*     *     *     *     *     *     *WHEN HE IS COME

By Howard Vassar Miller




01 -- The New Testament Emphasis
02 -- He Baptizes
03 -- He Fills
04 -- He Purifies
05 -- He Anoints
06 -- He Seals
07 -- A Glorious Work


PREFATORY          


There is, we sincerely believe, an ever present need of holiness literature, whether it be tract, pamphlet or book. Even though that which is written be mediocre or even a matter of much repetition the importance of this great theme overshadows these limitations. And so we add another booklet to the already large total over the years. No greater theme can provoke the pen or mind than this. We hope that the following pages will not only emphasize its importance afresh but inspire a personal urge to many more personally to know the glorious experience of a clean heart available to all who earnestly seek. H. V. Miller*     *     *     *     *     *     *
SCRIPTURE          

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." -- Jesus.*     *     *     *     *     *     *


01 -- THE NEW TESTAMENT EMPHASIS          


That there is a definite and consistent emphasis of holiness throughout the New Testament cannot be wisely denied. The wonder has been that so many have seemingly overlooked this significant emphasis, for it is there from beginning to end.          

On the very threshold of a new era of divine revelation we hear John the Baptist as he announces the place of holiness in the coming days of divine manifestation. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt. 3:11). 

The emphasis is obvious. Our attempt to add to it would be futile. John, at the very dawning of a new dispensation, declares that his ministry is merely prefatory. The work of repentance and faith in Him who was to come was but a means to an end. The work that Christ would do was as much greater than the work of John as He himself was personally greater than John. And just as John himself declared that Christ must increase while he himself decreased, so the work of Christ
would swallow up in its grandeur the foundational work of repentance and faith, Not that the former could be dispensed with -- it must ever be fundamental and foundational. But the ministry of repentance, after all, was but a means to an end -- the spiritual restoration in holiness of the human personality. And so it is, as the Old Testament type portrays, God brought His people of former times out of Egypt that He might bring them into the promised land of Canaan. We too are to be brought out of the bondage of sin in order that we may be brought into the spiritual freedom and liberty of a purified heart and nature.        

Later, when the new dispensation of grace was catching its stride, we find the same consistent emphasis upon the part of the leaders of the church. "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:14-17). The dominant thought of the apostles was apparent, for the moment the leaders of the church at Jerusalem heard of the stirring revival that had taken place under the effective ministry of Evangelist Philip, they immediately dispatched two of their number to Samaria to climax the ministry of Philip with the baptism with the Spirit in cleansing and empowering presence in the lives of those who had believed.        

But turning back the pages of time for a moment we call your attention to the same emphasis upon the part of Jesus himself. Turning to His high-priestly prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel we hear him passionately praying, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth [truly sanctified]. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word" (John 17:17, 6, 9,19, 20). 


We cannot help believing that, at this crucial point in the life of Jesus, he would instinctively pray for His disciples in terms of that which He felt to be the most important issue of their lives. And thus it was at this high point in his life, his spirit reached out to the Father in their behalf -- not that material security should be theirs, nor that the world should bow at their feet, but that above all they might receive the promise of the Father, the Comforter whom He would send them after the resurrection and ascension triumph. Here was the greatest need of His followers through whom His Church on earth would be begun -- the sanctifying of their inner natures by the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Nor was this prayer to be encompassed merely in His day. He prayed, as well, for all who should believe on Him through their word.        

Once more we turn to those momentous days when the disciples breathlessly wondered what the immediate hours might bring, Christ had risen from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, He had made Himself known to His followers repeatedly and now they wondered if at last Israel should be redeemed and once more take her place among the nations. And thus it was that someone ventured their common query to Him, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:6-8). Not now, was his reply. It was not yet God's time to restore the nation. Before this could be the sheep of another fold were to be brought in, And the important One through whose ministry these other sheep were to be brought into the fold was He for whom the disciples were to tarry at Jerusalem -- the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Trinity.          

This, then, is the constant emphasis of the New Testament -- the work, the presence, the purity, the power of the Holy Spirit. Dispensationally all was to climax in Him. His coming to the individual heart of the believer in purifying empowering presence was the final fruition of all the ages past. Not that He should receive the pre-eminence but that He might give it, It was to become His task to crystallize and conserve the work of Calvary, He was morally to equip the Church, He was to unify, co-ordinate and direct their effort, He was to manifest and interpret Christ in and through the lives of those who received Him.          

