VENI CREATOR:

THOUGHTS ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE.

BY THE REV.

H.

C.

G.

MOULE,
;
"

M.A.,

PRINCIPAL OF RIDLEY HALL, AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY

COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Author

"

of

Thoughts on Christian
"

Sanctity"

On Union with
"

"

Christ"

On

the

Spiritual

Life,"

Outlines of Christian

Doctrine,"

Secret

Prayer" etc.

FOURTH THOUSAND.

HODDER AND STOUGHTON,

27,

PATERNOSTER ROW.

holy Spirite, we pray to the Strengthe our fayth and increase it alwaye; Comforth our hertes in adversite With trewe beleve bothe nyght and daye.
"THOU

Kirieleyson.

worthy lyght, that art so cleare, Teache us Christe Jesu to knowe alone ;
"Thou

That
In
r

we have

never cause to feare

b-3

to

have redempcyon.
Kirieleyson.

"Thou

swete

love, graunt us altogether

in charite
;

To be unfayned
That

we may
of one

all

love one another.

to be.

And

mynde alwaye

Kirieleyson.

Be thou our comfortoure in all nede Make us to feare nether death nor shame;
"

But in the treuth to be stablyshed, That Sathan put us not to blame.

Kirieleyson."

BlSHOP COVERDALE, 1488

1569.

PREFACE.
T^HE
subject of the following chapters needs

no prefatory introduction to the Christian In itself eternally and divinely im reader.

portant,
it

has become in the mercy of

God
too

a special subject of our

own

time.

Far and

wide

in

the

Christian

Church,

amidst

many phenomena
hail

of peril and perplexity,

we

as a

phenomenon of good and

glorious

omen an ever-deepening

attention to the divine

promises which gather round the truth of the Holy Ghost. More and ever more it is re
cognized by those

who name

the

Name

of the
for

SON
the

that, alike for individual blessing

and

work and witness of the Community, we

depend with an absolute need upon the pre sence and power of the SPIRIT.

PREFA CE.

May
of

these pages, for

in

all

their

fragmentary

character, be used

some measure by HIM

stir

whom

they speak to

up His
that

saints so

always to lay hold on

Him

He

evermore
fill

may

lay hold

on them, and graciously

them

with Himself.
CAMBRIDGE, March 2%th, 1890.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
Purpose of the Book of orthodox faith
the Pleissenburg
I.
i

Owen

theory of successive tests Present supreme importance of

s

the truth of the Holy Spirit

The Veni Creator at The Personality of the Holy Spirit

John xiv.-xvi. the ruling passage for its proof Affecting the interpretation of Scripture testimonies at large Reserve in the Scripture exhibition of the Personality Why? Christ not Himself His subject in the Scriptures And in His dealings with the soul

The
love
to

truth

of

His Personality
It

is is

full

of

life

and

The

writer s testimony

a truth meant

be prominent in faith and experience Rightfulness of prayer addressed to the Spirit Addendum The Sin of Railing against the Holy Ghost

CHAPTER
" "

II.

(i)

The Dual Procession Here to be studied spirit uallyWhat the phrase imports Light thrown by it on the words, God is Love And on the connexion
between the works of the
Spirit

and

of

Christ

Scriptural basis for the belief Redeeming work of the divine Persons correspondent to Their inner

Relations the
tion

Human

Work of the Spirit in relation to Nature of Jesus Christ The Incarna The Baptism The Ministry The Resurrection
(2)

CONTENTS.
The Epistles to the Churches The Spirit produced and maintained the Manhood, the Son assumed It No independent Personality of the Manhood Yet its holiness and power was by the Holy Spirit
Strengthening power of this truth Place of Christ All parts of the in the Spirit s saving work for us And the life of grace and faith are by the Spirit
Life itself is Christ, in the mystical Union Thus the Spirit imparts not Himself, but Christ Practical spiritual importance of holding this truth and wit

nessing to

it

....
CHAPTER
Spirit s

...
of

24

III.

(i)

Union with Christ by the previous enquiry on this truth

and power

Spirit

Bearing

Its spiritual

comfort

The
in

work

in material creation

passing (2) The Spirit s work in relation to the Scriptures Not an easy subject to treat at the present day Prevalence of humanitarian views of Scripture Its main cause in a certain Unification of phenomena mental bias Inspira tion, a term vaguely used Authority of Scripture Scripture as literature bears witness to Scripture as oracle Consciousness of the Scripture writers not known in most cases But the writings inspired So viewed and used by our Lord The Holy Spirit the ultimate and ruling Author Testimonies to this

Noticed only

"

"

How

element"

human far this limits speculation as to the The First Homily on study of Scripture
"

43

CHAPTER
(i)

IV.

The Holy Spirit as the Interpreter of Scripture Cowper s hymn How is the work done ? Not by
supernatural illumination of the nature of infallible

CONTENTS.
But by impartation of spiritual recep Examination of leading passages in the New Testament dealing with the doctrine of These mainly in St Paul and. the Holy Spirit St John St John iii. 1-8 Study of ver. 8 A phrase to be studied in "Born of the Spirit" the light of Scripture on the signs of spiritual son"Born of the ship Augustine on i John v. 7 The whole process is His work So is Spirit"
intuition
tivity

xi

(2)

"

one," Universality Significance of the simile employed, the wind Secrecy of process Independence on human will Evidence in results Bearing of these remarks on

every

etc.

of the

statement

our view of the function of Baptism Regeneration

Beveridge on
62

The

our steps, to study in more detail the subject of the New Birth Conversion Conviction of sin John xvi. 8-1 1 Points

CHAPTER V Spirit convincing of Sin We retrace

"

remembered in this passage The World" the sphere of the work Some interpret the passage
to be

accordingly with slight reference to individual con But these latter are at least not of sin excluded from the meaning of the words Individual convictions of sin have a powerful influence on general conviction Appeal to the reader Convic
victions

experienced irrespective of differences and character Varieties of expe rience of it Influence of the experience upon our insight into the whole Gospel The Cross and the Resurrection are now seen in their true glory Beata culpa Such conviction makes personal ex
tion

of sin

of circumstance

perience deep
fruitful

And

pastoral ministry faithful

.

and
.

Need

to the last of

an abiding and deve

.

loped work of conviction of sin

82

xii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

VI.
PAGE

The Spirit glorifying Christ to the Soul This is His congenial and beloved work A fact often forgotten Bonar on The Gospel of the Spirit s Lone The
Spirit s gift of faith
is

"gift"

How

the gift

Proof from Scripture that faith is given By the mani

soul

festation of Christ s all- sufficiency to the Illustration from common experience

awakened

recent

personal example

supernatural zendorf Personal appeal to the reader

The work is at once natural and The case and testimony of Count ZinRealities

Let of experience, lighting up truths of doctrine us love Him who loves thus to bless us Hart s hymn 100

CHAPTER
The Spirit s
life

VII.

Work

as further seen in our

xiv.-xvii.

Lord

s last

Discourse

and Prayer, John

The whole

of the regenerate is to the last by the SpiritIn the present passage the Holy Spirit is implied even where not mentioned And the passage bears not on the Apostles only, but on all believers Who

some respects represented by the Apostles Oneness of believers with Christ by the Spirit Depth and preciousness of that truth An appeal They
are in
live

by

Christ, through the Spirit

record and testimony personal experience of this Fruit-bearing by the Spirit Prayer in the Spirit Its connexion with fruit-bearing Miss F. R. Havergal Greater works than these Teaching work of the Holy Spirit The "unction" of i John ii. The
"

Holy

realities of

"

keeping and sanctifying of the saints by the Let us live in the Upper Chamber .

Spirit
.

.122

CONTENTS.

xiii

CHAPTER
The Spirit s

VIII.
PAGE

as seen in John vii. and xx., etc. A chapter of fragments (i) John vii. 37-39 The A majestic Tabernacle-feast The Saviour s invitation and promise At once interpreted by St
"cry"

Work

John

How

"the

Spirit

was not yet

Gospel age
(ii)

given"

Diffu

sive character

of the

How
its

the water

shall flow from the

man

occasion

The

act of breathing

John and

xx. 21-23

The

significance

The words What they do not mean They mean not mediation, but declaration To be done by all To be true Christians, though not anarchically done in the power of the Spirit (iii) i John ii. 20, 27,
iii.

24

The

spiritual believer is in

a humble sense

a prophet (iv) Rev. v. 6 as the Vehicle of Christ His Church below

Spirit seen in vision s power and presence for

The

.145
IX.

CHAPTER

The Spirit in the writings of St Paul: in general Great fulness of Pauline teaching on the Spirit s work This is the more remarkable, as St Paul is the Apostle of Justification Lessons of this fact Justifying Righteousness and the Spirit s Work dis
tinct in conception, indissoluble in divine intention And in the true experience of the Christian St

witness to the Personality of the Spirit And Union of being and work between the Spirit and the Son And to the agency of the Spirit in the whole work of grace New Birth New Life and Walk Union with Christ Revelation of divine truth and blessing Of the certainty of Adoption And of

Paul

to the

paternal Love
1

Rom.
of the

V.-.5

explained

And Rom.

viii.

The work

and

Spirit in the believer s soul life seen in details The flesh and the Spirit

xiv

CONTENTS.
Encouraging aspect of Gal.
Spirit
v. 17 Liberty in the of realizing our possession of power by

Need

the Spirit

163

CHAPTER
the Spirit

X.

The Spirit in the writings of St Paul: the Fruit of

Topics of the Epistle to the Galatians And the Spirit s work Their con nexion Abundance of teaching on the work of the Not under Spirit towards the close of the Epistle
Justification
"

the

law"

"Led

by the

Spirit"

"Sowing

to the

Fruit of the Spirit contrasted with the works of the flesh Significance of the singular number, Fruit The place of "diligence" in fruitSpirit"

The

Meanwhile, bearing which bears the fruit

a power not our own the Holy Spirit While Christ is the Life He gives The Fruit Primarily, it consists in not doing, but being Not that the
it

is

It is

from common a Character Its elements Nine, in three triads All harmonized in one This character is essentially one of love and light
spiritual Christian is to isolate himself
life

and duty

The

Fruit

is

And

of yielding

practicality
Spirit should

and forbearance The description of

And
the

of vigilant Fruit of the

life
.

be a touchstone of the inner

186

CHAPTER

XI.

The Spirit in the writings of St Paul: the Fulness of the Spirit Scriptural illustrations of the phrase Varying phases of the Filling" Connexion between the Fulness and miraculous gifts Are the two always connected ? No the Fulness has a more abiding connexion with consecration to the will of God Not
"

that miracles are necessarily confined to the first age Eph. v. 18 explained It refers not to an ab-

CONTENTS.
normal
"in"

crisis,

but to the rule and habit of

life

Filled

the Spirit;

how?

Practical

meaning

of the
Is

precept
it

Surrender to the presence of the Spirit

The Baptism of the Spirit

to

Passages examined

be sought

Work

the Filling ? Apparently not of faith in receiving the fulness of the Spirit
for, like

Blessed results in detail

and Firstfruits of the Spirit

The Sealing, Earnest, A Prayer . .209

CHAPTER
in the heart by faith
of Eph. of Eph.
iii. ii.

XII.

The Spirit in the writings of St Paul : Christ dwelling

Sacred treasures of the close

passages

The passage takes up that at the close Likeness and difference between the two The former contemplates the Community,
Context of Eph.
"

the latter rather the Individual

iii.

17

The Indwelling
Union

means more than the Vital The In heart" Significance of the word
It

dwelling designed for all believers And to be con tinuous The language implies an Arrival in order In what senses such an arrival is and is to dwell not for all Christians The work of the Holy Spirit in this matter Strengthening In order to a willing welcome of the divine MASTER Nature in the fall shrinks from this So the Spirit s enabling is needed Faith in by faith Significance of the words this as in all its work is the Spirit s gift Conclusion
"

"

Dying words

of

Adolphe Monod

228 248

INDEXES

CHAPTER
r
I

I.

^HE

following chapters have a very simple purpose. They are not intended to con

stitute

technical

treatise,

certainly

not to

carry the reader into elaborate enquiries into the history of doctrines. They are intended
to

be a reverent review of some,

of

and only
the

some,

Holy teachings the ever-blessed Spirit Scriptures concerning of God, the heavenly Paraclete, the eternal
Third Person, the Lord and Life-Giver, and His revealed work in Redemption. And this review shall be made, by His most merciful
assistance,

the

main

of

with

a constant

reference
soul,

to

the

actual

needs of the

human

the

actual

experience of the people of God. The theme is one of altogether special im portance for the believing Church of these
latter days.

In John

Owen s

his deep, massive,

and most

Pneumatologia, Discourse spiritual

"

VENI CREATOR.
Concerning the Holy Spirit" (1674), occurs a remarkable passage (bk i., ch. i.), in which he traces through the ages and dispensations a
certain progress of divine tests of living ortho

doxy, related to each of the Three Persons in succession. Before the First Advent the great
testing truth

was

"

the oneness of
all,"

God s

nature

with special respect and His monarchy over At the First to the Person of the Father. Advent the great question was whether a

Church orthodox on the

receive

first

point would

now

the

divine

Son, incarnate,

sacrificed,

And according to the promise. the working of this test had gathered out the Church of Christian believers, and built it
and
glorified,,

when

on the foundation of the truth of the Person

and

Work

Holy

of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Spirit came in a new prominence and

speciality before that

Church as a touchstone of

true faith.

Wherefore the duty of the Church now immediately respects the Spirit of God,
"

who
is

acts towards
;

it

in the

name

of the Father

and of the Son

and with respect unto Him it that the Church in its present state is capa God. ... The
sin of

ble of an apostasy from

VITAL IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT.

despising His Person and rejecting His Work now is of the same nature with idolatry of old,

and with the Jews rejection of the Person of

the
Son."

The

statement
all
it

is

perhaps too absolute

at least

in

form to embrace
experience.

the data of revelation and

is

But

an indication of

great spiritual facts, Christian of the present day to take heed lest he lose hold of the truth of the blessed Spirit
in its

and a solemn caution to the

humbling but beatifying

fulness.

All too
in

easily,

amidst prevalent fashions of opinion

insensibly,
us.
fall

the

modern Church, we may

uncon

sciously, let that truth

from

We

may

take up with a view of

estate

human

nature in

its fallen

which

shall practically dispense with the

need of the regenerating and sanctifying Holy Ghost. We may take up with a view of sacred
order and divine ordinances
effect

which

shall

in

put His sovereign and mysterious work into other hands than His. May He, the Lord,
personal, sovereign, loving, us from unfaithfulness of re mighty, preserve gard towards His blessed Person, from untruth

the

Life-Giver,

of view of His divine work.

May He

keep us

VENT CREATOR.
indeed
"

men

of the

Spirit,"

filling

us, that

we

may be

so,

with Himself.

our subject more immedi ately, let us very deliberately take the attitude Who can rightly of invocation and adoration.
think and discourse about the

As we approach

Holy

Spirit of

save by that same Spirit, and as seeking with humblest reverence to follow the very
syllables

God

and footsteps of that written

Word
true

which

has
?

Him
in

everywhere

for

its

Author
It
is

the story of the German Reformation that on one of its most memorable

recorded

occasions,

the

disputation

between Eck and

of

Luther before

Duke George

Saxony

at the

castle of the Pleissenburg, the controversy

was

preluded

by the solemn chant of the Veni Creator, sung thrice over while the whole as
knelt.
1

sembly

With

the

voices of the

soul

may

we, writer and reader, so

now

unite, as

we

approach not a great battle of arguments but a

D Aubign,

Hist, de la Reformation

du xvi mo

Siede,

liv. v.,

ch. iv.

Kostlin, Luthcrs Leben, p. 149.

PERSONALITY OF THE
series of quiet meditations

SPIRIT.

upon the Person and

Spirit.

the

Work

of the
"

Lord the

Veni, Creator Spiritus,

Mentes tuorum

visita;

Imple superna gratia Quse Tu creasti pectora

"

Qui

Paraclitus diceris,

Altissimi

donum

Dei,
1

Fons vivus, Et spiritalis

Ignis, Caritas,
Unctio."

In the present chapter I propose to speak of the revealed PERSONALITY of the Holy Spirit as the all-important preliminary to all other

thoughts concerning Him.

Upon His
practical
"

Divinity,
I

His Deity, there

1

is little

need that

Rendered thus among the the Prayer Book

:
"

"

Hymns

formerly appended to

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come,

And
Thou

visit all

the souls of Thine

hast inspired our hearts with

life,

Inspire
"

them now with

life divine.

Thou art the Comforter, the Gift Of God most High, the Fire of The everlasting Spring of joy,

love,

And

holy Unction from

above."

See the whole ancient hymn in Trench s Sacred Latin Poetry, It appears to be certainly older than its reputed author, Charlemagne. See too the beautiful hymn to the Holy Spirit by King Robert the Second of France (A.D. 997), ibid p 196.
p. 184.
,

VENI CREATOR.
should dwell, so plain
or not,

on the very surface of Scripture that the Holy Spirit, whether personal
it is

is
it

divine,

is

Power of the divine Order.

?

a divine faculty, influence, phase, mode, or a divine Person ? Now the most direct answer to this question,
is

But

HE,

or IT

Is

it

and
is

at the

same time the deepest and

tenderest,

once to the central passage of all to go All over the blessed Scripture in the matter. Book from its very first lines onward lie scat
at

tered

Here and

mentions of the Spirit and His work. there we have passages which go

almost the length of revealing explicitly His personality; here and there passages which fully

go

that length, fairly interpreted.

But there
is

is

one precious section of Scripture which

to

these scattered rays as their combining focus, the glorious ruling passage of the subject.

And where and what

is

it ?

Not some great

chapter of apostolic argument and exposition, such as those in which the Godhead of the Son

paradox of Justification and applied to the trembling, by Faith explained weary conscience and longing heart. No for
is

asserted, or the holy

the decisive teaching on the Personality of the

THE PASCHAL DISCOURSE.

Holy Ghost we go yet deeper
ture tabernacle
;

into the Scrip

;

we

enter

its

Holiest

we open

the pages where the Lord Jesus Himself teaches with His own lips the secrets of spiri
tual
life.

There, as
itself,

it

were under the

John

xiv.-xvi.

Shechinah

lies

our doctrinal stronghold

There speaks the Christ of God, in an hour of supreme tenderness, and from which all ideas of the rhetorical and the merely poetical are infinitely distant and He speaks with repetition and emphasis of this same Holy Spirit, and He speaks of Him as
for this article of faith.
;

personal.
fact.

My
it

readers are well aware of the

But

is

never

in vain to

impress such a

again upon the soul by re-examination of the infallible words. Let me ask that the Greek
fact

be once more opened, and

this divine

gram

matical anomaly once more studied the neuter associated repeatedly and markedly

with the masculine HapaK\r)Tos, the masculines 09, e /cet^os, avrds. 1 And
let

johnxiv.ie, i 7;
7- 8 -

this

be read
in

in the light of the

wonderful
this

context,

which

this blessed Paraclete,

1 And if the question is asked, what language did the Lord Jesus speak that night, Greek or Aramaic and if Aramaic, how
;

VENI CREATOR.
"

Advocatus?
wise
"

"

called in
"

to the aid of the other

orphaned
to act so,

and

Church, is seen to be such, as to be indeed the Substitute, the

more than

substitute, for the

unspeakably

real

personality of the Saviour in His seen presence. The passage sets the Holy Spirit before us as

not the Father, as not the Son, and yet as the 2 "Vicar of Christ (the phrase is Tertullian s ),
"

the ample Consolation for the absence of the familiar company of the beloved Saviour. It
scarcely needs the impressive testimony of the Greek grammar of the sentences to assure us

with deep and restful certainty that to the mind of the Saviour that night the Spirit was indeed
present as a Person. In this central and decisive passage then we have the Holy Ghost revealed to us in so many
was the
contrast between masculine

and neuter conveyed ? we

reply that the question, most interesting and important in itself, is not in point in our enquiry. For us as believers in the divine

character of the Written

Word

the discourses of the

New

Testa

ment, and of the Old Testament too, are before us as reports corrected and edited by the Author.

For a vindication of the rendering Advocate for Paracletus see Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the N.T., pp. 50-56 Meantime the dear familiar word Comforter, Confortator, remains
1

as a true paraphrase of Paraclete.

2

De

Virginibus Velandis

c.

i.

ITS

BEARING ON OTHER SCRIPTURES.

It;

words as HIM, not only as

as the living and

conscious Exerciser of true personal will and i. John love, as truly and fully as the First
i
ii.
"

Paraclete,"

the

Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

passage radiates out its whole system and circle of glory upon the From Gen. i. Scripture truth about the Spirit.
this central
2 to

And now

Rev.

xxii.

it

sheds the warmth of divine

personal

life

into every

mention of the blessed

With the Paschal Discourse in our heart and mind, we know that it was He, not who brooded" over the primeval deep. It,
"

Power. 1

He, not
"ruled

It,

"strove

with

man,"

or

Gen.i.a.

in in

man,"

of old.
in

It,

was

Joseph
in

He, not Egypt, and

of

G en .vi.
Gen.

3.

xii. 3 8.

upon

Moses

the

wilderness

Numb.

*i. 17 .

wandering,
1

and
that

upon judges
it

and

kings

of

well

know

is

maintained that in the Greek

New

Testament, as a rule, ro Ili/eC^a denotes the Personal Paraclete, and Trvevpa without the article not the Person but the influence.

With some exceptions

I believe this rule holds good. But it leaves quite untouched the line of reasoning in the text here. When we have ascertained that TO Hvevpa is indeed a Person we know that irvevp.a is a personal influence. And in the general

light of Scripture teaching

on divine Influences

we are abundantly

secure in saying that this Person at work.

means nothing

less than the divine

io

VENI CREATOR.
34. x. io.
.

after-days.

He, not
"

It,

"spake
"

by
It,

Sam.

the

prophets,"

moving
God."

those
-r

"holy

men
-,

of

He, not

Matt. xxii. 43.

-.

-,

Chron.
12.

xxviii.

the plan of the ancient I abernacle and of the first Temple. He, ,, r T not It, lilted bzekiel to his feet in
. ,
.

Ezek.ii.2.

Luke

i.

35.

He, not It, came upon the Virgin, and anointed her Son at Jordan and led Him to the
the hour of vision.
desert of temptation, and gave utterance to the saints at Pentecost, and

Acts

ii.

4.

Actsviii.39.

caught

Philip

away from the road

to Gaza, and guided Paul through Asia Minor Actsxvi.6,7. to the nearest port for Europe. He,

not
john

It,

effects

the

new

birth

of

regenerate

in. 5, e, s.

Gai. v. 25.
1

man, and is the Breath of his new life, and the Earnest of his coming
glory-

Eph

.^;^
i 3.

B Y Him

>

not b y

It:
>

the be -

Gai. v. 25.

liever walks,

and

mortifies the deeds

Rom.viii.

of the body,

filled
It,
it

not with
is

It,

but

Eph.v.
2

is.

Him.
faith,

He, not

cor.
i.

iv. i 3 .

by whom
on

is

the Spirit 01 unto us "given

phii.

29.

to believe
I

Christ."

He, not

It,

R
?X;

It,

He, not speaks to the Churches. that they who die in the says Irom heaven
^ ^
i

2 2^.

RESERVE OF SCRIPTURE; ITS REASON.

Lord are blessed, and
life

11

calls

in

this Rev.

xiv.

i3.

upon the wandering soul of man

let

to

come
I7 .

to the living water.

Rev.xxii.

us not wonder, by the way, that the exhibition of His Personality is comparatively
so reserved in Scripture that we have need, as in the case of the Personality of the Father
;

And

and of the Son we have not

at

all,

to place

Scripture by Scripture and make an induction on the subject. The reason lies in the nature
of the
case.

Author of the

The Holy Spirit is Written Word; and

the true
Heb.x.
i 5.

His authorship there is occupied with the main and absorbing theme not of Himself
but of another Person, the Son of God.
cidentally, like

In
in

some of His human agents

like

the production of the Scriptures

Moses,

and Jeremiah, and Paul, and John closes enough of His blessed Self
us
full

He
to

dis

give
;

apprehension of His personal reality

is

but His theme, His burthen,

JESUS CHRIST. and application again unfolding of Redemption His work is above all things

And

in

the

secret,

internal,

subjective.

It

is

to take of

4;he things

of Christ, to deal with the blessed

12

VENI CREATOR.
work and inexhaust

objectivity of the finished

ible riches of Christ,

and with inmost touches

and new-creating whispers to manifest them to the spirit of man. It is to bring man, by a
divine but inscrutable operation, to believe in Christ and to possess Him, with a spontaneity As truly man s own while yet Another is in it.

His saving operations, the Spirit lies hidden as it were behind Christ Jesus and in our own
to

inner man.

So
this

it

is

also in

measure

in

His

revelations of Himself in His holy

Word.

point before us now, in the matter of the Personality of the Spirit, is just this that we have the
:

However

is

by the way.

The

and open revelation of that personality given us in Scripture in a place and under cir cumstances charged with indescribable tender
central

ness and sacredness.

The

truth thus appears

not only as a

demand on
it is

the obedience of faith

but as a gift to the believing soul of heavenly love, of love deep and warm as the heart of the Redeemer.

though

this

indeed

There seems
present day, in

to

be a

drift

and

set

at the

quarters where what are called liberalizing tendencies in theology prevail,

many

TENDERNESS OF THIS TRUTH.

73

to discredit, or minimize, or ignore, the belief of

the Personality of the blessed Spirit.

interest

In what
is

and to what end, one asks,

such

a tendency accepted or promoted ? Surely not with the hope of presenting the Christian plan,

the process of eternal love and goodness, in fairer, tenderer, or more living colours and
glories.

If a reference to personal
I

may be permitted

may
shall

experience indeed here set to

"

forget the gain to conscious faith and peace which came to my own soul, not long after a first decisive and ap

my

seal."

Never

propriating view of the Crucified Lord as the sinner s Sacrifice of peace, from a more intelli gent and conscious hold upon the living and

most gracious Personality of that Holy Spirit through whose mercy the soul had got that
blessed view.
insight into

was a new development of the Love of God. It was a new

It

contact as

it

were with the inner and eternal

movements of redeeming goodness and power, a new discovery in divine resources. At such
a
"

time of

finding,"

gratitude,

and

love,

and
with

adoration gain a new, a newly realized, reason,

and motive-power

and

rest.

