6
Preface
posite school. Lest we should
be accused of misrepresenting
their position, we quote many of them exact.
The book has been written in much prayer and
after much forethought, and we beg of all who read its pages to do so with mind
and heart open to truth and to God. Accept all that is Scriptural;
reject all that is erroneous.
Praying God's blessings upon all who read or
circulate this book, I am,
Yours in Pentecostal glory,
G. F. TAYLOR.
DUNN, N. C.,
September, 1907.
INTRODUCTION.
BY REV. J. H. KING.
THE history of Christianity demonstrates that every great
spiritual epoch has been productive of a literature peculiar to itself. The Holy Spirit not only moves powerfully
upon human hearts, moving to intense activity on soul-saving work, but moves
upon their minds simultaneously, inspiring to deeper thinking and
investigation, bringing to light new truth, hitherto unknown. Divine revelation was progressive in its
unfoldment, and the discovery of the meaning of the truth thus revealed is of
necessity progressive in the understanding of enlightened Christendom. This
progressive discovery of the meaning of truth, as we approach the ultimate
completeness, implies limitation individually and dispensationally. No literature belonging to any particular
epoch of the Christian Church bears the stamp of perfection. Revealed truth peculiar to each
dispensation may to its adherents embrace all there is of truth, and thus
present completeness in scope, but subsequent discoveries prove this to be a
serious, as well as injurious, mistake.
The great Protestant Reformation, and also the world-wide Methodistic
movements, were mighty literature-producing epochs, setting forth precious and
glorious truth, which deluged the world with blessings inestimable, but there
is much that is imperfect in this literature; imperfect in nature and
extent. The modern holiness movement
has produced a vast volume of
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8
Introduction.
literature, presenting truth beyond the
range of former discoveries, which has blessed the world with its fruit, notwithstanding
its imperfection as well as unscripturalness in many of its aspects. It bears upon its face the claim of
completeness, but further research is bringing to light the fact that it only
brings its adherents into the vestibule of Pentecostal power and fulness, and
not into its possession. The reducing within the range of justification and
sanctification all that pertains to the fulness of grace, which is so apparent
in all this literature, is positively injurious to honest souls, and serves as
a barrier to their entrance into the Pentecostal experience. The second blessing does not and can not
include the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the light of this truth, which has
been gradually unfolding for a number of years, culminating in the present
world-wide Pentecostal movement, is meeting with determined and desperate
opposition, because it sinks the walls of limitation erected by the above
literature, leading the people out into larger fields of truth, which enrich
and empower the soul for better service.
This movement will, like all previous ones, produce a literature
peculiarly its own. This book is the
first to appear on this line, and fills a very unique place in Christian
literature, being the first to be written by one who has the Baptism of the
Holy Ghost according to its bestowment in the Book of Acts, which characterizes
the present movement. It labors to
place the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in its Scriptural setting, and to show
forth its peculiar accompaniment, the speaking in other tongues as evidencing
its unmistakable reception. It is not
an ex-
haustive treatise on this subject, but
rather suggestive in its presentation of truth. Indeed, it does not claim to be anything but a primary
discussion of the work of the Holy Ghost in His relation to the bridehood of
Jesus, presenting the baptism as an initial preparation for membership in the
same. This gives to the book an aspect
of vast importance. In these closing days of gospel history, it is of momentous
importance to those who are awake to the near advent of Christ to know what is
the real preparation for membership in His bridehood, and a sincere perusal of
this book will throw light on the question.
It clearly shows that preparation to meet Christ is not ample
qualification for membership in the bridehood, and the apprehension of this
fact will doubtless stimulate deeper effort on the part of some to prepare for
this high privilege and honor. If such
efforts follow its careful reading, we are sure the author’s hopes will be
realized.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE SPIRIT – A PERSON......................................................... 13
CHAPTER II.
SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT....................................................... 15
CHAPTER III.
THE SEVEN
SPIRITS OF GOD................................................. 19
CHAPTER IV.
THE
MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT.................................. 24
CHAPTER V.
OBJECTIONS
ANSWERED...................................................... 39
CHAPTER VI.
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT...................................................... 60
CHAPTER
VII.
POUNDS AND TALENTS......................................................... 73
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST SUBSEQUENT TO
SANCTIFICATION........................................................ 75
CHAPTER IX.