The dispensation of the Father has long since passed. Already nearly two thousand years have elapsed since the dispensation of the Son. We live today in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, He is the sovereignly chosen member of the Trinity to carry out the purposes of God in the earth. To Him we must give heed. His ministry must be reckoned with. His indwelling presence must be recognized and established as an experiential reality in the heart of everyone who would do the will of God, This is the emphasis of the New Testament.*     *     *     *     *     *     *


02 -- HE BAPTIZES          


Although we have already quoted briefly from the words of John the Baptist in his Jordan ministry we turn deliberately back for a larger view of his declarations. We do so because what he says is so significant in the unfoldings of divine purpose and redemption. And besides this, the statement of John in the third chapter of Matthew's Gospel is the very first utterance relative to the definite work of the Holy Ghost. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt. 3:11).          

In this very first New Testament statement regarding the actual work of the Holy Spirit, when He is come, some facts become apparent upon a simple surface reading of this record, The first fact is that the baptism with the Holy Ghost is a step beyond repentance and can follow only after repentance and moral readjustment through regeneration has come to pass. To attempt to tie together the work of the Spirit in repentance and regeneration with that of His baptism as one work is such a strained assumption that it is needless to consider it at all in this brief presentation. One precedes and the other follows as distinct crises just as the sun hidden behind the hills brings full-fledged day. Another passing observation merits comment. 

John clearly implies that just as much greater as Jesus was than he, in the same way the work that Jesus would do for the believer would surpass the work of John's ministry. They cannot be separated for one is, in the largest sense, an integral part of the other in the plan of God. But the baptism with the Holy Ghost is a work of larger consummation than the foundational work of repentance and faith, issuing into larger spiritual accomplishments and fullness of life. It more nearly approximates the eventual purpose of grace in the final restoration of the human personality. Thus the work that Jesus would do, and will yet do for the believer by the gift of the Holy Ghost, outdistances and exceeds the work of repentance that John taught on the threshold of grace. Just as the room is larger than the threshold and the full possession than the beginning so is Jesus' work greater than that of John.          

But the heart of this scripture drives far deeper than this. The thought hinges about the word baptism. And this word is an interesting one because it stands fresh in its meaning and literally unchanged from its original thought. When the translators reached this word they faced such a difference of viewpoint in their particular interpretation that they left the word unchanged save forgiving it a proper English ending. Thus we have the word baptize standing fresh in its meaning and unchanged in original thought. The word comes from the Greek baptidzo which had to do with the dyeing of cloth, It was a common household word, a most common term in wifely vernacular. Should a housewife meet another with whom she had formerly talked of a certain dress or fabric that was to be colored with a different hue she would ask, "Have you baptized that dress yet?" The implication, then, of the meaning of the baptism with the Holy Ghost is not hard to find. What does dyeing imply? 

It means the saturating of that cloth with a distinct shade of coloring until every particle of the warp and woof was impregnated with that color; until every fragment of the goods bears a particular identity with the purpose of the one who does the work. And so it is. The baptism with the Holy Ghost by Jesus in the life of the believer, who will have it so, is the actual saturating of that personality with divine presence until the very warp and woof of life takes on a divine cast and from then on identifies its relationship with Deity. It was Doctor Bresee, we understand, who frequently used to pray, "Lord, souse us with liquid glory." By no means afar-fetched thought. This is the work of the Holy Ghost in the life of the Christian. His life, though Christian in intent and purpose, has been spotted and from time to time somewhat inconstant. There have been parts of the life where the divine presence and coloring have been dimmed by failures. There has been lacking a consistency of definite divine shading as well as a penetrating of the entire personality all through with the power of God. But now, the personality having been baptized with the Holy Ghost, the whole thing is touched and identified with Deity.


03 -- HE FILLS          

In a most practical sense the filling with the Spirit is the result of the baptism with the Spirit. The one follows the other inevitably and surely. But in this scriptural setting, which warrants our use of this terminology, there is a distinct thought. I refer to Acts 4:31, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."          


