible every member of our
churches receive a fresh infilling daily, and it is not
only vital but absolutely necessary to the preacher.
Every meeting conducted must be a Holy Ghost
meeting. It must catch fire. The glow and glory in the
leader s soul will arouse the careless and cold worship
per. * It must not be just another meeting. It must do
for the worshippers what nothing else can do. To this
end we, as leaders, must arouse enthusiasms and pro
mote the glory of God in the midst nothing else will
satisfy the baptized believer and nothing else will
awaken the sinner and cause the Word to sweep the
soul with true conviction that prompts repentance. As
there is a high tide moment in everything in life, there
86
must be a high tide period in every meeting when the
glory of God sweeps over the place and all are melted
together. We must plan and expect every meeting to
be a rich satisfying meeting from which the people
will go, aglow with joyful faces to tell everybody about
the satisfying presence.
Our people must not only as individuals have stated
times of prayer, but must join in red hot prayer meet
ings. The soul needs the glory and power that comes
from a body of people on fire in an ecstacy of glory
calling upon God. Such a prayer meeting is absolutely
necessary to the best in Holy Ghost experience.
This Holy Ghost and Fire Ministry will make us
wholly and entirely missionary. Every move of our
lives will be centered around missionary action. The
Holy Spirit was sent into the world to lead men in the
organization of the Church with one all out supreme
purpose that eternity bound men and women would
find the Saviour before it would be eternally too
late. We must realize that in the thought of God for
every believer, everyone should be a missionary. Every
genius and talent should be geared to this purpose
the sending of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
In this conception of the church lies the secret of suc
cess for the church. Our Lord when He finished the
work of redemption laid down a plan whereby the vic
tory of Calvary could become real in every life. He
gave a last command, "Go ye and carry this Gospel
to all men". This Gospel which has cost so much;
shows the only way from bondage to deliverance.
Every true preacher wants to know by the operating
of His miraculous powers in the midst that our Lord
is present. Here is a positive way to make sure of
that presence, for He promised if your whole effort
is centred around world deliverance, I will be with
you. When one leaves his place of study and prayer
and enters the church office and then the pulpit in the
glowing consciousness that having been faithful to the
87
command of the Word, his Lord is with him, and when
the whole church has been inoculated with the same
great purpose, no sooner will the first movement take
place in the service but He will take over, convicting,
guiding, inspiring, healing, filling and empowering.
When our Lord, by the operating presence of the Holy
Ghost, controls, the whole church is missionary. Every
sermon preached, every Sunday school class, every
young peoples gathering, every meeting of every kind
will have a missionary complex and consequently the
glory of His presence.
This Holy Ghost and Fire experience will inspire a
healing ministry. Our Lord, when in the ministry,
taught, preached and healed the sick. We must be ever
conscious that when He sent His followers out, He gave
them command to heal the sick. That He said: "Greater
things than these will ye do because I go unto my
Father" That He said, " If ye abide in me and my
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it
shall be done". We must be conscious that God the
Father in the beginning spoke the Word and by the
Word creative power flowed and the worlds were
formed out of nothing. We must be conscious that
Christ became the Word and dwelt among men. When
He spoke the same creative power operated as in the
beginning of time and blind eyes were opened, demons
fled and all manner of sickness was healed. He healed
all that came unto Him. He left us that Word His
Holy Word which cannot fail. As the Holy Ghost and
fire possesses our souls we must take our stand upon
this Word and pray for the sick. We must realize that
it is our business to lead the forces of righteousness
against the powers of darkness and come off more than
conquerors. Whether we annoint with oil or lay hands
on the candidate, or whatever the circumstances sug
gest, we will see signs and wonders come to pass in
the regular services of the church. We must honor,
appreciate, and co-operate with those who have special
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gifts of healing, and who may promote large revival
efforts in central areas. Many are often drawn to
such meetings who otherwise show no interest in the
gospel.
Objection may be taken to these special efforts
on the ground of the extra cost, but when we compare
it with the cost of the building and upkeep of large
churches in which few, if any of the world, ever find
Bible deliverance the cost is very small. We must not
however wait for, or depend upon these special efforts
to do our work. It is our responsibility to make every
meeting a healing meeting where the saints will stand
together on the Word and see men and women, boys
and girls set free from the bondage of Satan.