He who

VENI CREATOR.
skill,

His secret

and with a power not the

less

almighty because it violates nothing, has awak ened and regenerated the man, now shines before
his

inner sight with the

smile of a personal
is

and eternal kindness and amity, and

seen

standing side by side, in union unspeakable yet without confusion, with Him who has suffered

and redeemed, and with Him who laid the mighty plan of grace, and willed its all-merciful
success,

and spared not His own Son, giving

all.

Him

over for us
it

If

may

reverently use

the simile,

is

as

when

to

two notes of the

is

musical triad the related third note

added, and

there results, in the words of the music-loving not a fourth sound, but a star." 1 poet,
"

As our enquiry proceeds we

tinual

shall

have con
to
this

occasion

of

course

to

recur

primary theme, the

Personality of the
is

Holy

Ghost

and much that

at least

liminary statement will

omitted in this pre thus be supplied. But

at the great

we have
us,

aimed here
take

mark
in

of setting the sacred fact, as a fact, well before

and

letting

it

its

large place

anew

Browning, Abt Vogler.

IT CLAIMS A

LARGE PLACE.

15

the consciousness, and so in the action, of the believing man. be a large one,

That place
in

is

surely

meant

to

the light of the Paschal There Discourse, as we have traced its import. the blessed Person of the Paraclete is revealed
the void of the disciples hearts with a whole wealth of personal, gracious
as just about to
fill

action,

abiding,
into

revealing,

teaching,

leading,

conveying

the

inmost

receptacle

the

presence of Christ, so that He while absent should be present, while invisible should be

Surely such a presence and such an action was intended to call forth on the happy
seen.

Christian s part a reverent and loving recipro If thus the Spirit was to deal with cation.

him, he was to deal with the Spirit in holy

recognition,
fiding
"

and adoring gratitude, and con

"

love.
is

The

Spirit with our Rom. vm.

16.

spirit

a phrase

meant

to

carry

endless

blessed applications in the experiences of the life of faith.

perhaps arises from the thoughts just suggested, whether acts of

close, the question

As we

direct adoration

to

the

Holy

Spirit are

pre

scribed to us in the Scriptures.

It is certainly

VENI CREATOR.

pages on the question, a fact explicrtly which however falls very naturally in with what

remarkable that

we have very

little in

their

which bears

already seen of the general com parative reticence of the Author of the Book about His own nature and glory. And, again, it

we have

harmony with what we have seen of the character of His work for the Christian, a work pre-eminently subjective, so profoundly so
is

a fact in

as to occasion such a statement as that of St

Paul that the Spirit intercedes for the saints Rom. viii. 27. with groanings that cannot be uttered,

words whose context

at least suggests that the

intercession has its action in the region of the inner man, and breathes itself or groans itself forth through the regenerate human spirit. If

Holy Spirit s special function not only speak to and deal with, but also to speak and work through, the man He renews and
it

is

the

to

sanctifies,

we can

just so far understand that

the less presents Himself for our articulate adoration. But meanwhile the sacred rightfulness of our worship of the Holy Spirit surely established as anything can be
rests
is

He

as

that

on large and immediate inferences from

PRAYER TO THE
the Scriptures.
personal,
If

SPIRIT.

He

is

divine,

and

if

He

is

how can we

help

the

attitude

of
the

adoration when,

leaving for

the

moment

thought of His work in us, we isolate in our view the thought of Him the Worker ? Scrip
ture practically prescribes to us such an attitude

when
His

gives us our Lord s own account, in His baptismal formula, of the Eternal NAME as
it

disciples

were

to

know

it

"The

Name

of

the Father, and of the Son, and of the

Holy

Ghost
the

"

and when

in the

Acts and the Epistles

inmost being of the
in

Holy Ghost doing His work

individual

is

set before us as not only

in

the

but

presiding
;

sacred

majesty
3.

over the community the Revelation He,

cal

and when

in Ac tsv.

in the mystisevenfoldness of His operation,

in that

Acls xv. Cor xiL

!
II ~ 13 -

solemn pre lude as the concurrent Giver, with the Father and the Son, of grace and peace Rev 4

Seven yet One, appears

above

all

when

in the

Paschal Dis-

John x iv

l6

course the

adorable and adored

as

Lord Jesus
"

co-ordinate presents Him to our faith another with Himself in glory and grace,
Comforter."

VENT CREATOR.
So, while watchfully

and reverently seeking

the believer s relation
that of direct adora

to

remember the laws of Scripture proportion,

it

and that according to

to the Spirit
is

not so

much

which wholly implies it, let us trustfully and thankfully worship Him, and ask blessing of Him, as our spirits shall be
tion as of a reliance

moved

to such action

under His grace.

Let us

ever and again recollect, with deliberate con templation and faith, .what by His word we

know
jude

His work
2 o.

of Him, and of His presence in us and for us, and then let us not only "pray
in the

Him, words of some ancient Veni, or in the many songs of supplication which have been given us, surely not without His leading,

Holy

Ghost"

but also

to

whether

in the

in these latter

days of His gracious dispensation.

such out of many let me quote and let breathed from the soul and mind of use,

One

me my

own beloved and Spirit-taught father long ago, and sung by him (how often in tones how well remembered !) in his hours of adoration to
!

the last

"

Come, Holy Comforter,

Relieve from
all

celestial Light, obscurity our sight ;

THE SIN AGAINST THE

Come, Holy Comforter, Our souls with love and

SPIRIT.

19

celestial Fire,

purity inspire
to

Hear, Holy Ghost, our supplicating

cry,

Nor leave
"

the grace

Thou gav st

droop and

die.

Reveal, and

Come, Holy Comforter, a Saviour s love fix our hearts on joys above
flesh

Come, Holy Comforter, the

subdue,

And

aid us, one with Christ, His will to

do

Hear, Holy Ghost, our supplicating cry, Nor leave the grace Thou gav st to droop and

die."

ADDENDUM TO CHAPTER
THE

I.

SIN OF RAILING (/3Xa(7(/)^ta) AGAINST

THE

HOLY GHOST.
(Matt.
xii.

31,

32;

Mark

iii.

28-30;
;

Luke

xii.

10.

See Heb.

vi.

4-8, x.

26-31

John

v. 16.)

and mysterious subject I offer a very few words, and these are offered only mainly because of the connexion of the subject
this awful

ON

with that of the Personality of the Holy Spirit. For it appears to be justly reckoned among the
proofs of the Personality that this unspeakably

dread warning should be given, in which railing

20

VENI CREATOR.
is

seen as a sin comparable in kind with railing against the holy personal
against the Spirit

Saviour.

For myself
does,

feel,

as surely
easier

many
it

a Christian

how

very

much

is

to say
l

what

this great

not

acme and last development of sin is than what it is. Whatever it is, it is always
for ever true that the

and

man who

as a fact

comes penitent
finds
it.

to the feet of Christ for

it is,

pardon

And whatever

the Saviour s
it

own

words of warning surely imply that

action

is

not, so

to speak, a terrible accident of the sinful soul s

note) a development, the result of a process, the out come of a deliberately formed condition. In order to it there needs, assuredly, the concur

but

(see Miiller cited

in

the

rence of great and God-given light upon good and evil, sin and salvation (see Heb. vi.), with
a
resolved,
deliberate,

and matured
will
;

hostility

and repulsion on the part of the

a personal

hatred of recognized eternal holiness.

1

See some excellent remarks on the Unpardonable Sin as

full

being not an isolated sin but sin in its Muller, Christian Doctrine of Sin, T.
i.,

&

T. Clark

development, in Julius s Eng. Trans.,

p.

418, etc.

THE SIN AGAINST THE

SPIRIT.

21

Why
surely,

is
it is

Because, unpardonable ? such a closing of the door of repent

this

sin

ance by the created personality against itself as, by laws of spiritual nature which we cannot
analyse but
personality

may

in part divine,

finally
all

against

shuts up the denies all grace

;

possible ground,

nidus, to the action of

Him
if I

whom

it

has in some sense seen and yet deli

berately hated.

And some
thrown on

further light,
this

mistake not,

is

irremissibility

by the fact that the Gospel, the Dispensation of the Spirit (see e.g. 2 Cor. iii. 6-8), is seen
in

Scripture

as

mercy.

He who

the final message of divine in the full light of this final

its

Gospel deliberately rejects

message and

its

Messenger, casts off the last offers, the justly and necessarily last, of salvation. No more
powerful, tender, prevailing secrets of conquest

and persuasion lie beyond. This comes out in Heb. x., where the possible apostate back from Christ to antichristian Judaism is warned that
no new
need.
for
sacrifice

for sin

will

meet

his awful

The
;

ever

old offerings have done their work and Calvary will not be repeated.

From one

point of view

we may

thus say that

22

VENI CREATOR.

the warnings of the Saviour in the Gospels mean, in effect, that while a merciful forbear

ance could, in the nature of things, be extended for His sake to that rejection of Him which

was committed
while

He

days of His flesh," stood before His enemies as pre

"

in

the

eminently otherwise

The Son of MAN," it would be when He was deliberately and finally

"

refused under the dispensation of that

Spirit

Holy
His

who

should bear -witness to

Him
"the

in

accomplished work and glory as

of salvation

Captain

made

perfect."

the truly regenerate commit this sin ? venture to say yes, and no. In themselves,
their regeneration than

Can

and as relying more on

their

Regenerator, yes. His covenant of grace,

never.

In Him, and under

I

humbly
as
J.
it

believe,

no

and

Heb.

vi. 4-8,

(the weighty remarks of

Mliller

appears to me notwith

standing), deals with the case not of the soul vivified with the divine life of holiness and love
Spirit of Christ, but of the soul gifted by that Spirit with the fullest light separable from

by the

See Whitby,
xii.

On

the

New

Testament,

Appendix

to

St

Matthew

THE SIN AGAINST THE

love.

SPIRIT.

23

Balaam

recorded condition remarkably

illustrates

every detail of Heb. vi. 4-8. Meanwhile let us take heed, watching and

not to grieve the Spirit of love and holiness. It is better to be dismayed than to
praying,

presume.
to trust.

But

it is

best of

all

most reverently

CHAPTER
~\

II

TEN

CREATOR SPIRITUS, was

the thought

Let

with which our previous chapter closed. us begin again with the same. In
the

following the scriptural traces of trine of the blessed Spirit we will

that

doc

remember
all

He
13
.

is

the promised

"

Guide

into

the
"

johnxvi.

truth."

By Him we

will

seek

right judgment in all things" concerning His revealed glory, such a judgment that we may "evermore rejoice in His holy comfort," the

comfort of a happy insight into what as Comforter.

I

He

is

propose to treat

in

this chapter

of two
:

important sides of the doctrine of the Spirit the Forthcoming of the Spirit in the Holy

Trinity from the Father and the Son ("the Dual Procession and the work of the Spirit in relation to the Human Nature of our Lord
"),

Jesus Christ.

THE DUAL PROCESSION OF THE

T.

SPIRIT.

25

Procession of the Spirit can scarcely be spoken or written without calling up associated thoughts of strife and division
within the Christian
less

The words

Church, and the hardly

that ultra-specu

unhappy remembrance of

lative

treatment of divine truths which

has

too often proved a fruitful source of divisions. Not seldom even the most pious and reverent minds have been beguiled into discussing the

Nature of

God and

the

eternal

Relations

of

the divine Persons in a tone which would be

justified

only if Almighty unto

we had

actually

"found

out the
7.

perfection"

and saw

jobxi.

before us, arranged in a series of absolutely

certain

premisses,

HE
small
ol

knows about

major and minor, all that HIMSELF. Hence in no

measure arose that great controversy East and West upon the Dual Procession
final

which led to a
1050,

a rupture 1 little healed that as a de recently as I863 claration was issued from Constantinople con

rupture about the year never since healed, nay so

demning
1

as heresy the

Western

belief,

confessed

See Smeaton, Doctrine of the Holy

Spirit^ p. 289.

26

VENI CREATOR.
our two longer Creeds and
in

in

the

Fifth

Anglican Article.

But notwithstanding
ble,
I

all

this

it is

fully possi

trust,

to treat this subject of the

Dual

Procession, great and also tender as it is, with out either a long discussion of the history of
belief
lative
1

or an unconscious imitation of the specu

tendency referred

to.

All

ask

now

to

do is to take this doctrine, which our Church, both before and after the Reformation, has as a
fact

avowed
it

upon

in

be Scripture truth, and to look the serene and blessed light of the
to

revealed

and experienced work of the Lord

the Life-Giver in His ministry for Christ in the Church and in the soul. shall surely find it to be no mere phantom of abstract and unli

We

censed speculation, but a truth of life and love. What then in effect do we mean when we

speak of the Procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son ? We mean that in the
revealed inner relations of Godhead, in those
eternal

and necessary

relations
("

necessary" in

the well-understood sense that they are rela1

For a brief conspectus of the history

may

venture to refer

to

my

Outlines of Christian Doctrine, pp. 146,

etc.

WHAT THE DUAL PROCESSION MEANS.

tions lying in the very

27

which

in

Nature of God, relations that Nature must be, even as holiness

it),

must

be in

while the Father

is

the eternal

Origin of the Eternal Spirit, the currently His eternal Origin also.
that

Son

is

con

We

mean

Godhead is eternally in the Spirit because of the Son as well as because of the Father. We do not mean that the blessed Son is
thus the Spirit
s

separated way.

Origin in an independent and All that the Son is, as the

"of

Second Person of the Holy Trinity, He is 1 the Father," and of the Father alone.
this

To
"

He

bore abundant personal witness

"

in

the days of His believe that the

derives

flesh.

But we

John v

2S ,

etc.

"all"

which

He
this

thus eternally
that

includes inter alia

He

is,

with the Father, the concurrent Origin of the

Holy Spirit. Such a humble belief is neither an arbitrary and barren demand upon a bewildered or unre
nor a thing so sublimated and vanishing as to find no point of contact with In the first place, it throws some life and love.
flecting assent,

See Pearson, Exposition of the Creed,

p. 136, etc.

28

VENI CREATOR.

precious light of its own upon that Sanctum Sanctorum of life and love, the inner relations

of the Persons of the blessed Godhead.

He

who

is

at

once the Spirit of the Father and

is the Spirit of the Son, and One with Both He not, in His blessed personal existence, the

Result, the Bond, the Vehicle, of Their ever

lasting mutual delight

and love

That such

He

is

was the

belief of Christians long ago, a

belief resting not indeed

upon

direct revelation,

but upon inferences deep and lawful suggested by it. It is put into articulate statements by

St Augustine, in his treatise On the Trinity, It falls in with the doctrine of the Dual vi. 5.
Procession in a true harmony.

And

study of anything
tical

which casts

surely the light on the

revelation of that Mutual

Love

is full

thoughtful faith, contribution to the study of that

i

blessing to

for

of prac it is a

inexhausti-

ble text, "GoD is LOVE." Yes, not does God do acts of love, however great. only In the inmost heart and secret of His Being
joim
iv. s, 16.

He
life

"is

Love."

And when we come

of

from the revealed inner

Godhead

to the divine

work of redemp-

PRACTICAL BENEFIT OF THE BELIEF.

tion

29

we

find a manifest aid

and blessing

in the

belief of the eternal

Spirit

Forthcoming of the Holy from the Son as well as from the Father.

In the light of this belief, every part and detail of the work of the Spirit in connexion with the Person and work of Christ gains indefinitely in

our view in respect of closeness and tenderness of contact. In the light of this belief, He who

Him, and imparts Him, does all this blessed work not only as the holy Messenger and Co-operator of the Saviour but as the Stream from Him the Fountain. Deep must be the harmonies of such co-operation. Absolute must be the truth
testifies
of"

Christ,

and

"glorifies"

and fulness of such testimony. Close, unspeak ably close, must be the union effected by such
an Intermediary.
is

Meanwhile the scriptural basis for this belief In strong, and capable of simple statement.
is

Scripture the Spirit Spirit of the Son,"

Christ,"
"the

as freely called
Spirit of of God,"

"the

"the

Rom.viii. 9

as

"the

Spirit

Spirit of the
is

Father."

?&&. And g&K^.

He
Son

as freely

said

to

as

by the Father.

by the But we gather from

"sent"

be

3o

VENI CREATOR.
and
the
in

Scripture, with abundant fulness,

directions,

many

that

the

works

of

blessed

Three Persons in redemption bear always a deep and steadfast reference to their eternal
inner relations.

Thus
not

the Eternal Father of

the

Son,

and

the

Son,

is

the

Father
not

of the

believer.
is

The
the

Eternal

Son, and

the

Father,

First-born

among many

Therefore, by the rule of a deep and holy analogy, we -believe that the relation of the Spirit to the Son in respect of saving
brethren.

work

rests

upon

their

relation
"

eternal Being.

Him who
Son,"

is

respect of the Spirit of the

in

Son, sent by the

salvation,

for us

men and

for our

we humbly and

be related to the Son

of

Godhead

adoringly believe to the inner sanctuary after the manner of an unbeginin

ning and unending

of Divine Life.
If

Procession, Forthcoming,

such
it

is

indeed the truth,

infinitely

into

rise higher,

our insight higher, than any

let

however careful, of a Church controversy. It is a thing which great can and should lead us up to look upon the
analysis or record,

mere

very springs of

life

eternal.

It

is

one of the

THE SPIRIT AND CHRIST

MANHOOD.

31

mighty truths which converge upon the inex haustible glory and preciousness of our Lord
Jesus Christ upon His central position for us in the plan of salvation upon the close con
;

nexion with Him, the

of
all

infinitely close

connexion,
;

the parts which concern our holiness as truly as these

parts of that plan

and work

which concern our acceptance. 2. This last thought leads me to a few con
siderations

on our second present topic the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Human Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. On
;

this topic

dwell in order above

practical
spiritual

all

to

empha
for

size

some

truths about the

Spirit s regenerating

us

who come
It is

to

and sanctifying work Christ and are in Him.

but rapidly, and as collecting specimens of illustration, that I need remind my readers
of the large and deep connexion revealed in Scripture between the Holy Spirit and the SON

OF MAN.

The Holy
holy
Thing."

Spirit

was the immediate Agent

that
Lukei.
35 .

in

the Immaculate Conception of

Not

that

He

was therefore the

32

VENI CREATOR.
;

Father of the blessed Son

but

He

was the

vehicle of the Paternity. Not again that He so acted that the Son as God had nothing
to

do with the act of the Incarnation.

in

The
our
the

Son,

divine

will,

willed
it
;

to

assume
again

nature,

and so
Spirit

assumed

but

blessed
that will

wrought the process whereby was carried out. And then, thirty
the
at

years

later,

Spirit

descended
in

youthful
Matt, iii.ie; etc.

Lord

His baptism,

upon the some inand

the

Luke

iv. i-i 4 .

scrutable speciality of presence In this "power of power.

Spirit

"He

went

forth first to temptation

and

then to ministry. It was in the Spirit, "given without measure," that He spoke the words
"

johniii.34.

of

God."

It

was

"by

means of the
that

Eternal
Heb.ix.
God."
i 4.

Spirit,"

wonderful

phrase,

He
to

"offered

Himself without spot

indications
that

We

find

the

Spirit

had great things to do with the bodily resurrecRom.

viii. ii.

tion
it

of

the
"by

buried
the

Lord.

After
that

resurrection
Acts
i.

was
"

Holy

Spirit"

2.

He

gave
as

commandment
in the

to

the

Apostles."

And when
the

Revelation the
risen again

glorified Jesus,

slain

One

THE SPIRIT AND CHRIST S MANHOOD.

and ascended, speaks
the
are as one.
to the

33

seven Churches,
Spirit
i- 7 , etc.

voices of the Saviour

and of the

Rev. a.

With the reserve of humblest reverence, may we not say that the Manhood of our dear Re
in its

deemer was produced, and maintained all along absolute and unalterable perfection, not

by His own action as God the Son but by that of God the Holy Spirit ? His own divine act
in

the matter was,

as

we have

said,

and as

Owen
but

said long ago, 1 to

no more.
the

Never
first,

assume the Manhood, indeed, not for one

dis

moment from
for a

was that Manhood

Godhead of the Son. Never moment had it a personality independent of that of God the Son. The very Person who said, in the days of His flesh, Before Abraham was, I the Person johnvm. who under His great humiliation said to a
sociated from the
"

am,"

S 8.

whole world of sin and sorrow, Come unto att.x. 2 s. was then and there as truly Me,"
"

GoD 2
1

as

He
God

was before the world was.

ii.,

But

See Pnettmatologia, bk.

ch.

iii.

abeyance, as some have seemed to say, giving to His Kenosis (Phil. ii. 7) a meaning not borne out by On the theory that He so made Himself void as Scripture.
not
in
"

And

"

34
all this

VENI CREATOR.
leaves untouched the sacred truth that

the

Manhood He took was, in the divine and law, manhood begun and maintained
perfect holiness

order
in its

and power by the Holy Spirit It as the immediate personal divine Worker. the Holy Spirit that the Lord i,s accordingly by
is

Jesus Christ

the Second

Holy
^ o]
i^ 9
.

Spirit that

He, as

Man. It is by the the Second Man now

the Reservoir, the
"all

glorified, is the Receptacle,

i9

Fountain-head, of that

fulness"

which dwells

in

Him

for us.

pass almost instantly in the treatment of such a subject into regions beyond our But we see enough to deepen and analysis.
liable to mental error, mistakes of fact and reasoning, example about the age and nature of the Old Testament Scriptures, see by all means Liddon, Bampton Lectures, Lecture It may be enough here to point out that to view such a viii. voluntary fallibility on our Lord s part as an instance of His

We

to

become

for

blessed self-humiliation involves a certain confusion of concep

tions.
It

would

stand, supposing

it

to

be

true,

under a very

different description from, for instance, His voluntary liability to rich and refined philanthropist, fatigue, sorrow, and death.

bent on elevating a degraded tribe, would give a beautiful in stance of self-humiliation in consenting, if it were expedient, to be
as poor, and as badly lodged, as they.
their

But

if,

while coming as

consented to share their ignorance (were it possible) on matters on which he undertook to teach them, he

teacher, he

would deprive himself

to their loss

and disadvantage.

CHRISTY PLACE IN THE SPIRIT S WORK.

strengthen
to

35

of in the operation a growing definite- coi. 11.12. God," impart ness of view, and a fuller peace in the heart,
"faith

our

and a more humble adoration, as we ponder

our

own

transition,

"from

death unto
"

life,"

by the power of the and onwards

abundant."

Spirit,

Johnv

always to

life

more

For
Spirit s

in this recollection of the truth of the

work on and

in the

Manhood

of our

blessed
fuller
(if I

brought directly to a recollection also of the PLACE OF CHRIST

are

Head we

may

saving work

express myself so) in the Holy Spirit s for us. Let us take this up as our

closing topic for this chapter. who believe indeed in the

We

Lord Jesus

Christ
that

know on the evidence we owe our saving faith

"the

of

God s Word
Lord the
2

to the

Spirit,

Spirit

of

faith."

We

cor.iv.
11. i.

i3.

who were once

and
sins,"

"dead

in trespasses
live,

E P h.

and who now

that

know on
in
"

the

same evidence
mercy,"
"born

we

were,

abundant
John
111.8.

of the

Spirit,"

and

that

we
"

every step which we take in that Gai.v. take "by the Spirit." Is the
"

life
25
.

sound

of

regenerate

vitality

and

action

36
l(

VENI CREATOR.
heard,"

in

audibly,

in

whisper yet our souls and in the outward life

?

however

small

which manifests their condition

It

is

the

It blessed Spirit s presence in special grace. is the evidence, the one evidence, of our real

new
it

birth,

new

creation,

by

is

the

one evidence of
that across
all

this.

Him. For

say,

let

us

remember

mental operation we words of our Lord about the mystic Wind.

the problems of sacra must read always those

Wherever
by
its

that

Wind

is,

yes,
it
"

wherever
moves
;

it

is,

very nature as wind

; :

it

is

not

Thou hearest the merely latent it is heard sound thereof; so is every one that is born of
the
Spirit."

But on

this

do not linger now. 1

is with the experiences of the of grace in Christ, and their connexion with the personal working of the Spirit. Accord-

Our concern now

life

iFet.

i.

2.

"

ingly,

in

the

sanctification of the

to say in His whole work of Spirit," our separation to God, we were by Him at

that

is

johnxvi.
i

s.

first
"

Pet.

i. a.

conviction brought through unto obedience to, and blood-

sprinkling

of,
1

Jesus

Christ."

And when
p. 74.

the

See further below,

OUR
last

NEW LIFE

ALL BY THE

SPIRIT.

37

process shall come, and we shall rise transfigured from the grave, the adoption, to wit Rom. viii. 23 possessing the redemption of our body," it will still and
"

step of the

blessed

for

ever be

"because

of the Spirit

Rom.

viii.

H.

who
and
is

dwelleth
this
"

in

us."

Between

this

Alpha

Omega
same

of

the

of our personal salvation all Does the peaceful Spirit."

power of grace pervade our regenerate being, and claim effectually for our Lord all we are and all we have, and bring spirit, soul, and body into a delightful captivity and bondservice
to our
"

Head and Possessor?

Spirit."

It

is

Eph.v.is.

the fulness of the

"

Do we

day by
.

day
"by

It is mortify the deeds of the body"? Do we in truth Rom. viii. i 3 the Spirit."
"

breathe
It is

the

the Abba, that prayer of faith alone ? Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, the

"

Spirit of

God s Son
in truth

in

our hearts. Rom

Gali

vili .

IS>I7 .

the prayer of faith and love, the prayer that asks ac holy jude 20 cording to His will? It is "in the

Do we

1Vl 6

pray

Holy Ghost
cannot be

"

"

it

is

the Spirit
"

making
Rom.

inter
viii. 2 e.

cession for us

uttered."

with groanings that Do we wait by faith for

38

VENI CREATOR.
righteousness,"

the hope of
Gai.v.s.

for

the
"

the glory reserved is It the justified? "by

"

Spirit."
"

Does
It is

Christ dwell in our hearts by

faith

?
iii.