To even the casual reader of the Acts of the Apostles it is very evident that this bit of New Testament history took place some little time after the actual outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the one hundred and twenty on the Day of Pentecost. Thus this scripture is not textually connected with the statement of John the Baptist which we have already considered. And yet it is the practical consequence of that momentous day of Pentecost. 

The beginning of the New Testament Church was now in full swing and the sovereign purpose of God was beginning to dawn in some measure at least upon the believers of that day. Their consuming urge, under the baptism with the Holy Ghost, had driven them out into the streets and public ways to proclaim the joyful news to all who would hear, The very vigor of their proclamation had issued in persecution. As a result Peter and John had been brought before the council. After serious threatenings by the council they were released with positive warning that they must no longer teach and preach in the name of this man Jesus. Immediately they sought out their own company and told them of the significant happenings. And when the group had heard, with one heart they lifted up their voice in prayer that God would grant them courage in the face of dire threatenings so that they might continue the proclamation of the mighty name of Jesus. Praying thus, suddenly the entire place where they had gathered was shaken as with an earthquake and all were freshly filled with the Holy Ghost.  

       The setting of this manifestation of the Spirit teaches us this simple lesson. They were filled afresh for service and suffering, And it is true, fillings can be repeated -- in fact must be repeated. It is the part of the real Christian to serve. And in serving he spends energies not only physically but spiritually and now and again must be refilled for further service, This is the practical ministry of the Holy Ghost for all who have welcomed Him in his fullness, He will come again and again whenever the need arises and freshly fill the depleted spiritual energies that have been heavily drained in sincere and tireless service. 

It is the common cry of many lips, "Give us afresh anointing, Lord." We readily understand the thought but it would have been far more scriptural to have prayed, "Give us a fresh filling, Lord." The anointing of the Spirit which we will consider briefly at a later point is once and for all. But fillings can be repeated. The seeming ignorance of this precious privilege has made many souls spiritually powerless and weak. It is, we repeat, the happy privilege of all who have received the fullness of the Holy Ghost in His baptism to return as often as heart desires and necessity demands for fresh power and fullness that sanctified hearts may ever triumphantly face the tests of life, making them more than conquerors.

Too many eke out a somewhat spiritual existence even after they have received the baptism with the Holy Ghost merely because they have not taken advantage of this particular ministry of the Spirit. As someone long ago declared -- Jesus went about doing good. 

Many go about seeking good. If we would follow in His steps and identify our lives with His own; if we would properly carry out the great commission, we must now and again seek His face and like them of old ask for fresh boldness to proclaim His power. He will not disappoint. More collective crying of the church would bring fresh inundations of divine Presence and would grant a greater drive of service and usefulness in whatever is attempted for the extension of the kingdom of God on earth. This is the work of the Holy Ghost, when He has come to you.*     *     *     *     *     *     *


04 -- HE PURIFIES          

It was a tense and momentous hour back there in Jerusalem when the truth of a universal salvation began to dawn upon the believers, It had been a most difficult task for the Jewish Christians to push back their horizons to take in other than their own nation. Theirs had been the training and attitude of centuries so we need not be surprised that amazement and mental confusion momentarily reigned when the news of Peter's bold fellowship with the Gentiles reached the ears of the church. And so it was that the leaders of that day strongly debated the matter, When it had at last dawned upon them that this glorious gospel was for all the world, regardless of blood or name, they did their best to bring their practices in conformity. 

As they debated these important matters at Jerusalem, the record declares in Acts 15:7-9, "And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good. while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."        


Here is a most significant and far-reaching scripture. A careful reading of this interesting story and the final statement of Peter under the provocation of the hour teaches us one clear lesson. Peter, by virtue of his statement and the setting which provoked it, put himself in a position where it became imperative that he tell exactly what had taken place on the Day of Pentecost. For in his telling of the incident at the household of Cornelius, the first Gentile household to come fully into the fold of grace, he tied this epochal incident into a parallel with the Day of Pentecost. In other words he had made it clear that God had put no difference between Jew and Gentile, doing for the one what He had performed for the other. The same witness that came on the Day of Pentecost came as well on the household of Cornelius. 