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire prepares
us for a teaching ministry. The indwelling Spirit will
make Christ very real to us so that the appetite for
reading other than the Bible will largely disappear,
but an intense inner love for the Word will draw
us into its pages and this same Holy Spirit presence,
knowing the needs of the people, will fill our minds
and hearts with messages which we will preach with
great unction and power. We will live for our people
and gain great satisfaction in discovering truth to
pass on to listeners. No man in all the world has
such peace and blessings as the Holy Spirit filled Pastor,
who discovering truth in the seclusion of his study,
awaits the moment when he can pass it on to the people
with the tongue of fire.
Every move of our lives must be a move of Faith
and this Faith can only be ours when we live in constant
communion with God through His word. Faith conies
by hearing the voice of God speaking to us, and this
hearing is by the Word, for he that cometh to God
seeking for powerful operating Faith, must believe that
God is real and that He is the rewarder of all that
diligently, persistently, with real effort seek Him. This
communion with God will make us Bible teaching men,
who will mix Faith with the Word.
THIS HOLY GHOST MINISTRY IS A MINIS
TRY OF COMPASSION. We cannot hope to succeed
in our calling unless we see in every man a soul for
whom Christ died. The merchant and even the under
taken sees in every man a prospective customer. We
must realize that every soul is our responsibility for
which we must give an account before it is enternally
too late. Only a great compassion such as gripped our
Lord upon earth will properly equip us to prayerfully
look upon the needs of the people, and with that com
passion which will cause us to lose ourselves in loving
service for them. The men of business, the teachers,
the laborers, the shut-ins, those in positions of authority,
no matter how exalted or lowly, they may be, they all
need us. If we are honest in our Bible study and prayer
life, the same Holy Spirit will create that compassion
within us for all, and if we allow this compassion to
grip us, the same Holy Spirit will open doors through
which we may pass to help them. We must be ready
and willing to enter those open doors. This compassion
will enable us to speak to the Assembly, to talk to the
one by the wayside or in the place of business, to minis
ter to the sick and shut-ins with a power beyond our
selves.
THIS MINISTRY OF THE HOLY GHOST AND
FIRE WILL MAKE US PREACHERS for no mat
ter what other features there may be in our church
which are intended to elevate, comfort, convert or ins
pire, unless there is Holy Ghost preaching in love the
people will go away hungry and dissatisfied. As when the
glory and fire first fell in the upper room, Peter rose
and began to preach, so when the fire falls in our ser
vices, it will inspire us to pour forth the message of
God. We must stand by in readiness for the moment to
come when we, under the annointing of God and in
the lively atmosphere of the meeting will rise to deliver
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the message of God. We can be sure that as this mes
sage warms our own hearts with a sweetness that cannot
be explained, it will warm other hearts, bringing con
viction to some and great peace and satisfaction to
others. Let us never look upon preaching as something
we can do easily, something which we can always do
on the spur of the moment. All must by diligent effort
discover truth and thoroughly prepare sermons, looking
forward to having them flow to the people in a richly
annointed service.
WE WILL HAVE A HOPE WITHIN OF OUR
LORD S RETURN, and our whole lives will be lived
in the consciousness that He may come today. This con-
ception will be within because the Holy Spirit and fire
will create it and fan it into a flame with the passing
days. The more we study His Word and form an inner
fellowship with Him, the more we will want to see
Him. As fellowship creates Faith, we will not only find
our faith growing daily but our love for Him increasing
more and more and this hope within purifying, even as
He is pure. The Holy Spirit will guide us to take notice
of the prophetic signs and lead us to teach the people
to heed the signs of the times. But our conviction of
His return will not be founded upon some mysterious
signs, but an inward knowledge an inward hope a
hope which will find continual expression in our soul.
Even so come Lord Jesus. Our inward hope and long
ing will urge us on to a Holy Ghost glorious ministry
which whether He comes in the morning, or at noon or
at midnight, He will find us ready.
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CHAPTER XII
RECEIVING THE BAPTISM OF
THE HOLY GHOST
THE HOLY GHOST is the author of all that is holy and
good. He is the one that brought all things to the
remembrance of the Bible writers and as a result He
has left nothing necessary to man s happiness and suc
cess out of the inspired record.
One can take any of the Bible characters and trace
the movings of the Holy Spirit in their lives, but there
is none that suits our purpose better than the story
Elijah and Elisha. Elijah being found asleep under the
juniper tree is urged to eat of the cake and drink from
the pitcher provided. At first he took only a little re
freshment and like the modern church stirred again and
again in revival effort went back to sleep again.
Upon being aroused the second time he took enough
refreshment to reach the mount of God. Here he got
a new vision and a new command: he was to annoint
Hazail to be king over Samaria, Jehu to be king over
Judah, and Elisha the son of Shaphat to be his succes
sor.