E P h.

16.

because the Spirit has strengthened us with might in our inner man.

Am
are,

needlessly dwelling

thanks be to

upon truths which God, our most familiar friends

?

among

the treasures of the Gospel

I

It

is

not

wholly for argument that

there seems to
lie

do

so.

To me

in the

very recitation of our

creed of the

Hidden

Life a

charm and power

which the Spirit Himself can wonderfully em ploy to revive or to develop in the soul the realization and the use of the precious things
in some respects so familiar. come now to what was my main reason for this review of some of the blessings I come given us by the Lord the Life-Giver.

which are

But

to say

something of the Place of Christ

in the

Spirit s work.

here for the present I will speak not I will only briefly but in one direction alone. not dwell upon the all-beloved truth of the
propitiating Cross,
to
it

And

in

and upon the Spirit s witness I will not dwel our awakened hearts.

THE SPIRIT UNITES US TO CHRIST.

at all indeed

39

upon the
I

Spirit s witness to the

look at present in the direction only of our UNION with Jesus Christ in new birth and life by the Spirit.
Jesus.

Lord

The
fesses,

Spirit, as
is

our

Communion Creed con

the

the
is

Life-Giver,

Maker-alive. 1
gives,

But what
which

the LIFE which

? I

He
I

with

He

works
is
"

listen,
if

and

hear another
Johnxi
xiv 6
25
.

Voice, which and it says,

"

yet as
I

also

His;
Life."

am
is

the
in

The
read

Life

Eternal

the

Son;"
i

"He
.

that hath the

I

Son hath the

great,

Life."

John v

12.

these

these blessed

words

in

the light of what we have recollected now ot the Holy Spirit s work on and in the Holy Son
of

Man and
;

thus see in

them a remembrance
His
free

that

what the

Spirit does in

and

all-

powerful work in the soul which He quickens into second life is, above all things, to bring He roots it, He it into contact with the Son.
-grafts
it,

He

embodies
it

it,

into the Son.

He

deals so with

a continuity wholly the less most real, spiritual indeed but none
that there
is

To

40

VENI CREATOR.
and
efficacious,

unfigurative,

between the Head

and the limb, between the branch and the Root. He effects an influx into the regenerate

man

of the blessed virtues of the nature of the

life

Second Adam, an infusion of the exalted

and

of Jesus Christ, through an open duct, living, divine, into the man who is born again into

the incarnate and glorified Son of God. I see on the one hand the blessed Spirit poured I see Him without measure upon the Head.

Him

on the other hand, not independently of that Head but in. deepest relation to Him and union

Him, pouring Himself richly into the I see Him the divine Factor in member.
with
the becoming and being of the Manhood of the Second Adam. I see Him equally the divine Factor in the new creation of the sinner into a true child of God, a true regenerate member And all this combines to of the new race.

remind

me

that

the

blessed
its

process

all

the

while has Jesus does the Holy Life-Giver impart, infuse, develop ? What is my Life Eternal in the last
Christ for

inmost Secret.

What

analysis

Not Himself,

the blessed

Worker
and

and Conveyer, but

my

incarnate, sacrificed,

CHRIST OUR LIFE,

glorified

BY THE
my

SPIRIT.

41

Redeemer and Head.

The

Spirit

pours into

me HIM,

to

be

Eternal Life for

deliverance, for victory, for peace, for service, as truly as He the same Saviour is my par

don and righteousness

propitiation.

in

His once-wrought

The
is

Life-Giver

is

the Giver of Christ

who

our Life.
"

Deep through the springs of mind and Thee the great Comforter inspires;

soul

Thy sovereign thoughts our thoughts Thy love our love divinely
fires."

control,

We

live in a

time when every fundamental of

the old and blessed Gospel is too often denied, or disparaged, or minimized, even by commis

sioned ministers of the Word,

in

favour of

something and living.

"drift

alleged to

be more

large,

Let us not be moved.

with the stream.
lack

and loving Let us not

Heb.ii.i.

away"

Let
heed,

us

not,

for

of

taking

for

lack,

in secret for our all, of taking heed selves^ go away with the multitude. John vi. 66, 6 7 But meanwhile let our steadfastness and per

above

sistence manifest itself never in

mere negatives

42

VENI CREATOR.
more and more
in

of rebuke or caution, but

In the presentation of our glorious positive. the tranquil power of the Giver of light and
life

let

us evermore

into our

teaching that
it

bring into our faith and blessed fulness of the

truth as

Jesus which is nowhere found more certainly than when we view in their harmony, and use them as we view them,
is

in

those twin treasures of the old unique Gospel the saving work of Him who is the one Life,

and the saving work of H^rn who

Life-Giver.

is

the one

CHAPTER
r
I

III.

^HUS

far

we have

dealt almost exclusively

with the revealed truth

Spirit -s personality

of the

Blessed

and divine

glory, only turn

remember that most sacred and all His works, His action in the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Human Life of the Incarnate One. I do
ing aside to wonderful of

not attempt to retrace any of these steps in the Only let me again claim for present chapter.
that last aspect of the doctrine

the

most earnest,
the

reverent,
"

of the Spirit loving attention

faith
Gai. a. 20.

of the believer, as he
in

lives

by

Son of

God."

A
lies

ritual blessing surely

great wealth of spi ready for use, for the

it

Christian

who

will

recollect

and use

it,

in

the truth of the Spirit s work for, on, and in, That work, that unspeak the Incarnate Lord.
ably deep and precious connexion of the Spirit

44

VENI CREATOR.
the
is

with
tion,

Redeemer
to

in

the

work of redemp
full

meant

throw the

light

of

life

eternal

upon our connexion by the

Spirit with

Christ Jesus, who is our Life. shall recur often to this side of truth in later pages but let it be kept always in view. We, every one
;

We

of us
i

who
vi. i 7 .

believe on the

name

of the

Son of

cor.

God,

Spirit."

Our

Him, one joined contact, our union, our embodi

are
"

unto

ment,

is

such as to be rightly described in the

that surprising phrase. And holy is not light thrown upon the phrase by the remembrance that the Spirit who has given

Word by

us
is

our Life, who has imparted to us Christ, indeed the Spirit of Christ, not only in the inner relations of Deity, but in the blessed
Incarnation of our glorious Head ? He Himself thus doubly united to Christ

who
if
I

is

may

express

it

so

can

He

not indeed with

richest

pour into us Christ s members the power and virtues of our Head ? Indeed He can. And we therefore, the
holiest fulness
will

and

favoured members,

bear that fact in wonder

will cherish it in ing and loving memory. heart of hearts. will use it in our hourly our

We

We

MYSTICAL UNION; A TRUTH FOR

life.

USE.

45

Having the
and
truly
in

Spirit,

we

will

remember how

fully

by the

Spirit

we

possess the

Son.
tion,

And

weakness,

in sadness, in
it

under the burthening sense

tempta may be of

without delay or mis spiritual decline, will giving use our wonderful treasure.
will

we

We

by the
not

Spirit enjoy our possession of the Son,

With such a Bond to such a Head, why should we when for one minute walk in failure ? Nay, we are weak, then are we strong;" the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 2Cor io
after the

hour of need but

in

it.

"

"in

xii

the Spirit of our

God."

And now

to

advance more directly to the

"

for us study of the work of the Holy Spirit men and our salvation." And do Thou, most blessed Spirit of God, shine on us and in us

as

we go

would earnestly commend

Sanctification (first

to

my

readers Marshall s Gospel,

published about 1680). It is very old-fashioned, and by no means light reading but it is full of truth inestimably precious to those who seek to walk with

Mystery of

God

at

once in humble watchfulness and holy

liberty.

See

further p. 174.

46

VENI CREATOR.
It

first

might seem right that we should here consider His divine work in creation, in
old
creation,"

the

"

in

"

nature."

For

in a large

range of Scripture passages, from Gen. i. 2 onwards, we find Him mysteriously but dis tinctly revealed as the immediate divine Agent
in the

making and manipulation, so

our

to speak,

of material things.

But
Spirit s

proposed
in

subject

(p.

i)

is

the

redemption^ a subject which indeed will give us material enough. All I would do here is to call attention in a general

work

way

to this Scriptural

connexion of the SPIRIT

It
is

with the world of Matter.

one among

the many suggestions in the divine Word that matter has for its immediate basis the abso
lutely immaterial will

and power of God

that

in this respect, as in others, la

derniere raison

des c/wses, c est Dieii^

it

And,

like all those other

reminds the believer, as he rests suggestions, on his God for spiritual life and power, that
the whole material universe, wrought by the
1

Pascal.

For

a good account of pagan,

apocryphal,

and

Scriptural views of matter see the note (by Dr F. on Wisdom xi. 17 in the Speaker s Commentary
.

W.

Farrar)

THE SPIRIT AND THE SCRIPTURES:

same
in its
will

47

that saves him,

is

infinitely pliable

Maker s hands for the His spiritual new creation.

ultimate

good of

Reverently leaving alone, then, this field of truth I turn deliberately to another for some
brief but earnest recollections

and suggestions.

That other
I

field is

the work of the Holy Spirit

in relation to the

Holy Scrip hires.

I

hardly need say that

of
that
difficulty of

am aware
it

of the

present gravity

subject,

and of the
to edifi

extreme
cation

speaking upon

unsettlement, and indeed tumult, of present speculations and negations. But it may be both possible and helpful to take

amidst

the

it up in this chapter along a line single, in a sense simple, and yet all-important. will adhere strictly to the terms of our great subject

We

the

Holy

Spirit s
It

work

in

relation

to the

many widely views of the nature and func prevalent present

Scriptures.
tion of the written

appears to

me

that

Word, however much

truth

of detail

may enter into their formation, err in their ensemble by their deeply humanitarian,
naturalistic character.

Taking up the

perfectly

true position that

human agency and

natural

48

VENI CREATOR.

process are largely present as factors in the production of Scripture, many an able theorist
declines,

or however

fails,

to

see that never

factors

theless

the
is

resultant

of the

of

pro

duction

not

humanitarian, nor

naturalistic,

but the divine Word, the supernatural Oracle. All this failure is the effect far less of a
patient

and inductive study of the phenomena

than of the general influence of the modern

tendency to simplify and unify phenomena It comes under laws as general as possible. not a little of an instinctive wish to see a
likeness, a

homogeneity, and ultimately a one ness, under all spiritual operations and expe
riences.

And
is

so the

"

"

inspiration

of Prophet
in genus,
"

and Apostle and even in

classified as the

same

species, as

the

"

inspiration

of the

Christian believer of our day in his walk of faith as a development in some and obedience
;

respects very high, no doubt, but still only a consciousness development of the general
"

"

of the Church and

its

members.

Isaiah, or the

Isaiahs, and St Paul, were inspired undoubt but so, and in essentially the same edly
;

way, were Augustine and Anselm, Tauler and

ZS

THE BIBLE

"AS

ANOTHER

BOOK" ?

49

Savonarola, Luther and Bunyan, Oberlin and Elizabeth Fry, nay Plato and Virgil, Shake
speare

and
of

Wordsworth,
the
structure

explorer material nature, or of the

nay the earnest and processes of

human

spirit,

or of

the written products of that spirit, in whatever human or or secular sacred," region,
"

"

"

divine.

To

all

Christian minds and lives, in

lives,

deed

to all

grave and elevated minds and

or not,

Christian
verities

some fragments of

eternal

have been somehow disclosed.

These

they have rendered into word, or act, or both, not always exactly, not always truly, perhaps not always even truthfully, but still so as to
give some hints and
eternal archetype
"

broken

"

lights

of the

and

original.

To

the devout

men who produced the disclosures were made

degree, and hints of archetypal

Biblical Literature such

in

very remarkable Scripture accordingly gives us

a

and eternal truths

in

But to them, very remarkable way. those hints were others, conveyed

as to

only

naturally, through their moral nature, through

And so in order to experience and reflexion. these hints given in the Bible we gather up
4

50

VENI CREATOR.
to
"

have

look
book."

Wisely upon

it,

as

another

We have

to get the gold of eternal

Truth out
view on

of the rock of an indefinite

prejudice, mistake, and

amount of human

partial points of

the part of the are to expect

human

reporters of the truth

We

more gold, no doubt, from quar

rying the Psalms, and the Gospels, and the Epis tles than from quarrying the Phcedo, or the

Divina Commedia, or the Pilgrim s Progress. But we dig our shaft and sift our diggings in precisely the same way in all the cases.
very well aware with what mental energy and skill, and along with what a range and depth of various knowledge, such theories
I
1
"

am

And now/ he
Beyond
"

cried,

shall
I

be pleased to get
the friend replied,
;

the Bible

there

puzzle yet.
!

He spoke
You need
Read
it

abash d

Nay, nay
I

not lay the good old book aside

Antique and curious,

at

myself indeed times, but as a man should read

A
I

fine old

work
it

it is,

hate to hear

protest treated as a jest

;

and
in

The book has wisdom

Wisely upon
it,

it,

if

you look
"

as another book.

CRABBE, 7 ale

xxi., 7%.?

Learned Boy.

ITS WITNESS TO ITSELF.

in

51

many

instances have been constructed and

I

propagated

hardly need say

now

"

defended,"

so vast a currency have they obtained. paratively few and far between are the
literary theologians

Com
modern
and

who

quite

definitely

unmistakably hold that the Holy Scriptures are truly and properly sui generis among books as
1 being (as well as containing) the Word of God, and as carrying in a way quite of their own

that precious
I

thing, DIVINE

AUTHORITY.

But

many a past period and crisis the deep tide of intellectual conscious ness has taken directions which, on the whole,
also recollect that in

needed afterwards to be reversed, on a fuller discovery or more calm and reverent review of
great facts which had remained all the while And I humbly believe that the day unaltered.
will

come when the

more

intellectual

consciousness

of Biblical scientific students as a class will be

vastly
alive than
it

is

now

to the super

human and authoritative aspect of the Holy Bible and to the immense significance of that
aspect.
1

And

such a change of general mental

this subject will

Some weighty words on

be found

in

Bp

Ellicott s recent little

volume, Salutary Doctrine.

52

VENI CREATOR.

attitude will vastly modify

many

present theories

about the construction of the Bible, theories built much less than is sometimes thought upon
the whole facts.

What

attempt to do here

is

simply to recall

my
with
the

reader s attention earnestly, gravely, and deep conviction to the witness which

Holy Scripture bears

to

its

character

among books

as

the

own unique Book whose

Author

is

none other than the Third Person of

the Blessed Trinity.

is

And
;

need
?
I

no argument

in a circle

say that this ask the Bible

I

to witness to the Bible

but

ask the Bible as

literature, as history, to witness to the Bible as revelation, oracular, authoritative, divine. As

history, capable of verification,

it

shows

me Jesus
rising,

Christ,

God and Man,

living,

dying,

proving Himself to be profoundly, ultimately, trustworthy. But this Jesus Christ, as presented

same historical mirror, is seen laying one hand upon the Prophets and the other upon the Apostles, and bidding His followers regard with
in the

an altogether unique
messages.

attention

their

uttered

messages.

And And

attend accordingly to those

in

them

find disclosures

and

MODES OF INSPIRATION.

53

intimations as to the quality and authority of the Biblical writings as the oracles of God which,

words have meaning, put those writings as to their total character on a level different in kind
if

from
forbid

all

other literature.
to ask, with

find

nothing to

deep reverence, whether human personality and natural process were not factors to the product and I assuredly find
;

me

emphasized with vastly greater earnestness and fulness that so

that they were.
I

But

find

it

did the other factor of ultimate divine Author

ship govern and manipulate the lower factor that the true Designer and Architect of the

Book has had His way

and
I

all

along, in the total

in the details too.

any most certainly, the mode way of the supreme Author s management of the
full

find nothing to enable

me

to define, in

or exhaustive

subordinate authors.
"

find nothing to tell

inspired."

me
felt

what
"

it

felt

like to
I

be

In
it

many

and many a
like

case,
;

can well believe,

nothing

other things. St Paul wrote to Philemon he

I

nothing distinguishable from can well believe that when

"felt"

nothing any more than when Luther wrote supernatural,

54

VEN2 CREATOR.

Melanchthon, or Newton to Cowper. I do not say that it was so ; but it may have been
to
so, for all that
I

we

are told.

not only can believe, but

On the other hand am sure, that Daniel

and St John received their revelations in a state manifestly and entirely abnormal, as Abraham
and Moses on certain occasions had done before them unless we are to put quietly aside the
;

profoundly solemn assertions to this effect

in Scripture as if

made

they were so
excrescence,
little in

much
or

poetical

and imaginative
because there
is

framework,
experience

so

human

outside Scripture, outside this P.ecord of the di vine Redemption of fallen man, to verify them.

Yes,

it

is

impossible

to

define

or

describe

Scriptural inspiration as a subjective experience.

mode, as to any general account of it, is Our theory is not to have a unknown.
"

The

theory."

But

on the

historic

abundant testimony surface of the New Testament

do

find

Scriptures for the strong and unalterable con viction, sure as the historical reality of Jesus Christ our Lord, that a humanitarian, natural

view of Scripture is wholly and gravely inadequate to meet the mysterious facts.
istic

TESTIMONY OF CHRIST.
I

55

find our Lord and Master Himself handling Old Testament Scriptures with the manner of One who not only owns their general signi

the

ficance but personally cherishes,

dare to say

reveres,

their
;

expression in the early stages of His course but even more And I see Him doing in the latter, in the last. and unreservedly than it nowhere more fully

details of authority, and I find Him doing this not only

in

even

when He has overcome death, and Lukexxiv. come back from the Unseen in the power of
endless
life.

And

He

"sends"

when, exalted into heaven, the blessed Paraclete, His own

promised Representative, the Spirit of Truth, I find that one main result of the glorious emis
sion

was the incessant use by the Apostles of the

writings of the Prophets, in precisely the spirit, no less and no more, of their Master before

them.

And
the

observe one remarkable phenomenon

I

of the whole case.

find that the

Lord and
little,

Apostles

make comparatively

if

may reverently say so, of the sacred writers of the Old Testament and comparatively every
thing of the sacred writings.

They

dwell not

56

VENI CREATOR. much on who said it

as

so

on what

is

^vr^tten.

grades of authority appear in their estimate. What stands within the scrolls of what we
familiarly call the

No

Old Testament, and what

He

called the
is

Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, in the eyes of Jesus Christ His Father s
else
it
is.

Word, whatever

As such

it

is

His

weapon
the

in

Mount

the Temptation, His credential on of the Sermon, His mysterious

solace in the Garden,

His death-word on the

in

Cross, His

theme upon the Emmaus Road on the

the

Easter afternoon and

Upper Chamber
!

where
tality.

He stood that evening in His immor Oh blessed road and blessed chamber

Let us often take our Bibles out with us on

the one, up with us to the other. be the less likely then to think that to

We

shall
"look

on the Bible as on another book

"

"

is

to look

upon
facts.

it

wisely,"

even

view of the

strictest

from the point of induction of truth from

But now
this

all

this

Bible, this properly

mysterious Divinity of the miraculous character of it,

entirely

nature

of

it

so

refusing

to

be

accounted for by natural process and

human

THE SPIRIT
consciousness,
is

IS

THE TRUE AUTHOR.

57

assigned by itself not to God in general only, but to the HOLY SPIRIT in This is our immediate concern in particular.

The statement of enquiry. almost all the treatment I give to

this

the
it
;

fact

is

but what

a fact

it is

to state

was the divine Agent in the blessed Incarnation, He who made and sustained the Manhood of the Second Adam, adjusting it
with infinite
it is

He who

skill to

the blessed Filial Godhead,

in this glo

He who

was the divine Agent

rious parallel process, the construction of Scrip

He, the all-blessed Spirit, in that double union of His with Christ of which we spoke
ture.

above, so

managed the long antecedent march

its

of prophecy, both
"

substance and

its

phraseo

logy, that Moses, whatever

"

was the Prophet s

wrote
johnv.
46,47.
.

consciousness
"

in

writing,

of Christ, and
called

David

in the Spirit

Matt. xxii. 43

Him

his

Master, and Isaiah

John
;

xii. 39 - 4 i.

saw His glory and spake of Him yes, so in that the risen Redeemer Himself found
f<

all the Scriptures the things concerning

self."

Him
.

So
and

did

pulate,

design, accomplish, that

He

mani"

Lukexxiv. 27

every Scripture

58

VENI CREATOR.
in
it

hath

the

Spirit

of

God."

zTim.m.

16.

So did He fashion "the the Sword of the Spirit."

"

Word"

that
Eph.vi.

it
i

is
.

So

did

speak by the Prophets that when an apo stolic Writer quotes the words of Heb. x 15-17.
.

He

Jeremiah he ignores, as
personality,
intense,

it

were, the Prophet s

tender,

and

profoundly

interesting and instructive as that particular personality was. Majoribus intentus est ; he
is

aiming

as

He is citing the words deeper. of carrying authoritative, decisive capable

And weight on eternal principles and facts. he sees nothing for that purpose but their
ultimate

Authorship: "Whereof THE HOLY GHOST also is a Witness unto us for after that
;

He
I

had said before, This is the covenant that will make with them after those days, saith
:

the Lord

will

put

My
I

laws into their hearts,

write them, [then said
their iniquities
more."

and

in their

minds

will

He,]
are,
1

And
.

their sins
I

and

will

jer. xxxi. 33, 34

remember no
in

The words
Jeremiah
is

in

a sense,
"

a true

sense,

s.

The
Tim.

rendering,

Every Scripture inspired of God

the Greek.

also

profitable" is

not

demanded by

Compare

the Greek

of

iv. 4.

PRESENT IMPORTANCE OF THIS TRUTH

But
for the

59

Writer to the Hebrews they are And so simply the words of the Holy Ghost. must be to us, let me add, if we would lean they
the whole weight of our human need on them in life and in the hour of death. Evacuate

Scripture of
its

paralyse I thus state something of the outline of the revealed facts of this great and inestimably precious
that
it
is,

divine authority, and you so far power for divine consolation.

its

work of the Holy

Spirit.
is

well

know

it is

but a fragment; it in some of its parts,

faith,

but a suggestion; little more than a

confession of

and a confession of a kind

not always very easy to But such as it is I time.

make at the present make it to my reader

Lord and Master.

as in the presence of our

Church, if I mistake not, it is important in the highest degree to hold fast, and to hold in the foreground of our convictions and our consciousness, the super
natural, the miraculous, the divinely authorita

At

this period in the history of the

aspect of the Holy Scriptures, as the work throughout of none other than the Holy Spirit
tive,

of God, the blessed Lord of truth and

light.

That conviction leaves me,

as

have

said,

60

VENI CREATOR.

free to enquire into the

mode and

the materials

of the

construction

of the

Scriptural
;

books

by
free,

their

human
I

sub-authors
It

but

with

one

important exception.
as
believe,

does not leave

entertain

me

to

the

theory
as to
Spirit

that any
its

book of the holy Canon, being ultimate authorship the work of the
was,

of Truth,
authorship,

from the side of

late

its

human
writer

fabrication,

whose

sought to borrow an illegitimate prestige by the use of a venerated name and an immemorial
date, other than his

own. 1
indeed the Holy Book
is

In conclusion,

if

thus the work and word of the Holy Spirit, we have good cause to turn with humble and

glad expectation to that Spirit,

who

dwells in

Lord Hatherley s Continuity of Scripture,

Waller
A.
s

take occasion to direct the reader s attention to the late to the Rev. C. H.
s recent

Cave

Authoritative Inspiration of Scripture, and to the Rev. Congregational Union Lectures on the Inspir

Old Testament. See also a recent sermon by Dr Liddon, The Worth of the Old Testament.
ation of the
It is

scarcely needful to point out that the later

"editing"

(I

use the term under some protest) traceable in many passages is a quite different thing from fabrication. The Book of Ecclesiastes

may have undergone

no fabrication.

considerable linguistic editing, and yet be

CHRYSOSTOM ON BIBLE READING.

Christ and in us, to
soul as

61

open up

to

the inmost

the things of Christ which, according to Christ, are in it everywhere. Let me quote a few sentences from that grand

we

read

it

and

"

Fruitful Exhortation to the

Reading and
:

Knowledge of Holy Scripture," our First Homily of the First Book, and so conclude
"

The
to

Scripture

is full

as well of low valleys,

plain ways,

and

and easy for every man to use walk in, as also of high hills and
which few men
giveth
his

mountains,

can climb unto.

And
desire,

whosoever
with

mind
and

to

Holy

Scripture
it

diligent

study

burning

cannot be,

saith St
left

that
either

he should be

God Almighty

will

John Chrysostom, For without help. send him some godly

or else,
if

doctor to teach him,

a learned

...

we
us,

lack

give light unto our minds, and teach us those things which are necessary for us, and wherein we be igno
rant.

man to instruct God Himself from above will

and teach

yet

that

And in another place Chrysostom saith man s human and worldly wisdom needeth

not to the understanding of Scripture, but the revelation of the Holy Ghost, who inspireth

62

VENI CREATOR.

the true meaning unto them that with humility and diligence do search therefor.

Here the same

"

is

the cause of
1

all
"our

our

evils,"

says
coi.

Chrysostom,
Scriptures."

not

Hom.\*.in

knowing the
1

ToCro Travratv

CI

ITIOV

TO>V

KCIKUV, TO pr) clftevai ras ypafpds.

This

but a specimen of the language about Scripture used by the Fathers of the first centuries. And yet their age was an age of
is

seething speculation and discussion. They would scarcely have endorsed what has been recently said (not by a Romanist), The Bible is the most dangerous of God s gifts to man."
"

CHAPTER
r
I

IV.

^HE

-^

previous three chapters are in some measure introductory only. Let us pro

ceed

now

to the

more

detailed study of our

at

sacred

subject,

by the method,

once the

simplest and the surest, of taking up some of the great passages of Scriptural revelation and

discourse upon

it

and

listening

anew

to their

message

in

reverent,

believing
will

meditation.
that the

And

as

we do

so

we

remember

blessed Spirit is not only the true Author of the written Word but also its supreme and

Not all my Expositor. the noble hymn, 1 found in few

true
tions,

readers

know
collec

modern

strange
forth
;

to

say,
I

in

which Cowper has

it

set this
full
:

and

quote

accordingly

in

Olney Hymns, bk

ii.,

No. 62.