The same vital results appeared in the new Gentile believers as had appeared in those Jews on the Day of Pentecost. And so it was that Peter, by the very uniqueness of his position, was compelled to tell exactly what had actually taken place on the Day of Pentecost. What was it? " . . . purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9).        


Here is inescapable fact. Had any other mark or manifestation been essential to Pentecost Peter was under the necessity of declaring it. The significant fact remains, however, that he forever indexed Pentecost with one mark of identity -- the purifying of the heart. This simple fact answers forever any who would try to tie into the content of Pentecost more than heart purity. Regardless of the passing manifestations of that hour, unique and meaningful as they were then, the final and permanent pattern for all time for Pentecost was purity of heart through the baptism with the Holy Ghost. Whatever added manifestations that might appear from age to age these could in no wise be construed as final marks of genuineness. 

The sole mark of true Pentecost, then, is neither this nor that in terms of outward manifestation. It is, in truth, the purifying of the heart from sin. And this fact has the constant corroboration of many scriptures. "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom.6:6). "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). 

Let these two random passages, for want of space, satisfy the emphasis of purity as the heart of Pentecost. In view, then, of this clear statement of Peter concerning this most vital matter, may it forever silence the one who would attempt to insist upon a professed speaking in tongues as the true identity of Pentecost. This or any other manifestation might or might not appear but the full proof of Pentecost is ever found in purity of heart. After all the ultimate end of the purpose of God for man is moral restoration. Heart purity reaches that end while many manifestations hold nothing of moral significance.        


And we cannot pass without a definition of this word "purify." It is the very word from which we get our English derivative -- cathartic. It literally means to purge, to purify, to remove dross and eliminate that which is foreign. It is identically the same word as is used in I John 1:7. It means nothing more nor less than the actual cleansing of the nature of man from the virus of a sinful disposition. Let men decry the truth and resolutely clamor heresy, but the clear and unmistakable statement of Peter, whom the Holy Spirit himself directed to speak, was that the heart meaning of Pentecost then -- and now -- was and is the cleansing of the heart from inborn sin, To this clear
witness of Peter scripture boldly attests and the lives of multitudes happily declare. This, then, is the privilege of every Christian for when He is come He will cleanse.*     *     *     *     *     *     


*05 -- HE ANOINTS          

We cannot tell this thrilling story in all its meaning. But we will not pass by the record of John in his first epistle, "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" (1 John 2:27). We have already suggested this scripture in our effort to make clear the work of the Holy Ghost in His ministry of repeated filling and renewing. Here is not a repeated work, suggested by John, but a constant relationship. The anointing which "ye have received abideth in you. "          

It is this anointing that has an Old Testament background. It carries with it the thought of dedication. Just as the utensils and equipment of the tabernacle of old were anointed with oil- and consecrated to the worship of the tabernacle, so we are to be anointed with the Holy Ghost and forever, if we will have it so, set aside in full dedication to the service of God. The significance of the potential permanence of the coming of the Holy Ghost into the human life is seen in that bit of record of long ago concerning Daniel, the man of God. 

"Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was at Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace . . thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Daniel 5:2, 4, 5, 27). 

God ignored the revelry of the pagan king until he sought to use those vessels once dedicated to the worship of the holy God. When the drunken king prostituted those sacred instruments, though long since carried away in the captivity, to the drunken worship of the gods of his land, God spoke.          

The truth is apparent. Anointing carries with it the final dedication to sacred and holy ends which must never be annulled. As someone has said, reconsecration is desecration. The anointing of the Holy Ghost when He comes in His fullness to the life, means that henceforth that life is peculiarly and permanently God's.          

But the anointing itself had and has a definite purpose. The anointing of the Holy Ghost implies permanent tutorship and spiritual guidance and instruction. His constant anointing bring sinner illumination and understanding. His teaching is to take precedence over all outward instruction. 

He brings with Him all potential knowledge of eternal things for He searcheth all things and knoweth the mind of the Father, It is to this spiritual instruction we are to gladly yield as He teaches us, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until our inner being enjoys an increasing grasp of eternal truth. Whether it be from the recorded Word or from passing event His skillful instruction will make all who heed wise unto salvation. As Paul declares, "But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:9,10). 