THE EARLY AND THE LATTER RAIN................................... 90
CHAPTER X.
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT..................................................... 100
(II)
(
12 Contents.
CHAPTER XI.
PAGE
BABYLON, OR THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES................... 102
CHAPTER XII.
THE JUDGMENT...................................................................... 106
CHAPTER XIII.
THE TEN VIRGINS.................................................................... 112
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BRIDE................................................................................ 119
CHAPTER XV.
THEIR UNITED CRY................................................................ 127
APPENDIX.
HOW TO
OBTAIN AND RETAIN THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY
GHOST........................................................................... 131
CHAPTER I.
THE SPIRIT – A PERSON.
“THERE is one God; and
there is none other but He” (Mark 12:32).
We read in Psalms 14: 1: “The fool hath said
in his heart, There is no God.” The heathen believe that there are many
gods. But we know “that there is none
other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven
or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one
God” (I Cor. 8: 4-6). This one God is eternal. He says of Himself, “I AM THAT I
AM” (Ex. 3:14). This is the One whom John saw, and the One of whom he speaks in
Rev. 4: 2, “And one sat on the throne.” The apostle here mentions no
name, and describes no figure, because he was looking upon “the unnameable,
indescribable Godhead,” in which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are consubstantial
and the same. God, in the most hidden absoluteness of His being, in which the
whole Godhead and all things stand, is indescribable; but there are embodied in
this Godhead three blessed personages, each of which is indescribable, and each
of which is God; and yet the three together are still the indescribable One.
We read in John 4: 24
that “God is a Spirit;” but we also read in
I Cor.
15: 44: “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” So we find that the Scriptures speak of the
different parts of the Father’s body. “The clouds are the dust of his feet”
(Nah. 1 : 3); “Eyes of the Lord” (Zech. 4: 10); “Behold, the Lord’s hand
is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that
it cannot hear” (Isa. 59: 1).
We know that the Son
has a body, for He “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John I: 14). “And was made in the likeness of men” (Phil.
2: 7). When He ascended to heaven He took His body with Him.
There is no Scripture which seems to teach
that the Holy
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14
The
Spirit and The Bride.
Spirit has a body; and yet He is the Personal
God, and as much so as God the Father or God the Son; forming with the Father
and the Son a unity in trinity and the Trinity in unity. He is as eternal as the Father and the Son;
we read of him from the beginning. “And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Gen. 1: 2). As He was one in the councils (Gen. 1: 26)
of the Trinity in the eternal past, as He is now and ever will be in the
advancement of God’s kingdom, so was He one with Christ during His earthly
ministry. The Holy Spirit was
personally at one with the Son of Man from the time of His conception
throughout his whole earthly life. Listen at the wondrous annunciation made to
the Virgin Mary:
“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1: 35).
At His baptism, the Holy Spirit in form like a dove came upon Him. Jesus said,
“If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come
unto you” (Matt. 12: 28). Thus He
clearly sets forth their entire cooperation. Jesus said again, “I and my
Father are one” (John 10:30). So these three persons, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, form the Trinity in unity. The Father has a body and the Son has a body,
but the Holy Spirit dwells in the body of the Father and in the body of the
Son, thus uniting the Father and the Son and making One of the three.
The Spirit is not a vapor or an influence,
as many suppose, but a real Person going forth from the Father and Son, and
serving in their behalf. He is God
himself imparted to work in his children the good pleasure of His own will,
making His grace availing in them and for them, helping their infirmities, witnessing
to their salvation, and carrying into effect all the divine administrations of
the kingdom of grace.
Since the
Holy Spirit has no body, God has to reveal Him and His work to us through
material emblems, and of these we shall treat in the following chapter.
CHAPTER II.
SYMBOLS OF THE SPIRIT.
IN
the Scriptures the personal work of the Holy Spirit with reference to our
salvation is represented to our intellectual conception by means of symbols
with which our physical senses are familiar.
These symbols are God’s chosen illustrations from natural things by
which he seeks to help us to understand the work of the Spirit and get a proper
conception, through the physical senses, of important spiritual truths. Our
intellects, accustomed to deal with material things, can by means of
divinely-designated symbols more easily comprehend the real import and
character of the operations of the Spirit of God in our hearts. And since the following symbols are taken
from Scripture, and are therefore divinely designated, we are sure that we
shall not err in the application thus made by the Holy Spirit himself.