64
"

VENI CREATOR.
The
Spirit breathes

And

upon the word, the truth to sight : brings

Precepts and promises afford

A
"

sanctifying light.

glory gilds the sacred page Majestic, like the sun ;

It gives

a light to every age

It gives,
"

but borrows none.

The hand that gave it still supplies The gracious light and heat
;

His truths upon the nations

rise

They
"

rise,

but never

set.

Let everlasting thanks be Thine, For such a bright display

As makes a world of darkness shine With beams of heavenly day.

"

My

soul rejoices to pursue

steps of

The

Him

I love,

Till glory

breaks upon my view In brighter worlds above."

It is

true

we need

the Author to be also, in

the inmost secret of the matter, the Expositor, Then will the Written Word the Interpreter.
shine, like the

Living Word, with the light as of a transfiguration, its countenance and its

garments

also.

Then
"the

shall

we

trace

all

through
love,"

the holy pages

steps of

Him we

ol

HOW DOES
Him who
It

THE SPIRIT INTERPRET?

Luke
xxiv.
3
.

65

has Himself assured us

* Sf

that they are to be found there.

JohAv/39

may be

well here, however, to say one as

to

word of caution
work.

the

use

made by

the

Christian of this truth of the Spirit s expository

How may we

expect

Him

normally to
?

exercise for us this merciful function

Is

it

by

direct illumination, such that this text or that

passage shall be seen by the soul,

in the

way

of supernatural intuition, to mean this or that ? If I am not mistaken, this impression is widely and I would not spread among Christians
;

in correction lightly or without sympathy speak Nevertheless it must be obvious, on of it.

reflection, that to

expect the Holy

far

One
is

to act

upon us
the
gift,

in

such a manner as this

so

to expect

just

as such action goes, of

It makes my interpre prophetic infallibility. tation, arrived at under such illumination, as

truly a divine revelation as the text

it

itself,

and

precludes any criticism of my interpretation, because it thus is, at least in essentials, the
interpretation of
as
I

God.

When

hear or read,

sometimes do, that a Christian believer speaks of this or of that as having been "shown
5

66

VENI CREATOR.
him
"

to

in

such and such a

text,

am

well

aware that the meaning of the phrase, as the speaker intends it, may be most true, healthful,

and trustworthy.

But

it is

also possible that

it

involve a claim, a dangerous claim, to hold and teach the interpretation in question as one

may

above examination, because

inspired,

because
to think

divinely intuitive. Are we, after of the matter ?

What

then are
all,

we

to apply our

selves to Scripture study without special prayer

and
see

special

expectation
"the

Are we

to

assume

practically that
i

natural

man

doth receive

things of the Spirit of God;" that they are not that foolishness unto him they are not, necessarily and only, spiritually discerned ? Shall we, after all, in face of all
cor.
ii. i 4 .

the

"

"

"

"

that

we

recollected in the previous chapter, think

that to look
is

on the Bible as on
"

"

another book
;

"

to look

"

upon
is

it

wisely

No

the mistake

not only great but fatal in our Scripture study, and we will not make it. clergy at least, in the words of our Second
of doing so

We

continually pray to God the Father, through the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly

Ordination

Service,

"will

HOW DOES

THE SPIRIT INTERPRET?

Holy Ghost,
that

67

assistance of the

by daily and weighing of the Scriptures we may reading wax riper and stronger in our ministry." And
what the clergyman thus does
view of
his
life
"

in

view of
"

his
in

special function, the private Christian will

his, in

do

view of
ministry,"

his sacred
1

ministry,"

work of

his
s

whole
for

E P h. w.

12.

as laid at the

Lord

feet

His

use.

But the point is this. We shall ask, not for mental infallibility, which is asking in effect
for a gift that has

been

annulled,"

ic or xm.
.

s.

but for spiritual submission, receptivity, and harmony with the Spirit of God, such that

our reverent inquiry into the meaning of the cor. a. 3 Spirit s words may be carried on
i i
.

in spiritually

"dry

light."

We

shall

pray for

such presence and power of the

within us, at the
that

Holy One

we may

of thought and will," "springs be morally ready for the least hint,

the tenderest suggestion, given in the blessed Book, about the will and mind of the author of the Book.

Such a prayer

will

on the one hand

recognize at every step our helplessness where

see the construction of the Greek sentence.

68

VENI CREATOR.
really

we

are

helpless.

It

will

on the other

hand only quicken us in the diligent and patient work of attention, and research, and comparison,
as

we use

that precious mental faculty which

us,

the

Lord who made

and remade
in

us,

has

given us to be used as
for

Him.
fear

And

the

result
if

His presence and will be no mere

prolonged uncertainty, as
in
lest

we were

perpetually

new

Scriptural

evidence should

upset our deepest spiritual certainties. By the of God it will be a calm and settled grace
certainty, solid yet developing, the resultant of

and of the genuine mental and acquisition which such simplicity discovery It will be a certainty, as powerfully assists.
spiritual simplicity

things of salvation, practically absolute But it will be kept clear of all to ourselves. untenable claims to have prophetic authority
to
all

over others^

may

refer the student to

subject in an excellent book, the late

an excellent passage on this Mr G. Stanley Faber s

Primitive Doctrine of Justification, pp. 233, etc. (ed. 1839). Mr Faber is dealing with Bishop Bull s peculiar theory of Justiiication by Faith, a theory as to which the Bishop says that he
attained to a firm persuasion of mental illumination.
its

truth after earnest prayer for

THE SPIRIT IN
I

SS.

JOHN AND PA UL.

69

have digressed at some length. And I would close my digression with an appeal, all
the

more earnest

after the cautions

on which

have ventured, to make the closing verses of i Cor. ii., after all, one of our ruling mottoes
for all

study of the

Word

of God.

Approaching now some of the great Scriptural passages which discourse of the Holy Spirit
and His work,
found, in the
I

observe that these are to be

main, in the writings of St John and of St Paul. I propose then to take some

such passages from each of these Apostles in turn, and to examine their witness, with a
special

view

always

to

the

spiritual
s

life

of

myself and of
will

my

reader.

St Paul

writings

afford

us several

such passages,
St
s

mainly

from

the

Roman,

Corinthian,
In

Galatian,

and

Ephesian Epistles. John Gospel we have, above all things, the precious Discourse of the Upper Chamber, but also John X iv.- XV passages in the third, seventh, and twentieth
i.

chapters.
incidental

In the First Epistle we have much material. In the Revelation the

blessed

Spirit appears

again

and again, and

70

YENI CREATOR.
connexions
full

in

of doctrinal

and

spiritual

teaching.

Let us
because
in
it

St John s Gospel first, both comes first in the Canon, and because

take

it, with scarcely any exception, the teaching about the Spirit comes from the very lips of the Son. The passage of passages here is the

Paschal Discourse.

But some shorter while

all-

important, passages precede it, take up, for brief but most reverent meditation

which we now

on their divine instruction.

passage, the only one I can touch at present, is the first part of the john in. 1-8. conversation with Nicodemus.
first

The

How

shall

deal with

it ?

First, necessarily,

by excluding from the inquiry many extremely I do not interesting subsidiary points. forget,
but
I

must not now consider, the connecting

or
"

"but,"

now

"

(unaccountably omitted by

the Authorized Version), which links the pas I do not sage to the statements just before.
forget,

but

must now pass

by, the

what precise motive brought Nicodemus

question to the

fie

THE SPIRIT AND THE

NEW BIRTH.

71

to

Lord, and what led the Lord to speak instantly him about the kingdom and entrance into it.

And

indeed

do not forget the weighty im

portance of the passage in the study of the doctrine of Christian Baptism, to which I cannot

doubt reference
"

water,"

made in the word johnm. though I know that much has been
is
s.

But I do thoughtfully said on the other side. not dwell upon this now. Not that I undervalue
the momentousness of the question raised not that I regard the divine Sacrament with feelings
;

other than humble reverence and thankfulness.

But

believe that the passage contains elements

of truth which have usually received far less attention, certainly in current thought in the

Church

at large,

than the baptismal reference

has received, and which yet have the most important bearing on that reference, such that
they should help to interpret it rather than And these elements claim to explain them.
find
it I

above
it

all

in ver.

8:

"The

wind bloweth

where

listeth,

and thou hearest the sound

thereof, but canst not tell

;

whence

it

cometh,

and whither it goeth so every one that is Ye must be born again." born of the Spirit."
is
"

72

VENI CREATOR.

Take this sacred utterance up in detail. BORN of the Spirit." Read the phrase I.
"

as

if

new, as

if in

ment of the
term
is,

first

a recently discovered docu powerful the century.

How

how profound
influenced,

The word
reformed,

is

not merely

altered,
It is

reinvigorated. born, born again, born from above, touched with a biogenesis which is indeed the impartation 1 of a higher order of life, for it is Life Eternal.

The man
of
life,

is

taken back to a

going again under new

beginning, set provisions and conditions

2

new

stamped with a new

spiritual impression,

the living family likeness of the sons of God. Would we estimate the weight and fulness of

what
let
E.g.
i

is

meant by

this

wonderful phrase

Then

us take the
Rom.
vin.,
v.,
iii.,

John

Testament, and examine again, under the Spirit s illumination on our spirits, all the many passages

New

where
1

"childhood"

and

"

"

sonship

of

the

Readers of Natural Law in the Spiritual World will recognize my allusion to the first chapter of that book. I cannot go with all Professor Drummond s contentions in the book,
believing
that

would be a
first

truer word.

he not seldom sees identities where analogies But the lessons and suggestions of the

chapter seem to

me

very valuable indeed.

"

BORN OF THE

SPIRIT."

73

spiritual

direct us

kind are spoken of; the places which how to know the children of God,"
"

what are

their notes

and

marks,

what

are

their characteristic thoughts of

God, of
"

Christ,

of the brethren of Christ, what, in short, they the sons and are, and what they do, as

daughters of the
"Whatsoever
is

Lord
born of
as

Almighty."

scor.vi.

is.

God overcometh
"

the

world

"

"

As many

are led by the Spirit

of God, they are the sons of God;" Behold, what manner of love, that we should be called
the sons of God.
us not, because
celestial
soul.
it

Therefore the world knoweth

knew Him

not."

These are
"

words, penetrating and searching the Well may St Augustine say, 1 Let all

sign themselves with the Cross, let all say the Amen and the Hallelujah, let all be baptized,
let all

enter the church doors

the children of

God

are distinguished from the children of the

devil only

by

love.
;

born of
2
not."

God

They who have they who have not

love are love are

On
I

John

v. 7.
little

venture to refer the reader to a

treatise of

my

own,

The

New Birth.

74

VENI CREATOR.
"

2.

Born of THE

SPIRIT."

To Him,

the

blessed Third Person, the sacred Subject of our studies, the Lord Jesus Christ here assigns the

immediate agency in the New Birth. in hand the man, and deals with him
life

HE takes
in

regener

ating efficacy. whose secret

is

He

him the eternal conveys and at the same time whose

to

manifestation

God.

He

love generated of the love of ploughs the ground of the soul,

convincing it of sin, righteousness, and judg ment. He inserts the vivifying seed, so that
i

Pet.

i.

23

the

man

is

"born

of God, which
Rom.v.
5.

liveth

again by the word and abideth for ever."

the

heart."

He "pours out the love of God in He both gives the child-state and
teaches the new-born

Kom.

viii. 15.

stand
"the

it,

to

"

cry

man Abba

to under-

Father,
1

Abba, that prayer of the Eternal and Invisible.

3.
"So

faith

alone,"

to

is

every one that

is

born of the
first

Spirit."

We

come
:

last to
"

the

word of
men,"

this divine sentence

So."

Of

the

"

of

the

human
1

beings, thus born again, born of the

Paul Gerhardt s Song in the

Day of the East Wind.

SECRECY OF THE PROCESS.

Spirit,

75

a certain something

is
;

universally,

is

at

true not of some the very least normally, true kind or class among them, of them, not of a

but of

"every

one."

Ouro)?

ecrrt 770.9

6 yeyevvr)-

^teVo? IK

The
takable.

roD nVei^taros. a so reference of

"

is

clear,

is

unmis

The Lord has

but vivid illustration,

just used a familiar He as was His wont.

"

has spoken of the breath of air, the spirit of material nature, of its mystery and of its
"

evidence.

In certain of

its

phenomena
"

He

sees the counterpart of the case of that is born of the Spirit."

every one

And

this

in

three main

respects,

which
is

briefly indicate, though perhaps there need that I should do so.

First, there is in the

slight

two cases an analogous

breathing atmosphere

secrecy

of process.

The

fans

my

forehead, plays in the tree

above me,

whispers in the grass and rushes of the river It is in itself meanwhile an side below me.
infinitely delicate

current in the airy observation and inference

;

and quite invisible wave or ocean and all the combined

of

not

tell

certainly

could not

tell

mankind could where that

76

VENI CREATOR.
in

wave
that
is

the pure deep

will sink into

began and where it So is every one repose again.

"

born of the Spirit

terious.

The man

the process receives a divine

;

"

is

mys

power

upon him, within him. He is alive unto God, knowing Him, loving Him, lovingly bent upon His own son that serveth pleasing Him
"as

Mai. in.

Him,"

And

he knows that he did not

;

originate for himself this condition

he did not

beget and bear himself again to living hope, to loving life. Perhaps he knows definitely when,
in

some day

or hour of mercy, he

was awakened,

convinced, enlightened, enabled to give himself to God. But this is but part of the secret,

one mighty symptom of the process. He does not know when and how the holy work really
began, how long the Spirit, who brought him to the New Birth at last, who was, in Hooker s

words 1

thus effectual in the secret work of

life,"

regeneration unto newness of

had been

preparing for that bright hour, by secret plead ings, by unnoticed providences, by even slighted

means

of

grace

slighted,

yet

leaving some

Serm.

i.

onjndc

17-21.

SOVEREIGNTY OF 7 HE PROCESS.

77

He may know mark on thought and will. when the wind manifestly swayed him he does not know whence and how it came on its holy And truly he knows not whither it path. it doth not goeth yet appear what ijohnm.
;
"

2.

he

shall

be."

Secondly, the air-wave illustrates the mystery of the New Birth by its independence as regards
the

will of man. Putting aside exceptions which are altogether trivial, the streams of the

vast atmospheric ocean do indeed not obey the

cannot originate, he cannot steer for one mile, for one yard, the broad
will of

man.

He

current

either

evening
winter

or

of the zephyr of the summer the storm that wrecks the of

"

sky."

From

his

point

of view

"

it

bloweth where
"

it listeth."

Even
giveth,

so the Spirit

distributeth,"

divideth,

moveth,
are

"as

He

will."

The
(ain/lp),

sons of

God
God."

icor. xn.

i.

born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the

will of
is

man

but of

It

Johni

i3.

a truth never meant to discourage, to repel, for this sovereignty of will is the to bewilder
;

sovereignty of
love, joy,

peace,"

Gai.v. Him whose is of Him concerning whom

"fruit

22.

it is

78

VENI CREATOR.
"

written,

Your heavenly Father

them
that ask

shall give

His
it is

Holy
Luke

Spirit to

Him."

But

xi. i 3 .

a truth

meant

to humble,

meant

to

keep us low indeed before the eternal Will. Thirdly, the New Birth is illustrated by the action of the wind in respect of evidence given
in
results.

Here
s

is

one plain point

in

our

blessed Lord

overlooked.
course,
finable

parable, all-important, yet often The wave of air, in its origin,

and
;

issues, is mysterious, invisible,

its

unde-

presence around me and in my surroundings is to be known by practical re Thou hearest the sults, and by them alone
but
"

sound, the

voice."

The

trees of the
"

waters of the mountain lake, you

wood, the hear the

wind
that

"

in

them and on them

"

ascertain
is

presence there. born of the Spirit

its
;

and thus you So is every one

"

every one.
its

divinely

mysterious

process
;

The known produces

and observable
to

presence, its presence not in the abstract but here or there,

is

effects

and

be verified by them, and by them alone. Regeneration, the coming to be one of the chil
in

dren of God,
in

Augustine

sense of that term,

John the Apostle

s sense, in the

Lord

s sense,

EVIDENCE OF RESULTS.
is

79

indeed a

"

"

secret thing

in

itself

but

its

evidences are practical and plain. The Spirit is but where He effectually works eternal, divine
;

the

New

Birth, there, in

one degree or another,

will

so says the

Lord

here,

you

hear the sound,

is

you

will trace results.

And what

the sound

of the heavenly Wind in the being, in the life ? It consists of things which indeed belong to, though they are not the creatures of, the

circumstances of the

common day:
self-control."

"love,

joy,

peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,

fulness,

faith
.

meekness,

It

Gai.v. 22 , 23

consists, in fact,

of love, love

in

distribution,

heaven-given love to
It will

God and
them

to

man
be

in

God.

be obvious that these remarks have

to
true, with

much

to do, supposing

our interpretation of the function of the blessed Sacrament of Baptism, and in particular of the

language of our own baptismal

ritual.

Into the

deeply interesting and important questions so

suggested,
historical,

questions Scriptural, ecclesiastical, questions amongst others of the nature of the absolute language of ceremony

as against the

more guarded language of

for
I

bio

graphy,

do not enter here,

think they

8o

VENI CREATOR.
Only
it

are not in place in these meditations. 1

is
I

should say for my own part that right that not one word above written has been written
in forgetfulness of

my obligations

as a presbyter

of the English Church, or with faltering con victions as to the Tightness of the language of
its

sacramental
I

ritual.

All the
least

more earnestly

would

say,

and not

to

my

brethren

in the ministry of the

Word

and Sacraments,

Let nothing, absolutely nothing, be allowed to obscure our sense of the unutterable moral
weight of our Redeemer s words in this great Ye must be born again. passage of St John
"

So

every one that is born of the Spirit." William Beveridge, Bishop of St Asaph
is

(1704

1708),

was no half-hearted Churchman.

few use language Sacraments more reverent, I Let me might say more rapturous, than his. close then with a brief extract from his seventy-

Among

our elder divines

about the holy

third printed

sermon 2

"

Christ
:"

Resurrection

the

Came
I

of our Regeneration
my

venture to refer to
ed. 1824, vol.

Outlines of Christian Doctrine,

p. 249, etc.
2
Works>

iv.,

p. 240.

BEVERIDGE ON REGENERATION.
"

81

By your

care and pains about the things of

in
it

this
it,

may perhaps get something and perhaps not, and how much so ever
it

world you
is

be,

nothing

at all
all

in

the children of
theirs,
all

God

comparison of what all have things are

;

things that God hath made, and He Himself too that made them. And what can
?

they desire more

There

is

nothing more for

them

to desire

and therefore their minds must

needs be

at rest,
all

and

their souls as full as they

can hold of
"

true joy

and comfort.
not be in the
?

Who

then would

number
if

of these blessed souls

regenerate, and

Who
child
if

would not be
of Gocl,
will
?
it,

made
all

he

might be God, we are

that Christ
at the right
is

And who may not,

risen

he

Blessed
for

as yet capable of

now

from the dead and exalted

to

hand of God,

be a Prince and a

and forgiveness of sins, if we do but apply ourselves to Him and believe and trust on Him for it, His Father
Saviour, to give repentance
will

be ours too
likeness,

He

will

beget us again in His

into the glorious

own

and admit us
children."

liberty of

His own

CHAPTER
last

V.

thoughts were given to the work

Spirit as

of the
Birth.
Eph.
ii. i.

Holy

We

considered
"dead

He effects the New Him as He deals with

and
"

man
him
of
j

in trespasses

sins,"

and
Rom.

brino-s o

into that wonderful

"

newness
"

vi. 4 . Gell. V. 2^.

life

in
"

which

"

henceforth
Spirit,"

he
pos

Rom.

viii. i 5 .

to

wa lk by

the

"

sessing
cry,

the Spirit of adoption, in

Father."

whom we

Abba,
"

Our quicken d

souls

awake and
fix

rise
;

From

the long sleep of death

On

heavenly things we
praise

our eyes,
breath."

And

employs our

In the present chapter I ask my reader to In take a step in some sense backward.

studying the work of Regeneration we also studied, by reason of the spiritual connexion
of the two things,

some of

the

phenomena

of

CONVERSION.

83

Conversion; that wonderful turning about of the inward man which corresponds as nearly as

word For let it never be forgotten Repentance. that Repentance means more, very much more,
possible in
its
1

idea to the great Scripture

than regret, or even remorse, or even "godly 2 It is a deep, decisive alteration in sorrow."
the attitude of the soul towards God, and His
glory,

and His

claim,

and His
is

salvation.

"The
7 -io.

sinner that
that
is

repenteth"

the sinner

Lukexv.

converted, turned back, brought back from loss to salvation, from the wilderness to
the
fold,

from the

far-off land to the

Father s

home.
This however
the fact that
of the main

by the way. I was recalling we have already considered some

is

phenomena of
to
its

that blessed

change

which

is

as

divine secret and agency

to its

New

Birth,

and as

human
take in

experience

Conversion.
a step
initial

And

thus
to

we

some

sort

backward

consider

step of that

work

the great as wrought by the

now

Meravota.

See 2 Cor.

vii.

10 for clear proof of this, in a passage full of

instruction on the matter.

84

VENI CREATOR.
whether
is

Spirit,

for the

world or the

soul, that

step which

called Conviction of Sin.

This

line of inquiry,
in

however,

will

any unreasonable way.

is

not be retrograde Not seldom a great

subject
its

best studied

first

by a

brief

view of

whole, and then by closer attention to its In this chapter and in some subsequent parts.

pages we will deal thus with the decisive work of our blessed Life-Giver, looking for His
merciful light

Scripture which puts prominently for ward the convincing work of the Holy Spirit
is,

The
I

hardly need say, John xvi.

8-n

part of

that divine Discourse to

which we owe, as we

have remembered already, our central revela tions about the blessed Spirit s Personality, and
about very

much

of His work.
calls

The wording
of course for

of this particular passage

most

careful study.

And

so

would not
it
;

fail

to notice
it

two leading features of

Spirit s
"

first,

that
as

speaks of the
in

convincing work

done

and on

the

world,"

the disciples of Jesus that work in the closest

;

distinguished from secondly, that it connects

way with

the

Lord

CONVICTION OF THE WORLD.

Jesus Christ Himself: not on Me;" because
"
"

85

because they believe

I

go

to

My

Father."
"

Nor do

forget that

"

conviction of sin

is

only one of three convictions spoken of in the passage I do not lose sight of the righteous
;
"

ness

and the

judgment."

But on

this latter

point it will appear, I think, as we go on that so close is the relation of the two latter con
victions to the
first,

and that they are

first,

in

some

respects so

subordinated to the

that

we

may venture
under the

title

lawfully to group the whole of Conviction of Sin.

work

Now

first

a few words on the reference 01

to
"

this great

work

the

world"

that

is

to the

mass of unregenerate humanity. It has been thought by some interpreters that this mention of the world excludes from the passage a dis
tinct reference to the Spirit s
in

individual

souls.

And
s

so

saving operation the point and

bearing of the Saviour

sentences here has

I

been supposed to be directed towards what

may

public human opinion about Christ s character and work, and about the momentous
call

awfulness of
righteousness

sin, as

the great contradiction to

glorified in Christ),

(now

and as

86

VENT CREATOR.
sure
subject

the

exercised

by

of coming judgment to be Christ, who has already given

earnest of His final exercise of judgeship in His victory over the world s Prince. In this

view we are to look

explanation

for

the

fulfilment

and

nomena

as,

of the words in such great phe for instance, the awe which fell

upon the Jews as a nation when the Pentecostal effusion came and the Gospel work began
;

an awe indicated
through the Acts.

in

one way or another

all

Or

again,

to

take

a yet

larger example, we may look for the fulfilment in that greatly deepened sense (for such it is)

of the

shame of wrong, and

retribution,

the

glory

of

righteousness, and the depth and solemnity of

coming

which has pervaded man

kind as a mass wherever Christianity has been,

even inadequately, proclaimed. And certainly this is one of the greatest facts of human

however it is explained. And to the believer no explanation of it will be adequate which does not connect it with the work of the
history,

Holy Spirit upon the human conscience, as He makes the human soul able to interpret to itself, however dimly, the moral and spiritual

CONVICTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

significance of the Person, Character,
fice

87

and Sacri

of Jesus Christ.

And

it

is

perfectly true

that such public, general, universal conviction

may, and alas continually does,

in individuals of the conviction
"

fall

quite short
"worketh

which

and that therefore repentance unto salvation it may be studied as a work which moves out
;

side the action

"the

inner circles
souls
;

of the

Spirit s

saving
in

upon
all

as a

work emphatically
at

world."

But

this

says

only,
in

most, that
xvi. do, or

the

words of our Master

refer to a so to

John

speak

indefinite

may, and diffused

operation of the Spirit, but it does not say that they do not also, and in a special and
central
effectual

degree, refer
blessing.

to

His inner

circles

of

For surely wherever

is

that

effectual blessing takes place,

in its

wherever a soul

mysterious individual personality

awak
"

ened from the sleep of sin and born of the the Spirit, it is a case in which a member of
has been dealt with, in the world, to be brought out of the world. It is a case in
world"

which the blessed Agent,

glorifies,

like

Him whom He

has gone into the outer wilderness.

88

VENI CREATOR.
it

a rescued wanderer, lately dead in sins, blinded by the god of this world,
E P h.
ii.

and has led from

2.

In

this

walking according to new convert, whether

"

its

course."

from

open

heathenism, or heresy, or infidelity, or from a profession of the blessed Faith which is in

name
"

only,

we
"

find just

the general facts of

Just that which,
intense,
is

the world a

individualized.
definite

in

sense less

and

done

by the Spirit for the world as world, is done by the same Spirit in a sense most definite,
most
as
effectual,

for this

member

of the world

individual will and soul.

He
sin,

has brought

the

man
it

to

"

conviction of

righteousness,

and

judgment,"
is

in the light of Christ.