The story of Elijah crossing the hills to the home
of Shaphat in Judea and anointing Elisha is a most
inspiring one. He found him in a field plowing with
twelve yoke of oxen and he was with the twelfth yoke.
Elijah threw the sheepskin coat, his mantle of authority
and power over him and called him to separate himself
from the old surroundings and obey the call of God.
In this we see how God calls young and old to
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separate themselves from the ways and things of the
world and follow Him. Elisha answered the call. He
broke up the plow and make a sacrifice of the oxen and
in spite of every influence to the contrary set out to
obey God. No doubt his neighbours and friends said
"Elisha you are a young man of promise, your father
is a man of influence and wealth he can set you up in
business or some profession, you have talent and the
best education of your time. Why throw it away by
joining up with this religious extremist. We can
imagine them saying if they knew modern language,
"Don t get in with those Pentecostal people they are
a thousand years behind the times." But Elisha typify
ing the honest hearts of today has a far away look
in his eyes. He decides to obey God no matter what
the cost. He does not know what the future will bring.
He does no need to know. All he needs to know is the
will of God for the present and God will take care of
the future.
For seven years he followed Elijah. He was with
him when Elijah entered Naboth s vineyard and heard
Elijah speak the words of doom to Ahab. He was with
Elijah as that man of God called down fire upon the
evil king s messengers. He knew that Elijah had power
and as the days went by he knew that he could never
carry out the great purposes of God in his life unless
he too could possess that power.
Finally one day God revealed a great secret to
Elijah. He was going to take him up to heaven in a
chariot of fire. They were at Gilgal and as they jour
neyed down to Bethel Elijah said to Elisha, in other
words, "I am going to leave you today you have a
call from God to serve Him, you have natural ability,
and the best education of your time. There is a good
school of the prophets here at Bethel, remain here and
prepare for your ministry". But we hear Elisha saying
"As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not
leave thee", and they both go down to Jericho. At
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Jericho Elijah again suggests that Elisha remain in the
school of the prophets and prepare himself for the
future, but Elisha says "no I am not going to leave thee",
and we read "they went down to Jordan". Let us ob
serve it was a going down proposition down to Bethel,
down to Jericho, down to Jordan and God has this
scene and drama of a man called to service receiving
the Holy Ghost in the Jordan valley because it is the
lowest spot on the globe, the only place where a river
flows below the level of the ocean. He has this incident
here to illustrate that he who would seek the promise
of the Holy Ghost must be willing to cast aside all pride
and things of the world, the flesh and the devil to go
down in humility and restitution. Multiplied thousands
would receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost if it were
not for their pride.
When they come to the Jordan, Elijah took off the
sheepskin coat and began swinging it. As he does the
Jordan opened and they passed through on dry ground.
They cross the Jordan, and as they walk along we have
Elijah saying to Elisha, "what are you following me so
closely for you have a call to a great service as my
successor, you have every natural qualification to suc
ceed. You have the advantages of a splendid school for
prophets. Why not go back and fit yourself?" And we
can imagine Elisha replying. "Yes I know that I have
all these qualifications and those schools are splendid,
but I know in spite of it all unless I can get a double
portion of the spirit that is upon you I cannot succeed.
I want a double portion of the Holy Spirit." Elijah
replies "You have asked for a hard thing but if you
see me when I go you will get it! We can be sure that
Elisha would see him go if he could, we can be sure
that Elisha pressed right in and kept very close. He
was after the baptism of the Holy Ghost and was going
to get it at any cost. When we find a person take this
attitude we know that they are going to get something
real.
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It is interesting to note that the theologues from
that college at Jericho were watching these two "relig-
ous fanatics" to see just what would happen. I suppose
they made many wise remarks about them and said
"that glory and fire which Elisha is talking about was
only for the days of Moses in the desert but today we
have education and training for service! If Elisha would
quit his dreaming and soul searching and apply himself
in our schools there is no doubt but the fellow could
make something of himself" ... we read "They
two went on and talked", and as they did there was a
sound from glory, and down the corridor of the sky
came a chariot of fire, it swept between the two men
and Elijah climbed on board and went up to heaven in
a whirlwind. Elisha saw him go and as he looked at the
chariot and all he explained, "My father, my father
the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof."