1.
Wind. “The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
Other Scriptures bearing on this line are: Gen. 1: 2; 2: 7; Ezek. 37: 9, 10; Acts 2:2.
2. Water.
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture
hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they
that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because
that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7: 37-39). Other scriptures: Ps. 1: 3;
Isa. 44:3, 4; Ezek. 36: 25-30; 47: 1-5; Eph. 5: 26.
3. Wine.
On the day of Pentecost it was said of those who had received the Holy
Ghost, “These men are full of new wine”
(Acts 2: 13). The figure here
lies in the effect produced.
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16
The Spirit and The Bride.
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5: 18). (See Matt 9: 17).
4. Oil.
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power”
(Acts 10: 38). But the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you:
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no
lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him” (I John 2 :
27). (See Ps. 23:5; 92: 10; 105:15;
Matt. 25: 1-3.)
5. Milk
and Honey. The land of Canaan is said
to be a land that flowed with milk and honey, thus making them a twofold symbol
of the Holy Spirit. (See Ex. 3: 8; 33:
3; Num. 13: 27.)
6.
Seal and Pledge. This twofold
symbol may be found in the following Scriptures: “Ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1: 13,
14). “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4: 30). “Who hath also sealed us, and given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1: 22). “A seal is the impress of the government by placing of the chosen
design so as to secure the object sealed with antagonism.” It means that the object upon which it is
placed has the authority and protection of the government. “An earnest is that which makes the promise
secure, the forfeiture which stands for the promise until the promise is
fulfilled.” Thus the operation of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts is presented to us under the twofold symbol of seal
and pledge.
7.
Tongues of Fire. “And there appeared
unto them cloven tongues like as of fire” (Acts 2: 3). Here we have another symbol of the Holy
Ghost. Fire alone is never a symbol of
the Spirit, but only in its connection with tongues. The principal means of communicating thought among men is by the
human voice, of which the tongue is chief instrument. The gospel is God’s communication to men, and, as we have seen,
is made efficient by the direct power of the Holy Ghost. So
The Spirit and The
Bride.
17
then, when the
disciples were waiting for the eduement of power, it was a most fitting
symbolism that the Holy Ghost should take the form of visible tongues like
as of fire resting upon them. The
Holy Spirit is not the tongue, but His power is to be felt through tongues
speaking in every direction. In other
words, He is to make the tongue of the divinely-chosen messenger efficient in
preaching the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth. His power upon the disciples is then the
voice of God speaking to a sinning world.
Some
think that each symbol represents a particular operation of the Spirit, but I
do not so understand it. The words of
Jesus in John 3: 8 would lead us to believe that the Spirit regenerates under
the symbol of wind; and Acts 2: 2 shows that He came as wind on the day of
Pentecost. He also appeared on that
occasion as tongues of fire, and as wine.
Jesus, in speaking of the Baptism of the Spirit, used the symbol of
water (John 7: 37-39). The symbol of
oil applies to the Baptism sometimes (Matt 25: 1-13), and so does the seal and
pledge. Milk and honey can be thus
applied. All these symbols are used in
representing the Baptism; but any symbol which represents an operation other than
the baptism is interchangeable among all other operations. To map out a plan through which the Spirit
uses each symbol for one particular operation would be nothing more nor less
than to build theory, since such a plan would be without a Scriptural
foundation. In this book we propose to
build no theory, but to stand upon the Word.
At the baptism of
the Lord, the Holy Spirit assumed the form of a dove and descended upon
Him. This symbol was not used at any
other time nor did the Spirit assume this form other than in His visible
descension upon the Son of God. The
reason for this may be seen in many ways.
The offering of the poor was a dove.
The Spirit of Christ was gentle like a dove. Thus the character and sacrifice of Christ could most fittingly
be represented by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. After the Master had rendered obedience in
the fulfilling or right-
(
18
The Spirit and The Bride.
eousness, there descended upon Him the
Holy Spirit, choosing as the fitting form which to appear before men and to their
natural vision, a dove—the emblem of peace—and the fitting sacrifice for peace
between God and the sinning world. It
is only then in the Spirit’s relationship to men either as saints or sinners. Since we propose in this book to deal with
the offices of the Spirit in His relation to men, we omit this symbol from the
enumeration above.