And

manifest,

by the way, that the

in the

large, wide,

work of conviction

sphere

of general opinion is done in no small measure through these isolated occurrences, these deep,
individual convictions of sin.

So

it

has been
of defi

from the beginning.

The thousands

nite convictions, repentances, and baptisms at Pentecost, were a mighty means for diffusing

through the Jewish public mind an impression about Christ and the Gospel far short indeed

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE WORLD.

in itself of regeneration

89

and

salvation, yet incal

culably precious and important.

to

And

so

it

is

this day. Nothing can more powerfully the contribute to keep up, and to raise up, world s public consciousness of sin, righteous
"
"

ness,

and judgment than the presence

in

it,

as

salt-grains in the mass, of individuals intensely

and savingly convinced of those three things for themselves, in the light of immediate deal

And ings for themselves with God in Christ. the world s nothing would so fatally lower
"

"

public moral and quasi-Christian consciousness as that such individual convictions, such per
sonally convinced ones, should
fewer,
in
till

become few and

be dissociated

religion itself should

opinion from the very ideas con / have sinned against the words, veyed by the Lord What must / do to be saved ?
"
"
"

common
;

"

So without misgiving the Lord Jesus, and see

that the

take these words of

in

them His assurance

Holy the divine Messenger

of souls,

Spirit, in the

Gospel Age, and as to souls, and Illuminator

about

Himself the Saviour, should

convince the individual unregenerate heart, in merciful speciality, of sin, and righteousness, and

go

VENI CREATOR.

judgment.
Acts xvi.
i4.

He should
its

"

"

open it to attend to unspeakable need of Christ and

" "

to the sin against the love of

itself,

God, and against

in

of

indifference

or
;

refusal

of

manifested

Christ

and

to

the

presence awful

glory of righteousness, the eternal antithesis to all trangression of the law, a glory now trans-

cendently displayed in the exaltation of the and to crucified Christ Jesus to the heavens
;

the ineffable Tightness, certainty,

and eternity

of the judicial ruin of sin and all that sides with sin a ruin already in effect accomplished by the personal triumph of the Son of God

over His mysterious personal Antagonist, the

world

s prince

and god.
with

passage, should and love,- deal

So, according to this the Spirit of truth, holiness,

the

individual.
sin,

Such
right

should be the personal conviction of

hand. In a
that should

eousness, and judgment, under His operating

way

make use

of

all

the moral faculties of the man, and yet should

work from
if it

infinitely

above them, and penetrate

be possible beneath them,

He

should bring

the inner eyes to see something of the realities of this great matter, so that the man should

IS THIS

THE READER S EXPERIENCE?

"

91

I say with the voice of his inmost being, have sinned against the Lord and His glorious

Christ

what must

do

"

May

make

bold to turn to

my

reader,

and
dis
?
I

laying aside the tone of

cussion, speak to

mere enquiry and

him

as to a brother

man

venture to ask you, does this brief, fragmentary indication of the Spirit s sin-convincing work

correspond in any degree to your consciousness,

For your experience ? Ah, surely it does. indeed such things have been taking place in
to

souls ever since the

day when
"

at

the

great

Effusion, and as its very first result, three were pricked in thousand human individuals
their heart,
shall

and
"

said,

Men

and brethren, what

Acts n. 37
.

we do

Paul was convinced

and so was the Philippian Jailer, and so was Augustine, and so was Luther, and so were
of
sin,

Hooker, and Pascal, and Bunyan, and Brainerd, and Wesley, and Simeon, and Chalmers,
strange collocation of names, men in almost every respect dissimilar, but alike in this com

mon who

characteristic of conviction of sin.

shall

And

count the examples of the same work,

92

VENI CREATOR.
in

every land where the Gospel of the Son of Gocl has found its way ? No law of sex, or age, or tem

here and now, in our time,

our land,

in

perament, or circumstances, can be traced matter no law but that of the Spirit of
"

in

the

life in

Christ Jesus." This convicting whisper and unveiling finds its way to the youngest and to the most aged conscience, to the miserable
Rom.
viii. 2 .

and

to the

happy

in external conditions, to the

savage and to the scholar, to the profligate and to the man who on every standard short of that
of

God

in

Christ

is,
I

as

Saul of Tarsus was,

it

sincerely moral.
that

So
is

count

altogether likely
"

my

reader

one who can

"set

to his seal

that the doctrine of individual conviction of sin

by the Holy Spirit is true, is true for him. I do not know, I cannot guess, how it has come the manner, and method, and occasion. to him
;

Perhaps, as a matter of biography, it has come not in the first pages of his Christian experi So Zinzendorf, whose con ence, but later.
version

came

in the first

phase of

it

through an

overpowering insight into the love and loveli 1 ness of his Redeemer, was taught not till later
1

See further below,

p.

12.

EXPERIENCES VARY IN DETAIL.

the

93

depths

of his

need of that
it

Redeemer s
not as

sacrifice.

Perhaps

has come,

one

great critical occasion, one narrow while intense cloud to be passed through, but rather stage by stage, in intervals and developments of selfdiscovery.

Or perhaps
it

and indeed such cases

really the decisive first

do take place

was

handling of your soul, so far as you can estimate In some such facts, by the great Regenerator.
course of open or hidden rebellion against the light, or just in the midst of dull or complacent

God, in the mission-hall, amidst many awakened ones, or quite as likely in the walk on the hill-side or in
indifference
;

in

the

house of

the street, or in your own room at college, or at home lo, the Spirit touched you into an
;

insight
sin,

you had not even imagined before ot and righteousness, and judgment of the
;

And as in necessity reality of Christ. that conviction, soon or slowly, you were led by
and the
the same blessed

Worker up

to the point of

simplest acceptance of your crucified

Lord

for

your Saviour and your King, you

the

know how

whole colour and texture of subsequent faith was affected through and through by

94

VENI CREATOR.
initial
it.

the

from

Everything took results Your insight into the wonder, glory,

conviction.
;

and virtue of the Propitiation

Rom.
ii.

s.

to

the

revealed

"

your submission indignation and

wrath

"

jection
try
to

of the righteous Judge, and your re for ever of the "vain words" which

say that that

"coming
"

wrath

is

not

actually

upon the children of disobe dience your pity and love for souls as yet entranced in the sleep from which you have been awakened all became what they could
Eph.v.e.
; ;

not be,

could

genuine

not possibly be, without some personal experience of the Spirit s

in the

convincing power. You understood now,

understanding, what
that
to
" "

moral sense of

is

meant by the remark

"

Christianity

bad

conscience."
"

cannot be proved except For bad you read

"

awakened

and

The Gospel
yourself to

is

indeed true for you. a message not for man in the

it

is

abstract, but for

man
this

a sinner.
latter,

be

you saw under the Spirit s

Till

Gospel was a something for which you seemed to find in yourself no true receptacle, a key which did but rattle, so to
convictions, the

CONVICTION AFFECTS THE WHOLE MAN.

speak, in a lock not

95

made

exactly for

it.

Now
;

and the Spirit has spoken to your soul of sin with a blessed intuition you behold, and believe,
the divine provision for your release alike from
its

guilt

and from

"

its

power.

Rock of Ages
is

"

is

new hymn

to the
sin,

man who

convinced by

the Paraclete of

ment.

And

righteousness, and judg wonderfully now does the Bible

open

itself to that

relation

man, and fall into order and before him, and disclose its inner har

monies

in his sight.
is

The

Protevan-

Gen.iii.

iS.

gelium of Genesis
are the sacrifices

no myth to him now, nor of the Mosaic altar an invention

of man.

by

its

Every type and prophecy is lighted up relation to the Cross, and in turn lights
s

up the convinced man

Cross
in

apprehension of the

the

significance.
is

holy details of its ever-blessed And precious indeed to him now

every trace of apostolic doctrine which un

folds the treasures of the

accomplished mystery

of Calvary. The third chapter of the Romans, and of the Galatians, and the whole teaching of

dear to him

the Hebrews, culminating in xiii 20, 21, are now with a sense of personal com

panionship and intimacy.

So Jesus

Crucified,

96

VENI CREATOR.

like the celestial

bow upon
sin.

the cloud,

is

mani
Risen

fested as

God s

Antithesis to the manifestation

of the guilt of
manifested, as

And

so

is

Jesus

He

not be before, in

had not been, as He could all the glory of His finished

work,

His indwelling and sin-subduing Presence (by the same Spirit who has thus
soul),

and

convinced the
i

and

in all the

warmth and
hope"

Pet.

i.

3.

radiance of that
is

"living

to

which the man

vidually

now

personally and

indi

And as this richly begotten again." blessed penitent looks forward to the now dear
and happy prospect of the life to come, peace and strength of an evidence of its
as real as
it is

in the

reality
?

internal,

what
life,

is

his anticipation

He

looks for a world, a

a work, of sinless

bliss, of entire and positive holiness in ever but he looks to live, love, lasting personal joy
;

and serve there as one who

will for

ever rejoice
"

when (wonderful paradox) to remember that Rom. v. s. died for we were sinners Christ
,

us"

and

to

praise

the blessed
"

an abstract
Rev.
vii. 10.

Deity but of

Name GOD and

not
of

of

THE

LAMB."

Was

it

too bold of the medieval believers

CONVICTION, THE PASTOR S NEED.

to
"

97

say,

O
a

beata
;"

cut fa,
"

qucz

talent

mernisti
hast

Redemptorem

"Blessed
?

guilt,

which

won such

Redeemer

We

need conviction
if

for ourselves
is

as indi
to
strike

our personal religion viduals, root downward, and so to bear

fruit

upward.
sin,

The man who knows

may be many good

little

of conviction of

as a genuine element

in personal experience,
I

things, but

do not think
this

he can be a deep Christian. And greatly do we pastors need

our ministry.

for

full, strong current of opinion in the professing Church of Christ runs at the present day directly against a grave, thorough

going, doctrine of sin, and its correlative truths of eternal judgment, and of the unspeakable

need of the atoning blood, and of living per sonal faith in the Crucified and Risen One,

One would according to the Scriptures." think that some even earnest teachers had
"

learned,

of the

Word

by some other path surely than that of God, to look with temperate
sin,

eyes upon
to

as a

phenomenon sure

at

last

Order

disappear under long processes of divine a discord awaiting only its musical
;

98

VENI CREATOR.
;

perhaps, on to some higher level of enriched consciousness. Let no man deceive us with vain words.
resolution

"

fall

upward,"

And
them

let

us pray that our lips

on.

And

to

that

may never pass intent may the Holy

us, close to

Spirit of

Promise evermore teach

the Cross and to the open Grave, His lessons of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

But from every other aspect of the matter we must say, we must cry, the very
so.

Even

opposite
believe,

of

"

beata

culpa"

And we who
sin,

and .who have been convinced of

righteousness, and judgment, must humbly and persistently look to the same holy Convincer

who began

the

work
to

and develop it and (let me add

throughout

deepen it throughout our whole lives,

that

He may

my

ministerial

brethren)
If
in

our whole ministry.

one

aspect the conviction of sin is the great initial work of the Spirit, from another aspect it is a work which we can never dare to wish Him
to

wind up here below. Has the believer ever reached the real end of self-discovery ? Has
he ever
really

seen with

ultimate

adequacy
"

how truly his

happiest actual obedience

cannot

CONVICTION, OUR

NEED TO THE

LAST,
"

gg
*

endure the severity of the divine judgment Has he ever quite fully realized his need
"

oi

Christ for him ? No, he has not. So now, and to-morrow, and always, we will ask the Convincer to carry on in the blessed home o
"

Grace the lesson

the desert sands
tenderly,
;

He

mercifully

began upon
sin,

to keep us alive and awake,

humbly, and evermore, to

in

and

righteousness, and judgment, the blissful light, of Christ.

i

the light, in

Article XII.

See below,

p. 188.

CHAPTER
A7[7E
have endeavoured

VI.
to think out

some

thing of the great subject of Conviction of Sin by the Spirit of God. Perhaps I should
rather say not to think it out, but to think it to turn inward in view of it, and question our souls, writer and reader together, about our
in
;

Rom. va

i3.

own

insights
"

into

the

"

exceeding
of the

sinfulness of sin

in

the

light

Holy

Ghost.
I

turn

now

to the glorious other side of the

operation of the Spirit in His work of new I turn to creation, re-constitution, of us sinners.

His dealings with us in the way of making our Lord Jesus Christ to be to us what He is given
to

be to such as we are

and breath, and all cor. 3 ness, and sanctification, and redemp
;

our spiritual "life, our righteousthings

"

i.

o.

"

tion

We

our joy, our peace, our power, our hope. have seen the Heavenly Worker ploughing
;

THE SPIRIT REVEALING

the
soil,

CHRIST.

101

breaking up the fallow, crushing the see Him now underlying rock into dust.

We

corn the divine dropping the seed, letting John *. 84 into the ground. of wheat
"

fall

"

We

applying Christ to the sorely needing And we see soul, now conscious of its need. Him to this end dealing with it as the Spirit
see
of Manifestation,
God."
"

Him

revealing in

it

the

Son

of

Gal.i.i6.

indeed the Holy Spirit For He is the beloved work.

is
Christ."

Here

"

congenial, Spirit of

And

in

our second chapter

we saw
go
;

how deep the indications of how the Spirit is not only

Stream from
is

that phrase

the Emissary of Christ but, in the inner Life of Godhead, the

Him

the Fountain.

Wonderful

the

union of nature and of operation so

;

divinely deep and tender, the union and communion of that Love of the Spirit and the Son.

indicated

wonderful,

blissful,

Let us dwell a
It is

little
it

on

this point of truth.

possible,

dwell on the
to associate

uncommon, so convincing work of the Spirit

is

and

not

to

as

of grace

His action mainly with that side as if His characteristic were to

102

VENI CREATOR.
to
detect,
it

penetrate,
itself,

to
no,

cast
it

expose the soul to down wounded and broken.

to
I

But
all

is

not so.
I

have striven to lay

the

emphasis
I

can on the unspeakable

importance of the work of conviction.

therefore

But

am
"

all

the

more

free
this

to
is

remind
after
all

my
the
Neh.

reader and brother that

Spirit s
ix. 20.

strange

work."

The

Eternal

Spirit,"

Dove, the Spirit of grace, the "Good has for His dear and welcome function

the uplifting of the sweet glory of Christ to the aching eyes of the contrite the applying of the soft balm of Christ to the wounds He
;

Himself has mercifully made through Heb. iv. 12. and spirit."

"soul

book by the late venerable Dr Horatius Bonar, The Gospel of

is

There

a delightful

little

the Spirit s Love.

It

is
it

than

fifty

pages
2

but

only a tract, of less is full of that Theology

of Consolation
expositors
1

which has few better modern

than the deeply taught saints and

:

Edinburgh
I

A.

Stevenson,

North Bank

Street.

2nd

ed.,

1884.
s

historical doctrinal

borrow the phrase from the title of a very valuable work by the Rev. D. C. A. Agnew. (Edin
1

burgh:

88 1.)

BONAR ON THE SPIRITS

LOVE.

103

sin

thinkers trained in the thorough views of our and ruin expounded in the Scottish Con

fession,

and

in

that adoring insight into the

wonder, and glory, and tenderness of the work

of grace which seems specially given to those who have accepted the whole truth of man s
ruin.
It will
I

commend this little book to my reader. press home on him on every side the
"

conviction that indeed

"

Thy

Spirit is

PS. cxim.

>.

good\

that the
"

Love

of the Spirit, as truly as

"

that of the Son,

passeth knowledge

that

it is

a deep mistake, a fallacy which chills and blights the soul s life, to fail to recognize this as in the Spirit which if there were something
"

to attract us

repelled us, whatever there might be in Christ as if the light which the Cross
;

throws upon the love of the Spirit were not quite in harmony with that which it reveals of
the Spirit were not always as ready with His help as is the Son And one passage, close to this short (p. 21).
the love
of Christ
;

as

if

"

quotation, speaks in words pregnant with truth

about our special subject here, His glorification The want of stable peace, of Christ to us
"

of which

so

many

complain,

may

arise

from

io 4

VENI CREATOR.

True, our imperfect views of the Spirit s love. peace comes from the one work of the Substi
tute

upon the Cross, from the blood of the one

from the sin-bearing of Him who has made peace by the blood of the Cross. But
Sacrifice,
it

is

the

Holy

Spirit

who

glorifies Christ to us,

If,

and takes the scales from our eyes. we doubt His love, can we expect
reveal the

then,
to

Him

Son

in

our hearts

Are we not

thrusting away, and hindering that view of the peace-making which He alone can give ? Perhaps the want of faith, which we often
.

Him

mourn

over,

may

arise
*

from our not realizing

(no doubt) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God yet it is the Holy Spirit who shines upon the
the Spirit s love,

Faith

word

it

is

He who
to
I

the hearing ear.

gives the seeing eye and Under the pressure of unbelief

have we
love
?

fled

Lord,

Him, and appealed to His believe help Thou mine un

;

belief, may be as aptly a cry to the Spirit as to the Son of God. He helpeth our infirmities
;

and

in the infirmity of
us.

our faith
It is
;

He

will

most

assuredly succour

we become

strong in faith

through Him that and He loves to

THE SPIRIT LOVES TO REVEAL CHRIST.

impart the needed strength.

105

He
not.

giveth to

all

men

liberally,

and upbraideth

Yet

in

our

dealings

with
that

remember

Him regarding faith let us He does not operate in some

;

mystical or miraculous way, as if imparting to us a new faculty called faith but by taking of the things of Christ and showing them to us
;

so touching our faculties by His mighty yet invisible hand, that, ere we are aware, these

disordered souls of ours begin to work aright, and these dull eyes of ours begin to see what

was

along before them, but what they had never perceived, the excellency of the know
all
"

ledge of Christ Jesus our Lord (pp. 23-5). So it is the "loving Spirit" who, having con

vinced

of Christ, and glorifies Christ, with the heavenly skill and power of a love as
us, testifies

the soul

tender, as gentle, as it is divine. brings down into self-knowledge, into a Know

He

brings it up into the glorious counterpart, into the know ledge not of a "better self" but of Jesus Christ,
sort,

Thyself of the true

and then

He

in all the fulness of

what

He

is.

And He

loves

do it. It is not only His eternally appointed, but surely also His eternally beloved work.
to

io6

VENI CREATOR.

pass on let me call attention to Dr Bonar s statements quoted just above regarding the Spirit s gift of faith to us, and His mode of

As we

giving.

My

readers well

know
<

that

it

has been

a grave question whether the Spirit, whether God, does "give" faith; whether rather faith

not just that which we have to contribute of our own store to the work of conversion. I am
is

indeed aware of the mysteries which connect themselves with that question. But I am quite sure that Scripture does nevertheless teach us
that a living
Acts v
.

and saving

faith is as truly a gift

3 i.

of
I

God

as

is,

ance."

find this stated in

where,

if

the context

is

repent a passage 8; Eph. attended to, the stress

ii.

for instance,

"

of the argument is all in favour of explaining the words and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God," to mean that the matter just before
"

mentioned, namely the presence of faith in the I read the same saved, is the gift of God.
truth in the phraseology of Phil.
alike the
i.

29,

where
saints.

power

to believe
gift"

and the
in

call to suffer

are

seen as

"the

given to the

a yet deeper And I see it very clearly, and more suggestive connexion, in 2 Cor. iv.

FAITH
13,

IS

THE GIFT OF THE

SPIRIT.

107

where the Apostle speaks of himself and

"

his fellow- workers as

having the same

spirit
I

of

faith"

with the Old

Testament

saints.

believe the

word

"

spirit"
l

there to refer to the

but that point is not blessed Personal Spirit What any necessary to the present purpose. wise the passage intimates is that faith is not
;

It is from above, not of nature, but of grace. from the resources of human nature it is the
;

special and supernatural gift of God. the mystery involved, and indeed I feel
I

I
it

know
;

but

who, unlike me, knows the whole eternal case, and will one day gloriously justify those ways of grace which He calls us
entrust
it

to

Him

now
it is

to trust.

And
will

so

hold,

and

am

sure
to
if

good

to hold, that,
it

where a man believes

life

eternal,

be made plain hereafter,

"

not now, that every link in the chain, not every

link except one,

mercy from first to and very special mercy too. But then on the other hand 2 this view of the gift of faith, as Dr Bonar well puts it, does not
last,"
1

was

See above,

p. 9.

2
"

How

often, in

pondering the things of God,

\

we need

to say

on the other

hand"

io8

YENI CREATOR.
moment
lead us to think of faith as of an

for a

alien or exotic

something inserted,
planet,
into

like a life-

germ from another

"

our nature.

trust," say what the Council of Trent may. Our Lord s use of the word moris

Faith
1

is

the Gospels proves this. reliance, personal confidence.

in

Faith

is

trust,

And

personal
is

confidence,
itself

self-entrustment to

another,

in

a perfectly natural exercise of the

human
divine

soul.
gift,

What
about
?

then
in

is

supernatural,

what

is

it

this great

faith

Why,

surely, just

instance of saving that which can be

life,

illustrated

from the experiences of human

"

whenever anything
another.

gives me confidence" in In such a case, the fact of my need

fact
fact,

being presupposed, and the

sciousness of
of
"

of

my

con

my

need
"

the
to

for instance,

my knowing myself gives me confidence

?

be very ill what in such or such a

physician

The

convincing manifestation to

In the Canons
vi. is

and Decrees of
"

Session

devoted to the

refutation"

the Council of Trent, c. ix. of of the inanis h&retico-

rum who

fiducia; and

Canon

xii.

of the Session anathematizes those

say fidem justificantem nihil aliud esse qnamfiduciam divines misericordice, peccata remittentis propter Christum,

HOW IS
me me

FAITH

"

GIVEN" ?

109

of his personal trustworthiness. Suppose conscious of my urgent need of a fully

so strong that physician, with a consciousness to use a physician, and ipso facto I am willing

suppose the trustworthiness of that particular man manifested to me by good proofs there
;

is

thus and then

"

given"

to

me

the gift of

faith in

him.

Transfer this to the case of (not anyone The Spirit has but) the awakened sinner.

convinced him of his need

deep,

wide, and
"

The Spirit now takes urgent of salvation. of the things of Christ, and shows John xvi. 4 them to the soul thus prepared to behold
i
.
"

them
His

to purpose.
fitness,

The Lord and

it.

Saviour, in

His adequacy,
is

His unspeakable

trustworthiness, stands before

The

need,

met by the response and divinely shown, and the supply, divine and shown divinely the man lays his hand, sets his foot, upon the Rock, because it is wanted and because it is
;

there.

He

entrusts himself to his manifested

is

Saviour,

and

His.
is

He

believes,

and

it

is

with a faith that

It is

the gift of God. important, if I understand the case at

no
all,

VENI CREATOR.
to
in

remember
it

clearly in this

whole matter

what

is

natural

and what
is

The
soul,

natural element

supernatural. the action of a human

is

accepting the perfect provision for that need, seen to be And from this point of view it is the such.
private friend s, blessed privilege and duty to point the awakened person as directly, simply, and practically as possible

conscious

of exceeding

need,

preacher

s,

and

the

to the facts of the

Lord Jesus Christ

Person,

work, willingness, love.

that action,
in

No
if

considerations of

the supernatural ought for a

any more than

moment to disturb we were concerned

recommending a tried physician to a friend in illness. Only to-day it has been my duty and my blessing to try to deal thus with a wearied and burthened mind and soul and my
;

steady aim was, secretly indeed

Spirit s

to invoke the

but also to point out in the reason simplest and most practical terms the Pet. in. S is in us; the central of the hope that
grace,
"
"

certainty of the Resurrection of the buried

Lord

of Calvary,

and the

light

(amidst

whatever

surrounding darkness) which that one precious fact sheds upon all He did, and said, and is.

A PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION.

in

And

with the effort to state the

it

"

reason of the

hope"

was inevitable

also to bear personal

witness to the experienced reality of its power, the experienced mercy and love of this Risen
Saviour, and thus to bring in the forces, so far as possible, of the sympathy of soul with soul.
All this was, from one point of view, a natural as natural as if I had been as proceeding
;

serting and justifying

grounds of

common

recommendation, on reason and experience, of

my

some medical
full

or legal adviser of whose aid my But all the while I knew friend stood in need.
well that
"

God must
Holy

give the
I

iCor.m.e.

increase,"

God

the

Spirit.

hope

that

He would use my

had a bright poor reasonings and

witness in order to bring the soul of my friend (who is very little likely ever to read these

words) to a saving view of Jesus Christ or that anywise He would somehow cause the
;

reason of the
factorily

Gospel to present itself satis to his mind. But well I knew that
also,

there

needed

in

order to

that

man s

believing unto life eternal, a special dealing by the Holy Ghost with those materials of argu

ment and

witness.

It

was needful that He,

ii2

VENI CREATOR.
and personal, should speak in ways which I cannot, and no man can, to the
"

divine
in

this same Jesus depths of that spirit about should "testify of Him" and -glo xv.
john
26;

;"

rify

Him,"

as

no man

can, to that

He must in His own human consciousness. way make the facts more than mere facts, the
witness

more

than

just

credible,

the

Lord

more than an assured

or of the
attractive

certainty of the past, unseen present even the ineffably

;

magnet,
soul.

desire,

repose,

of

this
is

burthened
a
fact.

The mystery
it

of the Fall
itself
"

beauty

Man s spirit in Him that

no
act

does not of

see

should desire
seeing
"

Him,"

(though
2

of

inward
"

is

more
"
"

cor. in.

7 , is.

Spirit

which

the absolutely reasonable,) until of the Lord that gives liberty comes along with a new grace-given
into
"

intuition
2

the glory of
Christ."

God

in the face

cor.iv.6.

of Jesus

Thus, naturally
the blessed Spirit
rally,

at

once and supernaturally,

faith"

"gives

in Jesus.

Natu

by providing that the facts about Him, and His work, and His love, shall come in some genuine measure before the mental eyes.

HOW IS

FAITH

"

GIVEN"*

113

Supernaturally, by bringing the soul, fallen from that original righteousness in which it

was
into

in

sympathy and harmony with God, back

He
tion
"

sympathy with the blessed facts. And this does in part through His work of convic of sin, and in part through shedding upon
it is

the truth as

in

Jesus,"

wholly of His own, a light

or

ways Eph.iv. 21. of glory and beauty,

i

in

however of
not
seen,"

reality,

which

"eye

cor. n. 9

10.

hath

but which

"God

revealeth

His

Spirit."