Spiritual truths and grasp of eternal principles are taught the anointed soul making that one clearly intelligent in the things of God and no longer swept about with every wind of doctrine and the cunning sleight of men, It has long been our personal contention that the one anointed with the Holy Ghost will not be led into error, For He who is the Spirit of Truth will ever warn the soul of spurious teaching, no matter how cleverly obscured, And as John emphasizes in this same passage, the anointing of the Spirit is truth. We need never question His accuracy or insight. We need never wonder if His instruction will lead us astray. He is the Spirit of Truth and His anointing, if honored and consistently respected, will lead the soul on into the heights and depths of spiritual attainment unknown to many.


06 -- HE SEALS          

For our last reference to His wonderful work in the heart and life of man, once He has come, we turn to Paul's Ephesian letter. "In whom we also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13). 

To adequately grasp the force of Paul's words here we need to remind ourselves of the historical background leading up to the writing of this letter to the Ephesians. You will recall that in Acts 19 the record is given of the first visit of Paul to Ephesus, It was then that he questioned the Ephesians concerning the ministry of the Spirit, to which they replied that they had not heard of the Holy Spirit. The passage is a bit obscure. When Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost they replied that they had not so much as heard that there was any Holy Ghost. This cannot be the accurate rendering of this passage. And the reason is this. When Paul further interrogated them he asked, "Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism" (Acts 19:3). 

It seems hardly credible that they should have actually answered that they had never heard of the Holy Ghost. For certainly had they been taught concerning the ministry of John, directly or indirectly, they must needs have heard of the Holy Ghost for the declaration of His coming in relation to Christ with its consequent call to repentance and amendment of life was all a part of John's teaching. Be that as it may, it is clearly stated that as soon as Paul made clear to them the actual import of the death and resurrection of Jesus they readily adjusted their thinking and were immediately baptized. After their water baptism Paul, according to the same record, laid his hands on them and they received the baptism with the Holy Ghost.          


And so it was, as he later wrote his epistles to them, that he referred to this visit making the declaration we have already quoted -- that after that they had believed they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The clear plain inference, in passing, was that subsequent to and distinct from their recognition of Christ as Savior and the baptism of water that followed, they were baptized with the Holy Ghost, It is to this that Paul refers in Ephesians.          

Against this bit of added historical background the apostle teaches us concerning the sealing of the Spirit. What does it mean? Once more here is a distinctly original setting. Paul used the figure, common to his day, of the closing and securing of documents and letters. Letter writing, as far as its mechanics is involved, is a modern innovation, It has not been so very long that the use
of envelopes as we now have them has been in vogue. Prior to that time all forms of writing that must be private and secure were imprinted with the seal. Some sort of seal with its special insignia was always at hand. The document was prepared and straightway imprinted with the sealing warm wax, securing it from common gaze or thievish hands.          

How well do I recall my boyhood days in a very similar regard. My father was a railroad man and among the many routine duties of the month was the regular remittance of funds to the railroad bank in the custody of the Express Company. The preparation of these remittances always interested me and whenever I was present in the office at the time it was my requested privilege to seal the letter. Eagerly I would light the wax watching it flow out in large splotches of fluid which I would carefully press with the heavy bronze stamp till the wax was congealed and cold. I can almost recall today the impress of that seal, something like this: USX-32. 

Whether or not my memory serves me aright as to the actual imprint the fact was this. This seal said to all who cared to observe -- "This is the property of the Express Company, keep your hands off or suffer the consequences." The sealing of the Holy Ghost, when He has at last come in His fullness to the human heart, means that God has stamped His initials and personal identity upon the soul saying to the world, "This is the personal property of God and belongs solely to Him." And once that He, the Holy Ghost, has sealed, that life becomes conspicuously different from all the world about and bears an identity with the Deity that makes it unique. The mark is so legible and clear that final pretense of worldly favor is dissipated. The Holy Ghost has come.