We have thus
mentioned seven symbols which the Holy Ghost
has chosen to represent to us His manifold operations
in our hearts. There may be other
symbols, but it seems to us that these cover the ground. No one type of nature is sufficient to
embody His whole ministry, therefore it is only natural that there should be
just seven types setting forth His manifold operations. But let no one think for a moment that all
or any of these symbols thus used are the Holy Ghost, or that the wine, the
oil, the milk and honey, the seal and pledge, nor the tongues of fire, are the
Holy Ghost, but each is simply a representation of the operation of the Spirit
in our hearts. Just as soon as we reach
the place that can comprehend the operation without the symbol, God removes the
symbol, but the reality abides.
“Living as we do in a material world, and
encompassed with material senses, God speaks to us through material
emblems. But the time is coming when He
will not speak to us in parables, but will bring our spirits into immediate
vision and communion with the Father.
Then the soul will be able to dispense with all secondary terms and types,
and having lost itself in the ocean of divine nature, and being one with the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, it will not need to be taught any more,
but will see and know all things in the cloudless comprehension which the
Spirit will constantly give to the glorified soul.”
Dr.
Watson
CHAPTER III.
THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD.
IN
Revelation 1: 4; 3: 1, and 4: 5, we read of the seven Spirits of God; while in
Ephesians 4: 4 we are told that there is but one Spirit. Harmony exists between these Scriptures in the
fact that there is one Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit, as sent forth for the
illumination, comfort and edification of all the subjects of God’s redeeming
grace, is represented to our finite minds by sevens. This does not infer that the Spirit is divided, but He is the one
Spirit in whatever way He may operate in us.
Doctor Seiss says, “There is a sacred
significance in numbers: not cabalistic, not fanciful; but proceeding from the
very nature of things, well settled in the Scriptures, and universally acknowledged
in all the highest and deepest systems of human thought and religion.”
Three represents the Trinity—Father, Son and
Holy Ghost.
Four represents humanity.
Seven is the union of three and four, hence
it represents salvation, or the Christ-life in His saints. It is connected with whatever touches the
covenant between God and man. It also
signifies dispensational fullness. It is
complete in that which is temporal.
Thus we are not surprised to find that the Holy Spirit, in His offices,
administrations, operations, and in whatever way He may deal with man, is
presented to our minds in the number seven.
We have already seen that there are seven
symbols which the Spirit uses to present to our finite minds the different ways
He operates in our hearts, and now we are to see that there are seven
operations of the Spirit. May the Holy
Spirit help us to a proper understanding of these mighty things.
I.
The Spirit Strives (Gen. 6: 3).
It is the office of the Spirit to convict of sin, both actual and
inbred. The Holy
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20
The Spirit and The Bride.
Ghost often
strives with careless Christians to move them out into active service for God.
2. The
Spirit Regenerates (John 3: 5-8). To be
born again or from above is to receive a new heart. This change in the heart and life is wrought by and through the
power of the Holy Ghost.
3. The Spirit Sanctifies (I Pet. 1: 2). Sanctification is the destruction of the old
man—the taking away of the old heart—the eradication of the carnal mind. “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people
with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” The Holy Ghost applies the blood of Jesus to the heart, and the
heart is sanctified. The blood is the
means by which we are sanctified, while the Holy Ghost is the Agent.
4.
The Spirit Witnesses (I John 5: 6) He witnesses to our justification (Rom. 8:
16), to our sanctification (Heb. 10:15), to divine healing, to answer to
prayer, etc.
5. The Spirit Teaches (John 14:26). The Spirit must teach the sinner how to be
saved. Every saved soul realizes his
need of divine guidance, of divine illumination, of that wisdom which is from
above, and to every such soul there comes the blessed assurance that he will be
so guided and lead. The Spirit enables
him to understand the Scriptures, to perceive spiritual things, to know God’s
will, and to receive divine wisdom.
“For we know
not what we
should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered” (Rom. 8:26). Into all the
details of the ministry of the gospel the Holy Spirit enters. It was by the direction of the Spirit that
Philip was sent into the desert to preach to and baptize the Ethiopian eunuch
(Acts 8:29-39). The Spirit suffered not
Paul and Silas to go into Bithynia when they desired of themselves to do so
(Acts 16: 7). And it was the Spirit
that sent Peter to preach to Cornelius (Acts 10:19 and 11:12). And so all through ministry of the apostles
they were directed by the Holy Spirit.