Elisha saw him go and as he looked up saw that
sheepskin coat coming down. Elijah has no more need
for it. He has a robe of glory so with one grand sweep
he throws it out of the chariot. And what did Elisha
have to do in order to get thdt for which his soul
longed, that for which he had pressed in, in spite of
every hindrance? He had to simply pick it up. He was
ready, yielded, submissive, every bit of dross and
worldliness and pride was gone. He was in sweet fellow
ship with man and God. Misunderstood on earth yes,
but in wonderful understanding with heaven. All he
had to do was receive it. As he walks over and picks
up that emblem of authority a double portion of the
power that was upon Elijah came upon him. Now I
do not know whether he was prostrated upon the sand
or whether he danced in the spirit or whether he spoke
in tongues but I do know that if he received a double
portion of what I received on the 23rd of September,
1925 he did something. There was some demonstration.
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Elisha knew that he had "it". He needed no one to
say, "you have it". No, he knew he had received the
power all right and everybody else knew that he had
received it. For as he walks over to the Jordan and
began swinging that sheepskin coat the Jordan parted
and he walked through on dry ground. As he came
up to that Bible school in Jericho all exclaimed "that
the spirit that was upon Elijah is now upon Elisha!"
Let us note, our God who has a great purpose for every
life called Elisha. He placed the challenge before him
would he forsake the alluring things of the world and
associate himself with this despised and misunderstood
man? Would he willingly humble himself to go down
even to the Jordan valley, or would he depend upon
the training and culture of the schools? Elisha was in
dead earnest and God knew it. He realized that nothing
could take the place of Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Empty, yielded and ready; God did not fail him. He
never will.
What was the purpose of this outpouring upon
Elisha? Merely that he might join in the ecstacy of
delight and joy on the shores of the Jordan or share
with others in the anointing of public worship? No,
it was that he might serve his fellow men and in this
carry out God s great purpose for his life. As he came
to Jericho they approached him declaring that the water
was unfit for human consumption and that the land
was sour and useless. "Bring me a cruise of salt", he
cried and as he cast the salt into the waters in the name
of Elijah s God they were healed and they are healed
to this day. As he was crossing the hills he found a
poor widow who owed a debt. The man was about to
take her two sons in payment of the debt. As she
appealed to Elisha, the man of power, the man of ef
fective service, he asked her if she had anything in her
house. She replied, nothing but a small portion of oil
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in a jar He commands her to borrow all the barrels
and containers she can get from her neighbours. "Bor
row not a few." When she had gathered all she could,
he commanded her to pour and as she did the oil filled
up all the containers. Then he commanded her to sell
the oil and pay the debt. As he sweeps on his triumpant
way he finds three armies in the desert. They have no
water and are at the point of despair. He orders them
to go to work and dig great ditches in the valley. Then
in the morning without wind or rain he causes water
to flow out of the east and fill the ditches. What a
man! What a life! We cannot cover it here but note
that finally he died. His life s work was ended. He
drew up his feet in the bed of his humble cabin and
died. There was no royal funeral, no big news casts,
no parading of pictures and no memorial services here
on earth but we can be assured that there was a grand
home coming time in the realm of glory. They dug a
grave and put the body, that which had been the
temple of the Holy Ghost, down into it. The next year
an invading army was crossing the land, and one of
the soldiers died They did not have time to bury him
so threw the body into the grave of Elisha. As the
body of that soldier touched the bones of Elisha he
sprang into life. Oh my reader this mighty power of
the Holy Ghost will not only empower us for service
here but will accompany us to the grave and as with
Elisha of old on that resurrection morning will cause
us to spring into eternal life and if He should come in
the Chariots of Glory to rapture his Elijas who are
waiting and expectant it will fit us for the habitation
of the skies.
Some honest, good men have sought the Pente
costal experience and when, after some time of tarrying,
they did not receive the same, they have said, /There
is nothing to it". In spite of the testimony of millions,
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they boldly say: "These Pentecostal people are mis
taken".
I was a Methodist minister, a graduate of Wesley
College in Winnipeg, Canada. Upon being awakened
to the reality and the need of the promised power in
my own soul, I started to seek for the experience. A
whole year went by, and at times I was greatly tempted
to give up and declare that there was nothing in the
claims of these people. But one night when I was about
as discouraged as a man could be, in a Pentecostal
prayer meeting, with no one near me, I made one final
surrender of all to my Lord. He saw that I was ready
and mightily filled me with the Holy Ghost and Fire.
The experience is real and no tongue can explain its
wonders. It can only be manifested.
In spite of all the misunderstanding and ignorance
regarding the marvelous experience of being baptized
with the Holy Spirit, that experience when the candidate
without any effort, but spontaneously from within
speaks in what Finney described as uncontrollable ut
terance, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is real and
wonderful. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let us praise Him.
Let us surrender ourselves to Him and being filled with
all the fullness of God become His channel of power
and blessing here below, and be ready for the trumpet
when it sounds.
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COLLEGE