*07 -- A GLORIOUS WORK          

No, we have not been attempting to describe in these few pages different and distinct operations of the Holy Spirit. We have merely been endeavoring to tell you, on scriptural authority, of the one glorious consequence of the coming of the Holy Ghost to the life of man. The simple truth of the matter is that when the Holy Ghost has actually invaded the human personality in all His consuming fullness it becomes humanly impossible, even with the aid of inspired revelation, adequately to describe this wonderful work in one figure or term.          

Suppose a friend should come some day and ask you to go with him to view a spacious and impressing work of architecture. He would guide you to a certain vantage point only to listen to your exclamation of delight at the beauty you beheld. But immediately he would say to you, "But you have not seen it yet." Wonderingly you would follow to still another strategic view and again burst forth with appreciation for what you viewed. But once more your friend would insist, "You really haven't seen it yet." Once more you eagerly follow and again from a distinctly new approach gaze at the same magnificent structure. Thus it is with the marvelous moral structure of the fullness of divine grace. It cannot be comprehended in one view nor described with simple language. The coming of the Holy Ghost is a baptism. But it is more than that. It is a filling, it is a cleansing, it is an anointing, it is a sealing, But after all it is the same glorious unit of divine accomplishment within the human heart. For when He is come He does all of this and more. His coming transforms the personality, purifies the very source of being, equips and empowers, molds, instructs and guides. His is a divinely wonderful work.         

 But, someone asks, if His coming so utterly trains-fuses the very personality; if His indwelling actually cleanses the very heart and nature, how could one ever lose such a mighty Presence and experience? We do not wish to emphasize this particular aspect of truth for the fact is that no one ever needs to lose Him once He has come. And yet there is a measure of confusion at this point in many minds that' provokes us to pause in the hope that the matter may be more fully understood. Were we to discuss the problem at length we would raise the question: How could Adam and Eve ever fall, for they were complete in holiness? The answer is found in the simple recognition of the fact of the humanity of Adam. It was true then, and now is, that the royal road of Satan to the heart of man is found through his natural appetites and desires. Temptation is ever based upon desire. It is upon this fact that Satan plays until he has produced an act of disobedience and again sown the seed of iniquity in the heart of man. But, the questioner persists, how can sin actually get back into the heart of man after once it has been removed? 

The answer to this is found in a proper recognition of what sin as a principle actually is, It is here again that our human language breaks down in its effort to describe spiritual relations. We speak of sin as a substance be cause of the beggary of language. It is called the old man, the body of sin, But these terms are merely figures of speech. Sin, as a principle after all, is not a substance, it is a moral quality. It is the pollution of the blood stream of the moral nature. Were sin a substance or a thing, most assuredly it could never be placed back in the nature once it had been removed. But sin is not a substance, it is a moral condition. And just as the blood stream of an individual, once having been cleansed by purgatives, could again become carelessly polluted by contamination, so the heart of man can again become polluted by disobedience and spiritual indolence. For Satan ever watches for an hour of spiritual laxity or weakness in which to again continue his nefarious task of damning souls just as he did in the long ago. His interrogation, "Hath God said?" is yet often successfully employed.          


A glorious fact, however, remains for us to consider in closing. The coming of the Holy Ghost into the heart and life in His exquisite fullness does so cleanse and empower, protect and guard that the liability of spiritual failure is brought to its earthly minimum. Here, if you please, is the true security of the believer. To every soul who will yield to the Holy Ghost, He will come with loving and holy dominion driving from the heart every antagonism to all the will of God. He will then secure the entrance to the soul with His own untiring presence. Whenever the enemy attempts to come in like a flood, He himself will lift up a standard against him, He will culture the soul with skill, He will guide the life with agility. He will build deep fixed principles of moral living deep within the being so that the slightest insinuation of Satan will be readily recognized and repulsed. He will train the weakened propensities and appetites of a broken race till spiritual culture becomes the instinct of the soul. Thus empowered and equipped the liability of failure is brought to a conspicuous minimum. And to him who will mind the checks of the Spirit, following His wise and tireless leadership, accepting His constant challenge to service, that one will become triumphantly serene in the peaceful consciousness of adequate resources. God is always present for every need. Spiritual development, then largely unhindered, becomes the delight and romance of life as one grows in grace and in the knowledge of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thus out into a larger sphere of consecrated usefulness and service, For the Holy Ghost has come. 
    
THE END