6.
The Spirit Anoints (Ps. 23:5, and Acts 4: 31). The purpose of these anointings is to prepare us for service, or
to
The
Spirit and The Bride.
21
enable us to
undergo some particular trial. Many
miss all the sweetness of a trial by failing to tarry before God until He
anoints them for that trial.
7. The Spirit Baptizes (Matt. 3:11). This is the culmination of the offices of
the Spirit; it is the grand climax.
This is the seal of the Spirit of promise, by which seal we are
designated as the Bride of the Lamb.
Thus I have given the seven offices of the
Holy Spirit with reference to man’s salvation.
There may be others, but is seems to me that they can be enumerated
under these seven. It may be that “the
anointing” spoken of in I John 2: 27 is the same as the Baptism, but there is
no doubt that we may several times, either before or after our Baptism, receive
“an anointing” of the Spirit to prepare us for special service or trial (Acts
4: 29-31). But be all this as it
may—consider that there are seven, less than seven, or more than seven
operations of the Spirit, or explain “The Seven Spirits of God” as you may—it
still remains a fact that “there are diversities of operations, … but the
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” So any arrangement you may wish to make of
the operations or offices of the Spirit with reference to man’s salvation, any
theory you may wish to build, will not at all affect the main truth upon which
we take our position in this book.
“For He whom God hath sent speaketh the
words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him” (John
3:34). I draw from this that the Spirit
is given to no man in His full embodiment, but always by measure. I mean to say that Jesus had the Holy Ghost
in all of His operations, in all of His administrations, in all of His gifts,
and in all of His power as far as the relation between them existed; and
therefore the symbol chosen in the case of Jesus was that of a dove: but that
our capacities are too small to receive Him rather than by measure, though we
may be filled with Him; hence He never comes upon us as a dove. Just as one drop of water
22
The Spirit and The
Bride.
contains all
the fulness of water, and as much so as a barrel, and yet the barrel cannot contain
all water; even so we may have all the fulness of God, or we may be filled with
all the fulness of God; and yet we can receive I-Him only by measure.
Realizing then that we receive the
Spirit by measure, it is
easy to see
that not every one who knows the Holy Ghost has
received the
Baptism; and that not every one who has the Holy Ghost in him is filled with
the Spirit. I met the Holy Ghost in
conviction, I learned to know Him in justification, and I have been acquainted
with Him ever since.
Before
the sinner will either desire or seek after salvation, he must realize his true
condition and seek for divine help. Both the knowledge of this need and the
power to seek for salvation are wrought in his soul by the agency of the Holy
Spirit. Our Lord set before His
disciples the truth that the power to receive Him as Saviour, and the
efficiency of the Word itself, were dependent upon the direct influences of the
Holy Spirit (John 6: 32-64). Salvation,
however, is something more than being a member of God’s kingdom; it is the
pledge, through the indwelling Spirit, of joint-heirship with Christ to all the
glorious inheritance of God. We read in
the word, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”
(Rom. 8: 9). But this does not argue in
the least degree that all who have the Spirit have the Baptism of the Spirit;
in fact, it proves the opposite. To
have the Baptism of the Spirit, is to hold God’s pledge of resurrection “out
from among the dead” and the entrance into the full enjoyment of being the
Bride of Christ. Jesus said to his
disciples, “But ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you.” So you see that all who have the
Spirit are not baptized with the Spirit.
In
passing let us call to mind the fact that some have greater capacities for
containing God than others. One may
have a greater measure of the Spirit than another, and yet his capacity may not
be as near filled as the other’s. The
Baptism of the Spirit includes or implies all other operations of the Spirit
The Spirit and The
Bride.
23
mentioned above,
fills the spirit and soul and body of the recipient, and completely envelops
the entire being with power and glory.
So having taken this survey of the operations
of God’s Spirit in our hearts, let us now pass on to the manifestation. But this we must leave for the following
chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT.
“AND there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same
God which worketh
all in all. But the manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (I Cor. 12: 6, 7).
It appears to me from the above Scripture
that there is a manifestation which follows each operation of the Spirit in our
hearts. I also gather from other
Scriptures that each operation of the Spirit includes two kinds or phases of
manifestation. First, there are the
invisible and internal influences or manifestation; and second, the visible and
external manifestation and since there is profit in the manifestation, it is
given to every man in whom the Spirit operates.