And

so the soul sees,

by and the

man

believes and comes, entrusting himself to the divinely manifested Christ, and believing, hath life through His Name." johnxx. 3
"

t.

It is

most true that saving

faith is

not always

so given as that the order of the process of its There giving can be described just as above. are

where the process is, in a certain sense, reversed. Such a conversion was that of Count Zinzendorf, 1 the second
conversions
1 Since writing this passage I have examined Bishop Spangenberg s Life of Zinzendorf (English translation, 1838), which as

the

work

of the Count s intimate Christian friend

is

the best
all

authority on such a subject as this.

And
out.

do not find

the

statements in
"

my

text

quite borne

The

narrative

runs

thus, p. 15:

From

[Frankfort-on-the-Main] they proceeded to

ii4

VENI CREATOR.
"

founder of the
Fratitm, with
prises.

Moravian

"

Church, the Unitas

its

marvellous missionary enter

His new

birth to righteousness

and God

was wrought, so the story

runs,

through the

sight of a picture of the Crucifixion, bearing the

Dtisscldorf, where the Count s attention was particularly attracted by the excellent Eccc Homo in the picture-gallery, under which was the following inscription All this I have done for thee what doest thou for Me ? He reflected that he would scarcely be able to answer this question, and besought his Saviour to force him into the fellowship of. His sufferings, if he should ever He was just nineteen at the time and his be disinclined to own account of his earlier years makes it plain that he both was, and knew himself to be, a believer long before that time. It was my happiness early to experience a heartfelt impression of the Saviour after this all my wishes and desires were directed
:
;

it."

"

towards the Bridegroom of my soul, that I might live unto Him who atoned for me (p. 3). But something not wholly unlike the account given in the text is alluded to in another extract (p. 4) from his own words I was told [as a child] concerning my
"

"

a man. ... I felt happy in conversing with Him, and grateful for His having remembered me for good in His Incarnation, But I did not wholly understand the
Creator, that

He became

greatness and sufficiency of His meritorious sufferings, nor was my own wretchedness and inability sufficiently obvious to me.
I

did also what

ordinary day,

when
for

could in order to be saved, until one extra I was so much affected by what my Creator
that
I

had suffered

me

shed an abundance of

tears,

and

attached and joined myself still more closely to Him." On the whole I have preferred to leave the text as it stands, with this note. The experience which without quite adequate

evidence

is

assigned in
in

it

to

Zinzendorf

is

however an experi

ence realized

many

instances.

ZINZENDORFS EXPERIENCE.
"

115

inscription,

This have

done for thee

what

hast thou done for

"

Me

?"

He

rejoiced
life

with exceeding

gazed, loved, and joy," turning from a

of indecision at once, and without a pang, to Christ. But do not think that the element of
conviction was absent in Zinzendorf s experience as a whole. It came later, and with power.

was an element most necessary, as his life-story shows, in order to save him from some
it

And

grave wanderings from sound faith in the matter of Christian experience, and from a tendency

away from a steady anchorage on the 1 And I atoning work of the Lamb of God.
to drift
1

of his

quote as follows from a French memoir (Dover s, i., p. 224) life: "About this time I met with the work of Dippel, in

which the doctrine of Imputed Righteousness is attacked. Its system seemed to aim at eliminating from the idea of God the notion of His wrath and just so far as I sympathized with that view I liked the system. I was then in the attitude of the natural theologian and the good God distressed me when His acts seemed to lack a sequence of mathematical precision. I sought
;

to justify
to

Him,

at all costs, to

men
I

of reason.

But when I came

a mystery

think aver
in the

my own

conversion

saw

that in the death of Jesus

and

word Ransom there lay a profound mystery

before which Philosophy stops short, but as regards which Revelation is immovably firm. This gave me a new intuition
into the doctrine of Salvation.
first in
I

fonnd

its

the instance of

my own

heart, then in that of

blessing and benefit my brethren

and fellow-workers

[in

the Unites Fratrum~\.

Since the year

u6

YENI CREATOR.
well assured that that after-gift of spiritual
its

am

turn only to deepen and develop for Zinzendorf the first gift of joy and

conviction tended in

love.

The elements which we have

dwelt upon
its life
if I

as characteristic of conversion and

were

there, though the order of their arrival,

call
it

may
sum

so,

was abnormal.

His

faith in its

total

was the repose of the divinely awakened soul in the divinely manifested Saviour.

my last own experience. May

I

appealed

in

chapter to my reader s I do so again in this

In any brighter and more blessed connexion ? thing but an inquisitorial spirit, I do venture
to

to

say to you, has the Holy Spirit testified you of Jesus Christ, glorified to you Jesus Christ, taking of His things and showing
?
I

them unto you

this vivid

do not ask, have you had

?
I

crisis

of consciousness, that almost

vision of the unseen and eternal

am

not

one of those who speak lightly of such things, as if they were to be estimated off-hand
1

and

734 the doctrine of the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus has been, will for ever be, our treasure, our watchword, our all, our
all evil,

panacea against

alike in doctrine

and

in

practice."

A PERSONAL APPEAL.
as

117

so

many
Faith

illusions,
is

discredit

to

sober
its

faith.

magnificently sober as to
its
it

grounds, and as to remember that what

nature.

But when we
JESUS CHRIST,
eternal
it

clasps
is

is

and what

it

receives

the

life

and

the hope of glory, shall we think necessarily fanaticism if sometimes, and in some Christians,
the sweet unveilings of His face have been such as even to agitate greatly the faculties of
"

"

the mortal tabernacle

"

My

earthly

by His heavenly overpower d

Sank

down."

do not speak to you now of these which certainly are not the daily "bread things,
But
I

of

life."

I
"

been so
figure

only ask, has the Lord Jesus Christ that it is no forced revealed in you
"

of speech

to

say

that

He
the

has

been
to the

"glorified"?

eyesight of

Has He been the inner man

so
as

shown
it is

Lamb
so

of

Calvary that you not only hold (as

to hold) the clearest mental
Justification

good

convictions about

by

Faith,

as
that

our

Second and
but

Eleventh

Articles

put

great truth,

that the Crucified, the

Shedder of the

justi-

ii8

VENI CREATOR.
is

fying blood,

the adored

and

beloved of your

awakened and confiding soul ? Has He been so shown within you as the Son of the Father,
the Only Begotten in the Father s bosom, that you not only reject with fullest intellectual con
viction the misbeliefs of a Sabellius, an Arius,

or

a Socinus,

in

their

oldest

or their most

modern phases, but

"

that your spirit does indeed

deepest of worshipping love, responding in homage sweet harmony to the Voice out of the
Matt.xvii.s.

Ps.ii. 12.

kiss

the

Son

"

with

the

bright

cloud

"

This

is

My

beloved

Son

"

Has He been

so

shown within you

as your sovereign

Master that you not only reasonably own His claims but find that a
complete submission to them is pure happi ness, because it is so real a means to feeling

the

bond which unites you for ever to Him ? Has He been so shown within you as your life,

your power, your wealth of resource against the devil, the world, and the flesh, and your enablement for humble service to His will, that

you not only applaud a

take
pleasure
in
its

spiritual

theory,

and
take

exposition,

but

"

pleasure in infirmities, that the

power of Christ

THE SPIRIT GLORIFYING

may
rest

CHRIST.

nq
xii. 9 .

upon

you,"

and His beloved

hardly can be
Is
it

presence be the cross ?

Is
It is
it

felt

as

it

felt

without

thus with you

reality,

it

not thus with you

?

a divine

is

not

Calm and pure

joy unspeakable the ii et.i.8.

in its

holy essence, this glorification of Christ

thrills

yet

moves and
full

with a

"

and

of

glory."

And

it

is

immediately the thanks for that joy are due. You, convinced and

Holy

Spirit to

whom

believing soul, reaping these fruits of living faith in the Son of God, are a subject of the His best-beloved work of the loving Spirit.

breath has

moved

face of Eternal Beauty,

the cloud for you from the and has quickened you

into the consciousness of

what

"

it is.

HE

hath

been thus
birth
"

effectual in this secret

life
;

regeneration unto newness of unto a living hope."

"

work of your in this new

ipet.
i.

3.

Love Him, adore Him, give thanks

to

Him.

seek and expect His abiding and continuous work of loving grace. Look up to the Father, in this as in so many other
spiritual connexions,

And meanwhile

be answered,

"

Take

with the prayer, sure to not Thy Holy Spirit from

120

VENT CREATOR.

me."

Expect, and humbly receive, not only PS. H. an ever deeper view of the sinfulness of sin, but also an ever deeper view of
ii.

the glory of Christ, seen in the secret places of present communion with Him and obedience
to

Him.
iii.s

The

Spirit will unfold

"

more

to you,

E P h.

able
E Ph
in

riches"
"

and yet more, of the unsearch and their applications. He will

strengthen you in the inner man, so that Christ shall dwell in your
"
"

16

i7

heart by faith
"

continuousness
shall

with a blessed development of and power, and so that you with the joy

of

know the love of Christ," an ever new discovery.

"

Come, Holy
Let

Spirit,

come,
arise
;

Thy

bright

beams

Dispel the darkness from our minds

And open
"

all

our eyes.
sin,

Convince us of our

Then

And

lead to Jesu s blood, to our wondering view reveal

secret love of

The
"

God.

Show

us that loving

Man

That rules the courts of bliss, The Lord of Hosts, the mighty God,

The

Eternal Prince of Peace.

A HYMN-PRAYER.
"

121

Tis Thine

to cleanse the heart,

To sanctify the soul, To pour fresh life in every part And new-create the whole.
"

Dwell, therefore, in our hearts,

;

Our minds from bondage free Then we shall know, and praise, and

love,

The

Father, Son,

and

Thee."

So, a hundred and thirty years ago, wrote Joseph Hart and the need, the promise, and
;

the prayer are the

same

this day.

CHAPTER

VII.
our view of

TT^E
Holy

have considered now,

in

the revelation through St John of the Spirit s work, three main passages deal

ing with that work.

We

have seen the

Spirit

as our Regenerator from spiritual death into johniii. spiritual life, and as our Convincer,
johnxvi.

and
of

as

the

Glorifier

of Christ In
this

in

the

souls

the

convinced.

study

we have looked from

action
in

different points of

view

upon His supremely important function and

bringing the individual into that living Union with the Son of God of which That we treated in a previous chapter.
union, as

remembered, is altogether by the Holy Spirit, and is normally effected

we

there

by

Him

through the processes of repentance

1

Page

39.

See also below,

p. 131.

THE SPIRIT AND THE

and
faith,

NEW LIFE.

123

under which the man lays hold of and receives Him who is our Life, and re
ceives
"grace

in

Him

all

His blessed
of a

fulness,

the
16.

perpetual johni. of the peace and power and ever-new supply

grace"

for

which

is

in Christ.

We have
arrived at

thus as

its

were seen the soul safe Union with the Lord and now
it
;

henceforth
thus united,

its
is

life,

the whole

life

of the

man

a spiritual life, a perpetual reception out of Christ following How upon that initial entrance into Him.
to
life,

be a new

then

is

this life to

be led

Is the

to take his spiritual affairs into his

man now own hands ?

Has
it

the Spirit led

left

and there
is

him

him up to his Redeemer, No, most certainly. True

that the experiences of this

new

life

are

to

be as personal, as conscious, as truly volun

"

tary (let us not forget this), as those of the No will is so fully equipped for work old.

as the regenerate

will."

The whole
new
have

Scripture

overflows with illustrations

that fact.

and reminders of
life,

Nevertheless the
it

if
it

the

man
first

is

living

indeed,

is

to

in

from

to last this divine

and glorious new

factor,

124

VENT CREATOR.

the inworking presence of the blessed personal Paraclete, who in a sense now new and special
is

both to guard and animate the

will,"

"

first
all

springs
to

of thought and
alive,
life

and above

keep

by continuous application of Christ, the

in

He

Thus,

gave by first application of Christ. the words of a hymn dear to many

a believing heart,
"

Every virtue

wie possess,

And every victory won, And every thought of holiness,

Are His
alone."

Following
Scripture

now
I

our

proposed
still

method
the

of

study,

keep

to

Gospel

according to St John, reserving for after study the forms of truth given through St Paul.

And

to

illustrate

from

St John the work

of

the Spirit in the developing experience of the believer, I go again to the same

regenerate Paschal Discourse of our beloved Lord which

we have approached
chapters.

in

the

two
in

previous

We

have found there

initial

His

own

account of some
saving work.

steps

the

Spirit s

We

shall

now

find there, in the

THE SPIRIT IN JOHN

XIV.

XVI.

125

words of the same Teacher, a delineation of

some of the inmost

life

characteristics of the true

followers,

of

His

true

such

as

it
it

was
soon

already in a measure then, and such as

was

to

become

in rich

development under the

Spirit.

developed in-working of the In this whole delineation

we have
Spirit

to
is

re

member

that although the

Holy

only

occasionally mentioned He is everywhere im For the discourse on the whole mani plied.

the disciples experience in view of the withdrawal of the bodily presence

festly deals

with

of Jesus Christ.

And the promised equivalent, and more than equivalent, for that presence, was to be the developed presence of the
Comforter.

As

walk and

life

therefore the whole previous of the disciples had been bound

up with the presence and power of their dear visible Master, so now their whole walk and
life

be bound up, in a connexion as necessary, tender, and powerful as possible, with the presence in them of this His holy
to

was

Representative

come

to believe
to be,

by whom already they had on the Name of the Son of

God and

however

little

they understood

126

VENT CREAIOR.
as yet, united to

it

Him
all

in

the eternal

life.

read then rightly and all through the

its

We

through the Discourse,

Priestly Prayer at

High

close, the

underlying truth of the work of

the Spirit, effecting every blessed experience in the whole new life of the disciple.
point out the Tightness of referring these promises of the Paschal Chamber not to the Apostles only but to us, to every
let

And

here

me

member
I

of the believing Church. There are, doubt not, words in the Discourse and the

Prayer which have a primary reference to the Apostles, and to their past and present ex
perience,

and

to

their

coming work

as

the

Spirit-taught, infallible, teachers of the Church.

But there are indications everywhere that the Apostles then, as on many another occasion,

were viewed by the Lord Jesus not only as guides and teachers of the Church, but as
"

the phrase.

the Church by 1 In

representation," if

may

use
for

the

fourteenth

chapter,

example, we find our Lord continually passing from words bearing a primary special reference

owe

the remark to

my

friend the Rev. C. H. Waller.

THE PASSAGE

IS

FOR ALL BELIEVERS.

127

to the Apostles to
in their terms.
"

words completely inclusive

He

that believeth
I

ver.

i 3.

on Me, the works

"

that

do

shall

he
ver. 2 i. I

do

also;"

He

that

hath

My
"

com-

mandments

and

keepeth them
"

...

will

manifest Myself to him

If a

man

love
.

Me
with

We

will

make Our abode

indeed
all

ver. 23

him."

And
is

through

the

great passage,
feel

that

it

with hardly an exception, we rather the Christian life and

is

character
in

than specially the apostolic that

the

view

same

life

and character which the

to special ministerial

First Epistle of St

John depicts and explains

all

without any reference at

functions assigned to any sharers in it. So with out hesitation or reserve I read these precious words of the Lord Jesus, spoken on the eve

of His death and glory, as on the one hand bearing throughout on the work of the Spirit, and on the other hand applicable throughout
to the

needs, privileges, and possibilities, of true believer. With these principles in every
life,

mind
I

let

us

come

to the study.

read then

first in this

revelations about the

Discourse some divine Oneness of the saints with

128

VENI CREATOR.
and with the Father, and so with one
"At

Christ,

another.
johnxiv.
20.

the
"

(the day, surely, of promised coming of the Com

that
day"

forter),

ye shall

know
Me, and

that
I

am
"

in
"

My
>

john,vii.

Father, and ye in the y a11 2I 22

, ,

in

ma y
art in

be

That you as Thou one

; ;

Father,
that they also

Me, and
in

in

Thee,
the

may be one
Thou

Us

;"

"And

glory which

them
one
;

that they
I

gavest Me I have given are may be one, even as

We
I

in

them, and

Thou

in
"

Me,
"

that they

may be made
it
:

perfect in one

And

have

declared unto them

that the love wherewith

Thy name, and Thou

I

will declare

hast loved

Me may
I

be

in
if

them, and

in

them."

Ponder

the words, as

you had never read them before. well remember an occasion when they were

thus brought forcibly and anew to my mind. It was an anxious hour of public religious dis cussion on the nature of the divine life in the
Christian.

One
is,

deeply earnest speaker carried

his statements to a length

which

in

my

view was,

as

it

still

at variance
;

with the holy propor

truth leading through truth of truth to a related error which lay beyond out
tion of revealed

ITS TREASURES;
it.

APE THEY OURS?

129

But God sometimes overrules even a mani

exaggeration or distortion to call attention to something which it distorts but which we,
fest

So it perhaps, have neglected and ignored. was with me then. The solemnity, the intense significance, the pregnant emphasis, with which
and opponent that day repeated the At that day ye shall words of John xiv. 20 know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me,

my

friend

"

sank deep into one heart at least of those present and asked it whether there did
I

and
not

in

you,"

those words treasures of grace as yet unsuspected and unclaimed and so there did.
lie

in

May
is

again, as

have done more than once

reader and ask
?

before, turn to

my

if

perhaps
I

it

so

now

with him

And

if so,

may

in

my

turn entreat
in the

him

to listen to those divine

words

silence of the soul,

as to a revelation

of principles, and powers, and experiences, and possibilities, which have not the remotest neces sary connexion with fanaticism but which may nevertheless mean an inner life far different

from a
joy,

life

of

fitful

and intermittent

faith,

love,

peace,

and

power
for

for

and

light-bearing

Christ

witness-bearing The verses

130

VENI CREATOR.
above
I

cited

from

the
a

seventeenth

chapter

have,

well

know,

momentous bearing
Unity,

on questions

of Church

and are a

standing caution of the utmost gravity and tenderness against the spirit of schismatic
separation and antagonism in external Christian life. But while remembering this, and re

must yet more earnestly point out that the inner and intense meaning of the words has to do with regions of truth, life, and experience compared with
minding

my

reader of

it,

which even the sacred and important truths of exterior Church Unity are a lower region.
It
Heb.xii. 23

has to do primarily with the vital, spiritual, eternal union of the Church of the
"

firstborn written in

heaven"

in its root
ledge"

Head, union in a life and fruit.

with their glorious which is altogether of God

It

has to do with
to

"know
world"

and experiences

which

"the

an utter stranger, with insights into ever lasting love and joy coming down from the
is

Father of Lights, and with a cohesion and co operation, a united work and witness, which

depend absolutely for their possibility and power on the recognition and following out of such prin-

UNION WITH
ciples of union.

CHRIST.
it

131

Blessed

will

be for Church

and

for

World when these

principles shall so

vastly prevail as to find expression naturally

in a harmonious counterpart a far different thing from what is, I cannot but think, an illusory prospect the attainment of such internal unity by a previous

and from within

;

of order

exaction of exterior governmental uniformity. But this is by the way. point is now to call attention to the w onderful depth and

My

and personally searching and alluring power, of these words of the Lord about One ness, and then to remind my reader that the
height,
realization of those

words
as

lies

in the

work of

the

Holy

Spirit.

It is

HE

unites me, and

by His new-creating and touch and drawing, that we enter life-giving into this amazing oneness with the Son, and
unites thee, to Christ,

the Father, and one another

in

a oneness spiritu

which each personality, while ally organic, quite exempt from invasion, falls under the

power of a divine cohesion whose results in spiritual harmony of life and action will develop for ever. These things worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit," blessed be His Name.
"

132

VENI CREATOR.
Along with
this revelation

Spirit-wrought oneness and the Lord, and between

of spiritual and between the believer

believers
in

the

Lord,

many
is
johnxiv.

I gather up from this same Discourse There another precious kindred word.
"

that great promise,

i9.

Because
It
is

live,

ye

shall

live

also/

promise not

merely of the Rescuer to the rescued, of the Saviour to the saved, of the Leader to the
led,

but of the

Head

to the limb, of the

rest

Vine
1

to the branch.
Heb.
xii.2.

We

on that promise, we
it.

humbly believe
unto"

unto
sarily

Jesus,"

(very definitely

Looking off and very neces

"

"0/f

take

it

for

Him,) we appropriate it, and granted, and act on it amidst the

"

realities
press,"

of

life.

When

thronging

duties

providence of God we have to meet men, to walk up and down in the world of the present day, we yet fall back

when by

the

internally
i

on the truth that

"he

that hath the

john

v. 12.

Son hath

life."

The

basis of our true

is being, the spring-head of our true life-pulse, and therefore, while He Even so in Him.
;

COMMUNION WITH
liveth,

CHRIST.

133

and because
live."

He

liveth,
"

we

"

shall

not

die but
Spirit."
"

And

this too

The Worker

of this

spake He of the our abiding life is

our Life. 1

the Lord, the

Life-Giver,"

the Giver to us in
is
?

inward reality of the Son

shall

who

And

we

not bless His

Name

Closely in the same connexion I read here of blessed articulate experiences and realizations
of this union and
into communion."
life.
I
I

read of

"

union turned

listen to the

Son of God

speaking not only to John and to Peter, but to me, that Paschal evening and I hear Him
;

say,
I

"I

will

not leave you orphans

"

johnxiv.is, i 9

will

come

to

"

you

The world
"

seeth

no more, but ye see Me you again, and your hearts shall

Me

"I

will see
.
2I>

re-

John xvi

22j

"

joice

"I

will

him We will My come unto him, and make Our abode with him."
"

;"

manifest Myself to Father will love him, and

read these promises, coming direct from the lips of our Lord and Life, and I remember
I

along with

them

those

other
glorified

words
life

which
through

He

spoke out of His

1

See above,

p. 39.

134

VENI CREATOR.
same John
17.
"

this

"

To him
eat
in

that

overcometh
the

Rev. H.

I
"

will
I

give to

of

hidden
will
Me."

manna
Rev.ni.

will

come
him,
for

to him,

and

20.

sup
bless

with

and he with

And we
tion of

Him
Holy

even the

least realiza

what they mean.

is

And we remember
who who
brings

that

it

the

Spirit
us,

about
us
to

these

realizations
in

in

gives
is

know
the

by and overshadowing of Jesus indwelling Christ. And as we possess and enjoy this
any

measure

what

meant

wonderful, this infinitely merciful gift of the known presence of the Son of God, and of the

Him, we thank and adore the per sonal and gracious Holy Spirit that it is thus
Father
in

with the soul.

"

Shall

ever forget the

summer morning,
I

know, "when on the sunny slopes of a Yorkshire moor, on a

in
1886,"

writes one

whom

brief holiday, not long after

that blessed time

of spiritual discovery and strengthening in the knowledge of God, I experienced indeed a joy unspeakable and full of glory in the sight of

our Lord and Life

Walking out alone

be conformed

fell

into prayer, prayer to

in all things

A RECORD OF EXPERIENCE.
to the will of

135

Him who

had redeemed

me and

drawn

me

to Himself.

As

proceeded, while

heart and

mind were kept

in the

deepest peace,

and not the

judgment a heaven was opened around me, and the joy of the Lord flowed in divine effusion over my
being.

slightest enthusiastic disturbance of was to be suspected, it was yet as if

glory and beauty of my Saviour s Person, the indescribable reality of His presence
in

The

both

me and

sufficiency
liness

around me, the absolute allof His grace and power, the love

and

attraction of

His

perfect will

all

me with a brightness of which sunshine seemed but a type and a the August shadow. The Lord is my portion, said the
shone upon
inmost
spirit

in that holy hour.

In a sense,

the glory passed away, as to special excitation. But in a sense, in a yet deeper sense, it abode,
diffused

among
its

proving

experiences of life, and sober certainty of waking bliss

the

by its power amidst these experiences, to calm, and purify, and lift above the selfishness of the
old
life."

And
"

"

all

this

worked
by

that one

and
3.

the selfsame
that

Spirit."

It is

Him

johnxvii.

we

know

the only true God, and Jesus

136

VENI CREATOR.

Christ

whom He
is

hath

sent,"

with that

know
eternal

ledge which
Shall

no mere

result of

information
"

and inference mentally

life."

collected.

It is

that thus

we not we know ?
I

bless the

Spirit s

Name

And
john xv.

so
i s.

may go on through the Paschal I Discourse. may take the Lord s

words about the True Vine, and the branches which are in Him, and which abide or remain
in

Him, and by

virtue of their conjunction and

;

abiding bring forth fruit and under this whole paragraph I .may read the presence and work

To of the uniting and life-giving Holy Spirit. deviate for a moment to St Paul, and to a
Gai. v. 22.

passage with which

1

we
s

shall

deal

more
fruit
fruit

fully later,

we

recollect

that the
life
is

sweet
"

of holiness in the disciple

the

of the

Spirit"

He
having

it

is

who
he

so
to

works
Christ"

in

the
i.
;

man

that,

"come

john

an d

"received Him,"

also abides

vi. 37.

m Him
I9
.

as the days

and years go
ancj
tru ly

Deut.xxx.
"

oru
life,"

T]^

man

free iy

chooses

welcomes

and

cherishes

his

See

ch, x,

THE LIFE AND WORK OF PRAYER.

137

Lord s precious indwelling presence and power but that he freely does so is of the gift of the Because of Him, present and Holy Ghost.
;

inworking, the love" of his

friendship,

man
Lord,
in

"abides

in the

Jo hnxiv. 27;

and

in

His

xv

"
>

IS

and
to

His peace, and responds

joy.
johnxvi.
33 .

with

full

joy

His

And
the

again,

how much we have here about

life

work and
shall

of prayer

"

Whatsoever
j ohn
xiv>

ye
I

ask in
"If

My
will

name
do
it

that will

I3) I4

do;"

ye
I

shall

ask anything
"

Xv

l6; xvi

24

in

My

name,

"

shall receive, that

your joy

may

Ask, and ye be full I

"
"

have ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain

whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you." In those last words we have surely an indica
;

that

deep, vital connexion between true prayer and true fruit-bearing such that the two things are as it were convertible terms.
tion

of

the

It

is

as

if

He

said,

"I

have ordained you

spiritual

to

produce

real

and

lasting
I

effects for

Me
be,

in other words,
in

have ordained you

petitioners

to

Me, prevailing

with

My

138

VENT CREATOR.