1. We know that when the Spirit strives with a
man, there is an uneasiness in his soul, and a troubled look on his face (Dan.
5: 6; Acts 24: 25; Ps. 42: 5).
2. Justification brings the invisible
manifestation of peace (Rom. 5: 1), and the visible manifestation of a new life
(Eph. 2:1-5; Gal. 5: 22, 23; 2 Cor. 5: 17).
3. Sanctification brings the invisible
manifestation of joy (Luke 24: 50-52), and the visible manifestation of fruit
unto holiness (Rom. 6: 22).
4. The witness of the Spirit brings an internal
manifestation of confidence towards God (I John 3: 20-22), and an external
manifestation of testimony to the world (Rom. 10:10).
5. A person who is taught by the Spirit has an
internal manifestation of an insight into the words of Jesus (John 14: 26), and
an external manifestation of wisdom, especially in regard to the Christ-life,
and the hidden things of God (Gen. 41: 37-40; Dan. 1:19, 20; Acts 4: 13; 18:
24-26).
6. A
person who receives an anointing of the Spirit has an internal manifestation of
an insight into God’s dealings with
(24)
The
Spirit and The Bride.
25
5
His children (Ps. 23:
5,6), and an external manifestation of boldness and liberty (Acts 4: 29-31).
7. The
Baptism of the Spirit brings an invisible manifestation of living water (John
7: 37-39), and a visible or external manifestation of tongues (Acts 2: 3, 4).
There are other manifestations of the Spirit
which I have not mentioned, but as far as I have gone I have tried to build
upon the Word. It is possible that I
have made some error in giving the manifestation following each of the first
six operations; for in regard to these the Word is not so clear. I will therefore
give my readers the liberty to rearrange these manifestations if they choose;
but you must remember, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man”
in whom He operates, and also your manifestation must be Scriptural. But when
we come to the manifestation following the Baptism of the Spirit, we have a
“thus saith the Lord.” We may think for many years that we have the
manifestation of the Spirit following any or all of the first six operations,
and then find out that we have been mistaken; but not so in regard to the
visible manifestation of the seventh.
In proof of the above, in regard to the
visible manifestation, we quote from the words of Jesus: “But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me: and ye also shall
bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15: 26,
27). How people do twist this Scripture to keep from admitting that the
manifestation following the Baptism is speaking with tongues! One man, for example, after quoting the
Scripture above, writes: “Now Jesus was not speaking here of the Baptism of
the Holy Ghost for individual believers.
“The apostles collectively, represented the
Church as a body and the promise was that He would send the Comforter, not into
them, but unto them; and that He should abide, not in them, but with them
forever.
“The baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the
reception of the
26
The
Spirit and The Bride.
Spirit by individual
Christians, is not in question here at all.
If it were, the language would be, I will send Him upon you and He shall
dwell in you forever. But instead it reads, ‘unto you,’ and ‘shall dwell with
you.’
“So this evidently refers to the Holy Spirit
coming to the church to take up His office work; and to convict, save, sanctify
and fill each individual soul that will let Him.”
The writer then makes a few comments and
quotes: “He shall testify of me.” Then
he interrogates: “What will He say of me?”
As an answer to his own question he quotes I John 5: 6-10, and
continues:
“So we see that the Comforter’s testimony,
when He came to the Church, and to any heart, is to testify to that heart of
the divine Sonship of Jesus, and every Christian has this testimony in his
soul: ‘For no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost’ (I
Cor. 12: 3).
“So much for the beautiful promise that when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. Amen!”
On the same page of
the same paper the writer, after quoting John 14: 15-17, says:
“The phrase, ‘He dwelleth with you,’ had no
reference to their personal salvation, but simply to their work.
“The Holy Spirit is both with and in all
regenerated people. The blessed Holy Spirit dwells with, and among all God’s
people, whatever may be their degree of grace; and to say that the Holy Ghost
is with regenerated people, but not in them, is a mistake.”
Again, he writes: “So the words of Jesus to
the apostles: ‘For He dwelleth with you and shall be in you,’ does not deny
that the Spirit is in a truly regenerated heart; but they can only mean that
the apostles had not received the blessed Comforter in His glorious fulness.”
And again: “So when
Jesus said to his apostles, ‘and he shall be in you,’ he no doubt referred to
the baptism of the
The
Spirit and The Bride.