Father that you may be bearers of such fruit." The things asked of the Father in Christ s
"

-name

are that the disciple may be a vessel meet for the Master s use, a branch pregnant with holy fruit and there is therefore a deep
;

"

and living correspondence between the bearing and the asking. Now here again is the opera
tion of the Spirit,
zech.
xii. 10.

"the

Spirit of grace

and

of
is

supplications."

The

meant
duty,

no

mere

devout

prayer here performance of

due utterance of an expression of reverence and dependence; it is "prayer in

the
jude 20
.

the

Holy

Ghost,"

Pom.viii.26,27.

tercession for

us
is

who ...

"maketh

in-

(the will of]

God
with

It

according to the prayer of a

therefore
filled

heart

filled

Him, and

with the humble but intense desire that His

may be done, and implement may be used

will

in particular

that

His

for

of

life,
"

word, and work in

of the
1

His glory. Results answer to such prayer

are
"

fruit that

remaineth."

And

indeed

it

is

fruit
I

Spirit."

write

close to the tenth anniversary of the

June, 1889.

THE LATE MISS

F. R.

HA VERGAL.

139

blessed death of that truly sanctified servant of God, the late Miss Frances Havergal. Her

and work has just now been much in my mind, with its rich lesson and holy example.
life

Speaking not
I

for

myself only but assuredly for a

multitude of other readers,

I may truly say that her words of witness for our Lord never read

without a sense of peculiar spiritual weight, in fluence, and holy persuasion, coming from those

words
her
sonal

to

my

heart.

In a very

marked manner
"

fruit

seems
as

to

me

to

"

remain

the per

warmth and emphasis of her testimony

if

the page had a living voice. And for my part I attribute this to the fact that while that devoted Christian was kept by the
"remains,"

Spirit of

God remarkably loyal

to the foundation

and only Gospel of grace she was by the same Spirit led to, and kept in,
truths of the ancient

an attitude of unreserved self-consecration to

the holy Master s

work and

will

which charac

terized her every effort, literary or otherwise,

in

His

service.

By

the Spirit she asked to be

fruitful,
"fruit

and by the

Spirit she bore fruit indeed,

that

remaineth,"

and

shall remain.
"

In

our measure, as

we

too are

vessels of the

140

VENI CREATOR.
let
it

Lord,"

be likewise with

us,

by the same

secret.
Is it not somewhere in this direction that the humble Christian may look for God s fulfilment, in His own way, of that mysterious promise,
johnxiv.
"

12.

Greater

works

than

these

shall

Very possibly these words bear in meaning not so much on the work of the individual Christian as personal on that of the Christian as a member of the He Body and Bride of Christ as if to say, shall have .a real, living, full share in that
?

he do
their

"

ultimate

"

wonderful work of ingathering and upbuilding Acts which I his Master did but begin,
1.

1.

leaving
see
coi.
i.

it
24.

to

My

Bride to do
I

more

in

that

kind than

had

done."

But such

a view of the passage can only be true if it leaves clear the fact that wonderful possibilities
of fruitful service are open, in the life of the Spirit, to the individual disciple who by the
Spirit really lives

and walks as a servant and

class of passages in this

implement of Christ. Another johnxiv. 26;

xvi. 13
;

divine

Discourse

bears

explicitly

upon

the

teaching work of the Holy

Spirit

THE TEACHING
Here,
I

"

UNCTION."

141

reverently own, we have a plain primary reference to the special

willingly

and

knowledge and

authoritative,

infallible

teach

But I do not ing of the inspired Apostles. think the words can be wholly limited to
them.
20,

An
the

instructive

parallel

is

John

ii.

27,
all

where an inspired Apostle

"

is

address

ing

little

children"

of his flock, and

"

unction," reminding them of their heavenly and of its mysterious power to give super natural knowledge. And I gather from that

passage that not apostolic

natural
tion,

the

true

disciple

is

infallibility,

but

more

promised, than

instinct,

in

the

use of divine revela

essential

to

discern
truth
in

between
the

error

and
;

essential

things

of salvation

divinely given feeling, if I may put it so, for the sound word and against the illusory, coun and that this is terfeiting substitute for it
;

the

gift,

the presence, the light, of the

Holy
Like

Spirit in the soul

regenerated by Him.

many other great promises it needs to be read side by side with complementary and cautionary truths but it is there, it is a reality, it is
;

never to be forgotten,

it

is

to

be welcomed

42

VENI CREATOR.

and used.
In closing of the
the

And
I

the

Holy Worker

is

to

be

blessed and thanked.

High

point to those precious words Priestly Prayer which speak of

"keeping"

and the

"sanctifying"

of the

disciples
John
xvii.
,

by the Father, who has given them

eternal
life

in

the

Father, keep in those whom Thou hast given Me, that they I are may be one, as pray not that

Son Hol y Thine own name

"

We

"

"

Thou
"

shouldest take

them out of the world,

in

but that
evil
"

Thou
truth."

shouldest keep them from the

Sanctify
is

them

Thy
is

truth

Thy

word
that

Need we
Spirit s
is

elaborately explain
to

here

the

work
not

be seen,

though fact was

in

His
this

name

the

life

prayer of and history of the Church of the

named ? How in the Son answered

was by the effusion of the Spirit, by whom, in a sense and mode so large and full that it was more than com
children

of

God

It

pensation for the seen presence of the Son, the true members and the true body were
"

governed and sanctified

of the Gospel.

"

in the

new, wonder

ful life

By Him

they possessed,

THE SPIRIT S KEEPING POWER.

and possess, the Father and the Son. Him, the Spirit of faith, they were, and
"kept
"

143

By
are,
5.

through
in

faith
Him,"

unto

salvation."
"

iPet.i.

Praying
in

they

keep themselves
the
jude 20
,

the

love

of

God."

Of

2 i.

Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, comes

all

keeping power,

all

sanctifying, separating,

consecrating grace.
fold

Let us adore the three

specially let us not for

Work

and now

get, in

our love and praise, the Third

and

immediate blessed Worker.

So we leave the Upper Chamber. Or rather so we close our enquiry into what was said
there by the Lord Jesus about the life which is to be lived by us in the Spirit, only that we may now and always there continually
"

dwell."

Amidst the
there

stress

and fulness of
of
trial

life

and duty, amidst the

temptation,
internal
at the table
1

realities

and
in

may we

dwell

indeed,
"

recollection
with"

and experience,

sitting
johnxii.
2.

our beloved Lord,

need not point out in detail how large and rich, in the light we have here considered, should be our fruition ot our life in Christ by the Spirit when we assemble at the Lord s Table, the Table of the Paschal Chamber, at the Lord s most
1

of the truths

144

VENI CREATOR.

leaning upon His sacred breast, and listening to His voice as He teaches us how to live
of union, abiding, prayer, fruitfulness, spiritual insight, all under divine safe-keeping, which is laid up for those who by the
that
life
2

cor. v.

7.

Spirit are indeed

"in

Christ, a

new

creation."

Not that I limit for a moment the phrase in loving command. Faith and love can turn our the text to Eucharistic occasion?.
social table into
"

God s board

"

in

they can create a sanctuary in

all

a true sense ; for certainly the places and events of life.

CHAPTER

VIII.
St John
the

HP HE
has

revelation,

through
of

of

the

Holy Spirit some time occupied us. We go once more to the same great Apostle, before

Person and
for

Work

now

turning, as

we

shall

then do, to the

"

beloved

brother

Paul."

In St John s Gospel there remain two pas sages in which the Holy Ghost is explicitly

mentioned

by the

Lord

Jesus,

and whose

messages to the believer, and to the believing In the Church, are of the weightiest import. we have some few further precious First Epistle
contributions of truth on the Spirit s work.

In

the Revelation finally

presented,
in

we have Him

repeatedly

work

for

His heavenly glory and in His men. Let us make this a chapter of

fragments, taking up these successive passages each for brief remark and meditation,
10

146

VENI CREATOR.
John
vii.
"

(i.)

37-39.

Here stands the Saviour

great day of Tabernacle Feast of

before us
the
feast,"

in the last day, that

the joyous Autumn, following with significant closeness on The occasion must the Day of Atonement.

have been a scene impressive indeed in its After the priest had returned from externals.
"

Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the
altar; after the
*

Hallel

had been sung

to the

sound of the
worshipping

flute,

the people responding and

.as

the priests three times drew the

-just

threefold blasts from their silver trumpets

when
to
its

the interest of the people had been raised

amidst the mass

highest pitch, of

[it

was then] that from worshippers, who were

cxviii.

waving towards the

branches as the
last

altar quite a forest of leafy

words of Psalm

were

chanted

a voice was raised, which resounded

through the Temple. ... It was Jesus, who stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let Then by faith him come unto Me, and drink.
in

should each one truly become like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being
rivers

Him

of living water flow.

The

effect

"THIS

SPAKE HE OF THE
.
.

SPIRIT."

147

was instantaneous.
guard dared not
. . .

Even

the

Temple

owned the

spell of His words, and

to lay

spake

like this

Never man was the only account they man,

hands an Him.

could give of their unusual weakness." x It was a voice mighty with the power at once

Above and through of authority and promise. the mighty maze of symbolism it called the soul
of

man

directly,

without one intermediary film

to"

or interval, to

"come

HIM who
it

spoke, to

come with an absolute and

simple
faith

therefore perfectly

to

HIM.

And

promised,

it

guaranteed, with a self-evidencing majesty, that to all and several who should so come the very

The river of amplest blessing should result. life eternal should so flow into them from Jesus
such Scriptures as Isai. xii. 2, 3 (observe the connexion of those of the belly" of "out verses) and Iviii. n, should flow rivers each such believing man
"

Christ as to flow out through "As the Scripture had said,"

them

to others.

of living water." are at once informed by the Evangelist

We
1

Dr A. Edersheim, The Temple and its

Services, p. 244,

148

VENI CREATOR.
"

of the meaning of the glorious imagery

This

spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive." The reference was

Holy Ghost, in His soon-coming develop ment of presence and operation in the believing Church for the Holy Ghost was not yet
to the
"

was not yet glori Not, surely, that no rich and redundant blessing would have resulted then and there
[given], because that Jesus
fied."

to

each believer
that hour
;

who took

the Saviour at His

but that in the great order of -such redundancy was not quite yet ways to be the rule, the open and manifest usage of

word

God

grace. For must we not observe that, although the fullest allowance is to be made for large and bright exceptions, there was just this difference

of rule between the spiritual conditions of the Old Dispensation and the New that while the

Old was a dispensation of conservation the New is a dispensation also, and in wonderful
prominence, of diffusion and impartation through
the

New
a

Israel

and through the

New

Israelite?

degree altogether unprecedented this began to be at Pentecost. The Church, and the saint, were then so filled from above that

To

LIVING CHANNELS OF DIFFUSION.

it

149

was manifestly the purpose of the Lord that not now and then only, and in exceptional cases
the true people of God always should be open channels of blessing to men
only,

but

all

around, conduits of life, by becoming living vehicles for a living witness to the glory and What Abraham, all-gracious power of Christ.

and David, and Josiah, and Ezra, as regards their personal life and its rule, were not alto
gether meant to be, the whole company of believers, each and all, were altogether meant
to

be now

channels of effusion and diffusion

in which they with the Spirit who were manifests and imparts the Lord. Much might be said of course on questions in

for the

parched and weary world,

to live as

men

filled

detail

which gather around

principle.

We

this great truth and turn aside to discuss the might

question of the "miraculous gifts," and whether I think they are they are at all in view here. not, for I think that here, as in the parallel

passage of the Well of Sychar, the johniv. 4 very tone and accent, so to speak, of the words
i
.

of Jesus Christ lead us straight to the needs of the inmost human soul, and to the supply of

150

VENT CREATOR.

those needs.
it

And

those are needs which, be

said with

reverence, would be poorly met

"unknown tongues"

indeed by even
of
l

and

"gifts

healing."

But

will

not

enter on

details of such a question here.

We

any may be

certain that, whatever else lies in these divine

words, this

lies

in

them

the

assurance that

the believer, the believer indeed, drawing the depth and fulness of the divine life from Christ

by the

Spirit,

shall

in.

his wholly subordinate

way, yet in a way most real, be wonderfully used in the conveyance of that life around him. He shall not be an original fountain-

head only One can be that. But he shall be a living watercourse a living secondary cause in others of living faith, and hope, and love, by the Holy Ghost. He shall not merely speak
;
;

truth

about Christ and the Spirit

it

he
;

shall
shall

speak
in

as living

by

it,

as living

it

he

speak by power him he shall touch his brother s conscience, and will, and love, with a contact whose power is not of him while yet it comes through him.
"the
"

Eph.iii. 20.

that worketh

See further below,

p. 212.

HOW
If
I
1

THE BELIEVER

IS

A CHANNEL.

151

may quote my own words

the Lord
is
"

written else

where,

will

use the man, or the

the

woman, who
life s

really drinking

heavenly
for

water from the

Rock, who

is

really filled
life
all

needs with the supplies of

eternal, in

a mysterious way, and yet a

way

the while

Through that personality profoundly natural. shall be pleased to work special the Spirit
blessings, for used. ... It

He

will

have made

it fit

to
2

be so
a. 2 i.

shall

be a vessel unto

Tim.

honour, sanctified and serviceable to the Master

believer in question may perhaps know that he is thus privileged and employed, or he may

The

never know

it

at

all.

But that matters com

matters
that we,

paratively of the all-faithful

little."

What
Lord

the promise even we, shall

is

somehow be channels
come unto Him," and that we live the Son of God.
"

for the lifegiving

opera

tion of the Eternal Spirit,

on condition that we
"

for ourselves,
believing,"

and

drink,"

"

live

by

faith

in

Blessed be

He

for

such a condition.

such a promise, and for Blessed be the Spirit who

Thoughts on the Spiritual

Life, p. 147,

152

VENI CREATOR.
through

wills to flow forth, true to that promise,

the being of even us. John xx. 21-23. (ii.)

We
The

step
stir

here into

very different scene. triumph of the Tabernacle

is

and

festal
It

Day

are hushed.

the glorious calm of the evening of the first Easter, in that large Upper Room, so carefully

barred and bolted, where the disciples with I need not recite at gladness saw the Lord.
length His blessed words, the very first words addressed to them as a company by Him who

now

stood th.ere amongst them in the power Heb. vii. 16. of an endless Enough to re
"

life."

member
peace
to

that they

were words

first

of divine

themselves and

then,

immediately,

words of mission, mission into the world, with a view to the and "retaining" of remitting"
"

sins.

And

this mission

was accompanied by
:

a marked and deeply significant action "He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Re
ceive ye the

Holy

Ghost."

Here again we might turn aside to more than one enquiry by the way for example to the question whether the Risen Lord s action of
;

breathing was the sacrament, so to speak, of an

THE SPIRIT IN JOHN XX.

153

immediate, or of a coming, gift of the Spirit whether He then and there conveyed to them a special afflatus, or significantly assured them
;

But for of the great afflatus so soon to come. our present purpose this enquiry is not necessary. In either case we gather unmistakably from
the words and action

We

see that

some great spiritual facts. the mission was one for which a
power and presence And we see that that gift was

special gift of the Spirit s

was required. to be given in the very closest connexion with the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus slain

and risen again. The symbolic Breath came from His holy lips. As on the Pentecostal
day so now it was whether it was in act or
"

HE who

shed

forth,"

in prospect, the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Comforter Spirit, in His blessed power, One with Christ, glorify

His

ing and imparting Christ. As regards the terms of the mission

at

do not

speak length. by the recorded work of the Apostles and other first preachers of the Gospel, it is surely plain what they do
Illustrated

not mean.

They do
is

not

mean

that the divine

pardon of the soul

so put in charge of any

154

VENI CREATOR.

man, or any body of men, as that for one moment that man, or that body, even if the body were the whole Church, can intercept the
soul s direct appeal to the

Lord and His

;

direct

voice of peace to the soul

substitute for either.
it

or can provide a If this were the place,

would be easy

to

show how the claims of

the

Catholic priesthood (and all really kindred claims) to act as intermediaries in the

Roman

actual

conveyance of divine remission are quite

without ground either in Scripture or in really and how the ap primeval antiquity after it
;

plication of the words of this passage to the work of the Christian presbyter comes up not
till

comparatively late in Church history

the words were
first

and

how even when

so applied

the reference was understood to be to what

we

may

call

the Church

Lord s,

to the ministry of exclusion

pardon rather than the from and

re-admission to the ordinances and fellowship : But it may of the Christian community.

be enough
1

now

to

say

that

Scripture

itself

See The History and Claims of the Cottfcss/onat (Longmans), by the present Bishop (Reichel) of Meath. And the author s
Outlines of Christian Doctrine, p. 226.

THE WHOLE CHURCH ADDRESSED.

155

abundantly witnesses to the Apostles own unconsciousness of the possession of a really

power and position as for instance in the words of St Peter to Simon Magus at And the practically one Actsvm. 22 Samaria.
mediatorial
;
.

alternative interpretation here

is

that the remis

sion and retention are declaratory.

sengers here commissioned are to for the world s need, how sin is forgiven Christ, and how it is not forgiven.

The mes make known,

in

And we
Lord
is

surely gather that this work for the the work not of Apostles only, not of

the sacred Ministry only, distinct and special as its functions are, but of the whole true Church
of Christ.

More persons were present

Apostles.

in

the

Upper Room than the

the two friends from
there,
arrival

Certainly
Lukexxiv.
33 .

Emmaus
had
"

were
found

and
"

those

two

on

their

others
at

with

the Eleven.

And

the

Lord

is

this occasion, as

no pains to draw distinctions on He had been on others. No,

was empowering His whole true Church, there present by representation before Him, to- be His delegate, His representative, in that part of His own mission from .the Father

He

156

VENI CREATOR.
in
is

which consisted
hearts

the
to

unveiling

to

be forgiven, 1 is to enter into peace with God. So here is a passage in which every true child of God, every true member of Christ our Head, may read what is to be the essence of
sin

how

human how man

means no eccle siastical anarchy, I am sure. The Lord is the God of order, not confusion. But see cor. xiv
his

own

life-work for

Him.

It

it

does mean that that

is

no true

order which would debar the humblest Christian

from his
Eph.iv.
12.

part, or
"

her part, in this most blessed work of service," this earnest,

"

holding out of the word the other hand it solemnly, tenderly, reminds all such, as with the voice o Jesus Himself, that the inmost qualification for
phii.ii. 16.

loving,

of

life."

And on

that

work

is

not mere energy of character, or

ease of utterance, or fancied fulness of

ledge,

know
in

or even truth of view.

It

is

the

breathed and inbreathing presence of the Holy If the message is to be not only true Spirit.
1

See Prof. Westcott s annotation on the passage.

And
s

see

some remarks in an admirable book, the late Dr Raima Dnvs after our Lord s Resurrection, pp. 72-85.

Foity

THE SPIRIT AND CHRISTIAN WORK.

157

but truly carried, truthfully handled, presented as the solemn, blissful reality it is, the mes
senger, be he

who he may, must be

spiritual,

must possess, must be possessed by, the Spirit The Holy Ghost must of the Son of God.
have taught him indeed the
of
in
its

realities

of sin, and

The Holy Ghost must work him as in a vessel meet for the and through Master s use. If he bears the commission and orders of the Church of God let him thank his Master for the blessed privilege and advantage; but let him not forget that the Church gave
remission.

him

that gift on the solemn understanding that he believed himself to be already, in a special

sense, dealt with for the purpose

Ghost.

And

let

the lay

by the Holy worker for the Lord

equally remember that his title to be a witnessbearer of the way of salvation is vitally con
nected, as
his

between him and

indeed
God,"

his Saviour, with

"

being

spiritual,
"walking

worshipping by

the Spirit of
Spirit,"

by the
Spirit s

PM. m.

3.

bringing
"

forth
fruit."

the

Gai.v. 22,25.

holy,

humble

So we

come

round

again, in essence, though under quite different imagery, to the truth conveyed by John vii. 38.

158

VENI CREATOR.
i

(iii.)

John

ii.

20,

27;

iii.

24.

very few

words

will suffice

precious First Epistle.

"

on these two passages of the The former has been al

little

1 ready treated incidentally, and saying here in this chapter of

more needs
than

fragments"

to call
"

the reader to observe the imagery of The little anointing used by the Apostle.
"

"

child"

in

Christ

is

reminded by

this that the

gift to

him of the illuminating Spirit, who pours through conscience, mind, and affections the

pure light of the eternal principles and truths of

grace, constitutes

him

in his

new
too

life

"

king

and

"

priest

to his

Father, and, in a humble

but real sense, a

"prophet"

has, under the guidance of the

man who Word of God,

;

more than nature

s insight into truth

and error

The second passage, concerning salvation. with its truly heavenly context, will indeed
reward close and prayerful study as the believing
reader ponders the tender, gracious command believe on the (not commandments) to
"

ment

name

of His Son, and to love one

another;"

the love being the sure outcome of the faith, All that just as far as the faith is true and full.
1

Page

141.

THE SPIRIT IN I JOHN

shall

III.

159

of course, on the explicit What is its reference to the blessed Spirit.

be said here

is,

assertion
that

It is that
"abideth
"

the sure
in
us"

way
to

to ascertain

God
us."

is,

render the

Greek

literally,

From gave must be drawn. And how and where shall we The immediate following context find them ?
;

out of the Spirit which He that blessed Gift our proofs

it is by finding our gives part of the answer souls respond with a full Amen to the Scriptural

revelation of the glory of the Incarnate

Son

and His precious work. Testament suggests the

is

And

the whole

New
;

rest of the

answer

it

by finding our wills respond with a love and loyalty which only God can give to His own
description of
will,
"the

fruit

of the

Spirit,"

"His

even our

sanctification,"
1

His

holy,

hum

bling, chastening will.

(iv.)

few words on the manifested glory and work of the Holy Spirit as seen in the

Book

The book abounds

range from
1

of the Revelation shall close this chapter. in mentions of Him. They

i.

where beyond

,all

reasonable

xxviii.)

See Dr R. S. Candlish, The First Epistle of John (Lecture a book of the highest spiritual value.
;

160

VENI CREATOR.
reverent Bible

question the

student will
in

see

Him, One

but

Sevenfold,

those

Seven

Spirits before the throne who are and between the Father and the

named with Son as the

where

Source of grace and peace

the

to xxii. 17,

Spirit with the Bride, the blessed LifeGiver with and through the Body which He
"

with the true Life, says Come," to the soul of man asking for the living water thirsty which is given in the gift of Himself. I have
fills

touched already, 1 and perhaps sufficiently, on the beautiful phenomenon of Rev. ii., iii., the
identification, or rather union, of the voice of

Christ with the voice of the

Spirit.

It

may

be enough further to
Rev v
6-

call

attention to that one

see

gl r i us

passage where the exalted Redeemer, recent from the wounds

is

having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits The of God, sent forth into all the earth." sublime in its boldness, carries mani imagery,
of the
Cross,

seen

"

festly

with

it

the

relation

some great of the Holy

1

truths

concerning

Spirit to the

Lord

Above,

p. 10.

THE SPIRIT IN REVELATION

V.

161

Jesus and to His presence with His Church below. It reminds us with peculiar and vivid
force of the depth

and closeness of the con

Spirit
"

nexion of

life

and work between the

It

and the Son.

God,"

shows

us,

in the visions of

how

if

may

the Spirit is inherent in the Son, dare to say so, inherent with an

unspeakable union of being, and harmony of and how He is will, and order of working
;

sent forth

by Him,

radiates forth from

Him.

In particular it indicates that the glorified Christ, in all the exercises of His perfect Power (the tl and most real Presence (the seven horns
")

seven

eyes")

"in

all

the earth,

in all

His

dealings with and for His people here below,, has, for the divine Vehicle of that power and

presence, the Holy Ghost in His sevenfold The effluent perfectness of gift and working. presence of the Lamb, if I may use the phrase,
is

made,

is

the

members

conveyed, for us on earth, for all all the earth," by the Holy
"in

Ghost.

It is

He who

in perfectness of
man"

power
16, z 7 .

"strengthens

us in the inner
in

E P h. m.

that
"

Christ
in

perfectness

of presence
faith."

may
is

dwell

our hearts by

It

by

II

62

VENI CREATOR.
that
vi. i 7 .

Him
i

we
is

are

cor.

He

It joined unto the Lord/ who makes the "one body,"

"

by the union oi each believer with the Head, and so with all the members. The force, the presence, the voice, of the Lord
Eph.
iv. 4 .

Christ Jesus
physical,
glorified

all

is

by the

Spirit

not

by
the

or

quasi-physical,
1

contact

with

Body of
His

the Redeemer, but by part

and
"

lot in

Spirit.
is,"

Where

that Spirit

said the
in
is

Dean
Body

of

Llandaff a few years ago

University -pulpit, and only Christ
;

the

Cambridge
of

"there
there."

the

Come,
and
in all

then, blessed Spirit, evermore come, the sevenfold fulness of Thy infinitely

gracious operation bring us the

members

into

an ever deeper union, spiritual, heavenly, holy, with Him who is our Head.

treatise

may refer in passing to Of the Real Presence

"

a passage in
(Sect,
vii., 8),

Bp Jeremy Taylor s
where he examines

the

process of divine benefit in the faithful recipient at the Eucharist The benefit reaching to the body by the holy
:

Eucharist comes to

it

by the soul

therefore

by

faith,

not

by the
ence,

a special argumentative refer but also touch the general subject of the mode of the
mouth."

The words have

mystical Union.

CHAPTER
"I

IX.

T 7E

approach the revelation of the blessed Comforter and His work given to us

In the present chapter we shall attempt a sort of conspectus of the subject, and in the remaining chapters seek to take up

through St Paul.

in

more
It
is

detail

some of the greater and more

and wonderful
field.

commanding
a

truths thus given.

large

The

writings of St John, as we have seen, present us with a mass of treasure for our doctrine of

the great subject of His Per sonality in particular their witness is supreme in importance. But the Epistles of St Paul
the Spirit.
fairly

On

overflow with the glorious theme of the Spirit and His work, and in respect of some of

His great redeeming and sanctifying operations

their witness
is

practically unique.

Is not this

remarkable,

let

me

ask by the way, this fulness

164

VENI CREATOR.

of the doctrine of the Spirit in St Fault are accustomed, and rightly, to regard St Paul as the great commissioned teacher and vindi
cator of that other region of vital truth

We

our
s

Acceptance, our Justification, for the Redeemer

merits,

by

faith in

His blood, by simplest ac

1

ceptance of the divine imputed Righteousness. It is then all the more impressive to find that to this same St Paul we must go for the fullest
scriptural

account
well

of

"

Christ in us
Christ for us

"

"

Spirit

as

as of

"

by the in His
Justified

merits.
Rom.
iii.

If -the precious

"

sentences,

24, 26.

freely
is

demption that
lieveth in

by His grace, through the in Christ Jesus That

" "

re

He

might be just and the

Jesus,"

justifier of him that be-

are deeply and distinctively

"Your

Pauline, so too are those others,

i

cor. vi.

19.

is

the

temple
is

of the

body Ghost Holy

love
of

Rom.v.

5.

which
shed

in

you";

"The

God
1

is

abroad
I

in

our
refer to

hearts
Hooker s

by the
great Dis

On

that side of doctrine

,

may

course of Justification

and

to G. S.

Faber

Primitive Doctrine

of Justification.
pp. 183, etc.

popular statements,
;

venture to add, as giving briefer or more my own Outlines of Christian Doctrine,

Christ, pp. 65, etc.
;

Union with
i

and The Lord our

Righteousness a

tract.

THE SPIRIT IN ST PAUL

"

S WRITINGS.

165

Strengthened with might by Holy Ghost"; 7 that Christ may dwell E P h. m. His Spirit Be ye E P H.V. in your hearts by faith";
.
.

16, i

"

is.

filled

with the
;

Spirit";

"Walk

by

Gai.v. 25

the

Spirit"

"By

the Spirit mortify the deeds

viii. i
.

of the body"; and so on, through Rom. 3 a long chain of utterances living and glowing

with
peace,

the blessedness

of our divine
"

life,

and
i
.

and strength, and

Ghost."

the

Holy

7 joy in In this double phenomenon

Rom.xiv.

this large and writings of St Paul jealous vindication on the one hand of the the obe way of our Acceptance through

of the

"

dience of the
alone,

One"

and yet

this

and through it Rom.v.i 9 even more pervading and

.

continuous assertion of our

Spirit

life
I

on the other hand

lessons.

and walk by the read great and

I

pregnant

For one thing

learn that

what God has so joined together man must not from either side put asunder, in faith, or teach
ing, or
life.

Perfectly distinct in conception, the

two ranges of truth are indissolubly wedded And for together in purpose and in result.
another thing
all-important respects the one of these ranges of truth exists
I

learn that in

some

166

VENI CREATOR.
is

and

revealed for the sake of the other, and

Justifica

not the other for the sake of the one.

tion,

Acceptance, Peace with God, Redemption from the Curse of the Law these things are
revealed (thanks be to God, they are revealed) not for themselves, so to speak, as if they were ends and goals in the way of grace, but for the

sake of our living by the

Spirit,

and walking by

the Spirit, and being the living temples of the Spirit, and thus being conformed to the image
of the

Son of the Father, and entering thus on a

"serving

never-ending course of
Rom.
vii. e.

in the
s

newness
writings,

of the

Spirit."

St

Paul

alike in their

argument and

in their proportions,

keep these things related in our own thought, and faith, and life. We are redeemed from the just sen
to

are inspired reminders to us

how

tence of the broken law

"

in order that

we may
"

receive the promise of the Spirit by faith so it stands explicitly, and most memorably, in
;

one moment, really, are we viewed as simply saved from present and future wrath as if that were an end in
Gal.
iii..

13,

14.

Not

for

the change of our hearts and lives coming That in merely as evidence that we are secure.
itself,

OF ACCEPTANCE
change
is,

AND

HOLINESS.

167

necessary

we may boldly say, the raison d etre of the work

absolutely of ransom

and acceptance. We are accepted that we may be holy that we may live entirely to the Lord PWI. 1.20. "that Christ may be magnified in
; ;

our

body"

in

other words that the blessed

it

Spirit,

now

as

were liberated

to

flow upon

us and to spring up within us, may have His way and will in all we are and all we shall

be for ever.
Is
it

not so

And

shall not

our

faith,

our
?

witness, our teaching, take this apostolic line

Shall

we

not stand

fast, faster

than ever, in the

truth of the Justifying Righteousness received by faith alone, but so as always to enjoy and to

commend

ing received also by faith alone ? Happy the soul which, standing on the rock of the one truth,
drinks the inexhaustible fountain of the other,

the always related and always crown truth of the promise of the Spirit,"
"

day by day, and hour by hour. Happy the Church where that rock and that fountain alike
"do

follow

them,"

in the

work of witness
reality

in in

word and
Christ.

in

life

to

the

of

God

68

VENI CREATOR.
"So

Christ shall be our daily food,

daily drink
\

His precious blocd thus the Spirit s calm excess Shall fill our souls with holiness." 1

Our

And

But

it is

time to come to some more detailed

view of what St Paul was guided to say of the glory and work of the Holy Ghost, and of the

and power in Him. Our view will not profess, however, to be at all exhaustive the reader will find abun
believer s dependence

on

Him

dant gleanings left in the blessed field. The witness of St Paul to the Personality (i.) of the Spirit, though less full than that of the

Lord Jesus in St John, is unmistakable to the submissive reader. Nowhere indeed in St

Paul
e.<r.

(in
viii.

the Greek, though here and there in

Rom.
i

27;
"

Cor.

xii.

our Authorized Version) do we find masculine pronouns, He, Him, His,

Spirit.

used of the

But we

find in St

Paul

1837, p. 32.

Chandler, from St Ambrose Hymns of the Primitive Church, The original Latin runs
:

"

Christusque nobis

sit

cibus,
;

Potusque noster
Locti

sit fides

bibamus sobriam
Spiritus."

Ebrietatem

Ibid., p. 163.

ST PAUL
that the

ON THE PERSONALITY,
be not only
that
"

ETC.

169
"

Spirit can

quenched
r

but
"

^grieved";

the
saints

Spirit

Thess v
iv 3

ip

intercedeth

for

the

with

Eph>

unutterable
"

groanings,"

and

that R 0m

viii. 26, 27;

He who

searcheth

the

hearts"

tScSk.

regards the Spirit, in that intercession, as the Bearer, the Subject, of a "mind," an intention,
a characterizing thought.
Personality.

And we

All this speaks of find the Spirit revealed,

"

through St Paul, as the Lord of the

of the
in

"

temple
iCor.vi.
19.

Christian s

body,
is

and

that

a context which

as

remote as possible
figure.

from associations of mere poetry or

Person, and a divine Person,
is

presented to us

here as dwelling in us.

The unspeakably deep Union of Being and Work between the Spirit and the Son comes The Spirit is out clearly in St Paul. the
(ii.)
"

Spirit of Christ

"

and

in

the im-

Rom.

viii.

9.

mediate context there we see the

Persons so united that what
called
is

Two

Blessed
is

in

one breath
Rom.
viii. 10.

the indwelling of the Spirit called in the next the indwelling Rom.

viii.

u.

of Christ, and this again the indwelling of the

Spirit.
.

70

VENT CREATOR.

(iii.)

When we come
first

to the Pauline revelation

of the Process of the

that from
to last,

Work of Grace we find from the new birth to the

Spirit
is

coming
Gai.
iv. 29.

glory, the

Holy

the immediate

Agent, Life-giving, Life-sustaining.

child

The
after

true

of
-"

God

is

"born

the

oai.v.

2S;S o

S P Irit
It
is

He

""ves

by the
unites
"

Spirit."

the

Spirit

who
;

him

to
is

his

Lord, his vital

in
is

Head

for

he that
the the

joined"
i

the

mystic bridal
Spirit."

"to

Lord
Spirit

cor.

vi. i 7

one

It

is

who

in

His own

way makes

infinitely wise and effectual known to him the reality and

the sweetness of the

eternal things so as he

could not possibly cor. of nature; 9-14.

i
ii.

know them by
for
"it

the powers

is

written,

Eye
have

hath

not

seen,

nor ear heard,

neither

entered into the heart of man, the things which Gocl hath prepared for them that love Him
;

but

God
. .

Spirit.

hath revealed them unto us by His the Spirit have received

.

We

which

the things us (TO, ^aptcr^eWa) of which are freely given to But the natural man receiveth not God.
is

of God, that

we might know

the things of the Spirit of

God

for they are

"EYE

HATH NOT
him,

SEEN."

171

foolishness

unto

neither

can he

know

them, because they are spiritually discerned." And this unveiling has to do, let us observe,
not only with an eternal future but still more with a supernatural present. The main re the present gifts of grace, the riches of Christ," which are present and actual
ference
is

to

"

ours,

now and

here,

in

Him.
"

"The

things

which eye hath not seen are not only, as we read it in one of the loveliest and most pathetic
of
all
1

English poems,
"

the things
tomb."

"beyond

the

clouds and beyond the

things which us of
ficent
God."

They

are the

are, have been, freely given to They are, in St Peter s magni

"

words,
life

all

things

which

p e t.i.

pertain to as a fact,

and

godliness,"

and which now,

us."

"His

They

are

divine power hath given present fulness of divine

ac

ceptance,

and

present

fulness

of

divine

spiritual riches;
"

Our never-failing treasury, filPd With boundless stores of grace."

And

so the

Holy
1

Spirit s

work

is

to

show us

The Better Land.

172

VENT CREATOR.
tJiis

what we at
wonder,

moment possess,
use,

for our present

and joy, and

and our present

glorification of the Giver.

This interior revealing work of the indwelling Teacher, who is Creator too, is set forth in
detail
in

several passages of St Paul.

Thus

hear Him, imparting to us a supernatural insight into our blessed new child
see

we

Him, we

and family of grace, and a supernatural consciousness and Rom.viii. S assurance of it. Ye have re
hood,
sonship, in the
life
"

new
.

ceived
cry,

the

Spirit

of
"

adoption,
"

whereby
hath

we

Abba,

Father

God
"

sent the

Gai. iv. 6.

Spirit of

His Son
"

into your hearts,

crying

Abba,

Father

The

Spirit

itself

Rom.viii. 16,17.

beareth witness with our

spirit that
if

we
then

are the children of God, and

heirs."

children

In

leave the details

some way of His own (let us of the holy secret to Him) He

takes

and teaches the believing sinner, and shows him the strong, sweet, heavenly certainties

of the

as true for him, so as not the most exact nor the most profound exegesis

Word

of

God

without

Him

could

show them.

Under His
it

mysterious touch of truth and love

becomes

"THE

LOVE OF GOD POURED

OUT."

173

strangely and gladly clear that the promises and welcomes of grace mean what they say that
;
"

he that cometh

"

"is

in

no wise cast
out"

John

vi. 37.

out,"

and that

this

"not

cast

means a most

glorious and wonderful "welcomed in;" a union, a filiation, an incorporation into the blessed

family of God, in the divine Firstborn Brother, which implies beyond a doubt for the believing

sinner

the adoptive privileges of sonship, and the full admission of the heavenborn child
all

to the responsive intimacies of divine love.

of the Spirit s work, though under less definite imagery, comes out in Rom.
v. 5
"

The same view

:

The
is

love of
"

God

hath been poured

out"

(so literally)

in

which
plained

given unto

our hearts by the Holy Ghost This has been ex

us."

by some

to

mean

that

He

has

now

imparted to us, in rich effusion, a divine power or faculty of loving ; has caused us to love with
a love which
differ
is

the love of God.

cannot but
it

from such an exposition.

With what

probably means at its heart, so to speak, I am Fully assured I am that, entirely at accord.
while

we can only stitutional human

love

God

with the same con

faculty or moral organ, with

174

VEN1 CREATCR.
still

which we love man,

with the blessed

our union by the Spirit

Head of regenerate manhood has put such a new condition into that organ, and connected it so with His .love who is our Life, that we may speak of our regenerate souls
as loving with
pwi.
i.

His love
as

"in

the heart

ofJesus
it.

s.

Christ"

St

Paul

expresses
faith

With inmost

assent of

mind and

would
s

echo those words of Miss Frances Havergal

"

Thy

love.

Thy

joy,

Thy

peace,

Continuously impart

Unto my
But

heart,

Fresh springs that never cease

still increase."
1

Only
always

would
that this

remembering most blessed connexion and

invades
2

use

them

as

infusion

never

our

personality,

nor

annuls our responsibility.

1

But the context of

Hymns of Consecration and Faith, No. 264. On this subject, our derivation of the whole
life

secret of the

from our Head by the Spirit, see Marshall, Gospel Mystery of Sanctijication. See particularly Direction iii., near the beginning One great mystery is that the holy frame and disposition whereby our souls are furnished and enabled for immediate practice of the law must be obtained by receiving it out of Christ s fulness, as a thing already prepared and brought
"

new

"THE

LOVE OF GOD POURED

OUT."

175

Rom. v. goes clearly, as it seems to me, against our explaining the love of God" here of our
"

love to

He

Him. It is His love which Rom.v.s. commendeth toward us, in that, while we
"

were yet

sinners, Christ died for

us"

a love alto

gether His, not in origin only but in expression and direction, while yet the manifestation of it
to

and

in the heart of the justified believer

"

has

everything to do with his waking up to love that heart." the Lord His God with
<k

all"

And

it

is

this manifestation
;

which the blessed

Dwelling
in

Spirit effects

so

we

read here.

the has regenerated, He the regenerate consciousness that the apprehen sion of mercy, the acceptance of acquittal, comes

man He

so deals with

to

be transfigured into an intuition into an

an existence for us

to

in Christ,

and treasured up

in

Him

and

are justified by a righteousness wrought out in Christ and imputed to us, so we are sanctified by such a holy frame and qualifications as are first wrought out and completed in Christ
that as

we

and then imparted to us ... so that we are not at all to work together with Christ in making or producing that holy frame in us, but only to take it to ourselves, and use it in our holy practice, as made ready to our hands." The whole context, and indeed the whole book, are the best vindication of this statement, which, in Marshall s sense of it, means to recommend anything
for us,
;

rather than a

life

of spiritual indolence.

176

VENI CREATOR.
love"

"everlasting

as tender as

it

is

almighty.
that

The man
"

finds,

he knows not how, outpoured

"

in his heart (iKKt^yrai), that

rest of

bliss,"

sweet, pleasant,

which

rises direct

and unspeakable comfort," from the certainty not that he

is

loves but that he

"

thus wonderfully loved.

everlasting love,

Loved with

Led by
Spirit,

grace that love to

know
so
"

breathing from above,

hast taught

Thou

me

it is

We

have here then a work of the

Spirit of
shall see

Love, supremely characteristic.

We

the presentation of it in yet more developed, vivid, and as it were concrete forms when we

come
E P h.
HI.

in
i

later

7.

later

chapter to study St Paul s the written words about

faith.

dwelling of Christ in the heart by

And
re

we
Rom.

find

it,

as

we have
Spirit

already

noticed,

appearing
viii. 16.

in this
"the

same Roman
itself

Epistle,

where

beareth

witness

with

our Spirit that we are the children of Observe the phraseology there. The God."
1

Art. XVII.

See the whole noble hymn (by the

of Consecration

late

Rev.

Wade

Robinson),

in

Hymns

and

Faith, No. 260.

"

THE MIND OF THE

SPIRIT."

177

Spirit appears as witnessing not to,

but with,

our

a statement of the precious facts spirit which gives us a view of them not so clearly
;

given
"our

in ch. v. 5
spirit"

for here, in

viii.

16,

we have
"

brought

in as a concurrent witness.
"

On
"

the

Holy

Spirit s part the

"

witness

is,

Doubtless thou art His child

"

on our

spirit s

part the
Father,"

"witness"

is,

Doubtless

Thou art my
lines of

seen, welcomed, chosen, loved as such

by even me. witness meet

certainty.

And
in

the two

distinct

one strong, happy, humble

The man
is

seen,

thus dealt with by the Holy One in St Paul, as the subject of His

presence and power in many a sacred detail. In his human spirit he has so received the
Spirit that
is,

he

is

said,

wonderful as the phrase

(^poz^/xa) of the
Spirit,"

to

have
moral

"the

mind

His

characteristics.
"

Our

version
is

of
life

Rom.
and

viii. 6,

To

be spiritually-minded

It fails peace," inadequate while true. to give, as the literal version does, the truth of the unspeakable connexion in the life of
is

grace between the Spirit and the spiritual man the glorious mystery of the Vital Union as it
12

178

VENT CREATOR.
the Spirit s

regards

indwelling
"

presence and

power.

Spirit is the believer,

The mind of the Reading literally, life and peace" (see ver. 27), we see
mortal,
"

sinful,

the

ceaselessly

needy recipient of mercy from first to last," yet so wonderfully visited and inhabited by his
Regenerator, his Sanctifier, that along the lines of his own real will, understanding, and affec tions, there runs the power of the personal
Presence, yea, of the personal Character, of The more the man the Lord the Life-Giver.

humbly, and
i

in

watchfulness and prayer, but

"

with entire willingness and simplicity, yields Rom. vi. 3 himself unto God" thus present, the more shall he, intact in personality, have
.

carried
"mind."

out

in

him

the
will

workings
the result

of

that

And what

be?

No

sensationalism, no

fanaticism.

quest and
2

captivity will
"

be one

great con side of the

cor. x 5 .
.

captivity

result; every thought brought into unto the obedience of Christ."

holy
R 0m
.

prayerfulness,
26;
vi. 18,
.

deep

and

viii.

be another side
walk

yearning, will of the result.

see Eph.

andjudeao.

loving, joyful, peaceful, trustworthy,

in

meek,

self-controlled

human

life

and

RESULTS OF POSSESSION" OF HIS

intercourse, will

"MIND."

179

be another.

tendency to
Gai.

wards

all

such union with other

as
is

chil-

2e , 23

dren of
life

obstructed by the Cor xii 1 and spirit of self, will be another, iv.*^ Phil.
T
i.

God

27,

joy and delight

in adoration,

and

"-

1-

generally in being at the will and service of the adored Lord, will be another. Phii.m. 3
.

deepening consciousness of the truth and conquering power of the Word of God, as the sword in the spiritual combat, will P h. vi. J7
.

be another.
perience of a
sacrifice
will

growing gladness
in
all

in the

ex
real

meek and lowly but most

things to
;

and surrender

God,
his
"

be another

as the believer

realizes

union,

by the Spirit, with means of the Eternal Spirit

without
spot
to
God."

Him who
offered

by Himself
ix. i 4 .

quiet

Heb.

readiness, as
fact,

one aspect of the same blessed

"

to

be

led
;

will

be another
out
into

by the Spirit," Rom. vm. 4 and that leading will always

i
.

be out of the way and

ot

will

of self into that

God
self

of the

ambitions and interests

a daily aim and inmost choice of and longing that Christ may be PWI.
"

i.

*>.

magnified in

my

body,"

that

may

"

shew

i8o

VENI CREATOR.

forth the praises of

1

Him who
be,
"

hath called

me
all

Pet.

ii.

9.

out of darkness into His marvellous

that
I

light,
2

may

for

the

help

of

Tim.

ii.

21.

Master
hand.

around me, a vessel meet for the an implement ready to His use,"
another
side

And
"the

of

the

result

of

having

larger insight faith, a life of unreserved reliance on the pro

mind of the Spirit" will be a into what is meant by a life of

of Gocl, a reliance ever
simplicity

mises and
childlike in
ture,

will
its

more

and ever more

ma

For the
heart
is

and strong, and prevailing in its faith by which Christ dwells

but the effect in
i 7.

results.

in the
will of

my

soul

and

Eph.iii.x6,
2

the blessed Spirit s

"strengthening."

cor.

iv. i 3 .

He
faith,

is

"the

Spirit
"

of

faith."
faith,"

And
by the

on the other hand

simplest
Gai.
iii. i 4 .

it

is

by
as

that

we

"receive

the

promise

of

the

Spirit,"

regards

His

developed inworking and empowering.

And
life

take that aspect of the regenerate which has specially to do with victory
if
"

we

and triumph against the

the
flesh,"

devil, the world,

and

how

ever-present enemy, are the assurances given us in the great

the threefold

THE FLESH AND THE

writings

SPIRIT.

181

of

St

Paul,
.the

as

regards
Spirit
!

and working of
readers
are
especially
"

Holy
with

the power All Bible so

familiar

the

antitheses,
flesh"

Pauline,

between
all

"the

and

the

Spirit."

But not

are familiar with the

fact,

which surely comes out under any careful

"

enquiry, that by the Spirit, in such connexions, the Apostle habitually means not a better
self"

or

"

nobler
the

man,

but

of even regenerate indwelling Paraclete Himself.

powers"
"sows

So
the

that

the
"

man who

to

Gai.vi.8.

Spirit

means the man who

all life s

casts

the

seed so to speak of
that divine soil
;

experiences upon
it

in other

words, commits

to

the

Holy Ghost within him

to deal victoriously

with temptation and

in

to put

forth

as

the re

sult the fruit of holiness.

And
in

the

man who

the realities of our

is

life

the body, that

body which
"

practically our
all

one immediate

vehicle of contact in

things with the world

Z3 .

around,
(Trpafeis)
"

mortifies the machinations Rom. vm.

of the

body,"

does

it,

if

he does

it

by the Spirit." He brings to bear the whole range of motion and solicita upon tion to evil, incident to him as a dweller in
indeed,

82

VENI CREATOR.
tabernacle/ the glorious fact that "he joined unto the Lord, oire Spirit
"body

"this

is
"

cor. vi.

i7, i9.

that

temple of the Holy Ghost, which he hath of God, and that he is

is

His

the

not
"

his

own/
of

He

recalls

Gal.

v.

16,

17:

Walk by
lust

the

the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the flesh for the flesh lusteth
;

(l-mOvfjiei) against against the flesh one to the other

the Spirit, and the Spirit and these are contrary the
;

so that

ye cannot do the

Is not that passage things that ye would." too often read as if ver. 17 had nothing to tell us but (what it assuredly does tell us) that

the

"

infection of nature doth remain,

yea, in
to the

them
last
?

that

are
;

regenerated,"
is

and that

True

it

a truth of constant merciful

humiliation and caution.

But what

is

the main

purpose of the Apostle in this passage? Is it not emphatically to press the bright side of the
antithesis, the side of peace,
liberty,
text, is

and

victory,

and

and power ? Its message, in the con It is altogether one of encouragement.

ijohn
i.,

written, like the treasures of truth in

1

Article IX.

Manet etiam

in renatis

JICEC

natures depravatio,

tic.

GAL.
"

v.

16,

17,

A MESSAGE OF HOPE.
not
sin."

183

in

order that

we may
is

St Paul
i

is

intent

on showing the believer how,

"the

John

\\. r.

although
with
it

always present, carrying the ingredients, so to speak, of always

flesh"

the experience analysed in detail in Rom. vii. 7-24, there yet is something else always present
also,

and present

in force.
us."

It
is

"

is

the

Holy

Ghost given unto

It

the living and

personal Comforter, dwelling in our body, and the life of aCor.jv. ioxx. making present in us
"

Jesus."
"

flesh

the Spirit lusting against the a force, a tendency, a personal Power,

It
"

is

on the side of our deliverance and

gloriously competent
nist,

victory,

to

overcome

its

antago
it,
"

and

to
it

make

us, the subjects of

it,

as

we

yield to
to

and welcome

mercifully
in the
life

unable
of the

do the things we flesh, in the life of

would"

self.

So
the

"

there
"

is
;

liberty

where the
liberty,

Spirit
2 cor.

of
i 7.

Lord
and

is

a blessed but

m.

meek
too.
sins,"

lowly,
find

strong

and

thankful
"

We
and

emancipation from wonderful precaution aPet.

an

old

1.9.

and prophylactic against new ones, secret of an indwelling strength, or

in

the

rather

184

VENI CREATOR.

Strengthener, who is not ourselves yet is as near to us as ourselves. He is at the same

time our always enlightening Convincer, as He unfolds to us the divine Holiness and our ex
"

ceeding

need."

But

also,

shall find

in

Him,
our
"

as

blessed be God, we we welcome Him, our

internal Liberator,

present always, not

victory and triumph
"

some
in

times only

way which forebodes no exhaustion by its own efforts, for it is the Almighty One working in us. We come very quickly, in the interior But conflict, to the edge of our own strength.
to rest

upon the presence of

"

"the

Spirit lusting

against the flesh

is

to repose

upon a Power

And which has no edge, and no bottom. conscious weakness is that which reposes most simply and most effectually upon it.
Let

me

close this brief general view with the

call
is

remark that no
and
that

louder to the Church,

to the Christian, of the present

we

hasten to discover

(if

we

still

day than have that

to do),
"great

and then always watchfully

strength"

to use, our

in

the

Spirit
sin,"

of

deliverance from

"serving
"calm

that

God for so we may

and may

be

filled

with

His

excess,"

THE LIFE TO WHICH WE ARE CALLED.

overflow for
blessing
in

185

the

world

around.
not be

The

call,

for

one and

for another,

may
;

of any extraordinary apparent sacrifice, to a or external exhaustion or hardship though

life

who may

say that

it

shall not

be so

But

most assuredly, for all who would be on the Lord s side in these days of ours, it is a call
to a

of just such coming out and being the world externally (while yet separate" from we are ready every hour lovingly to serve that
"

life

world for our Lord) as arises from a true separa tion from the life of self and of sinning inter
nally.

How

shall

it

be

How
we
It

shall

we indeed
?

be

sanctified, sinners that

are,

in order to

this witness

and service of word and work

is
"

There
the

only one way. name of the Lord

is
God."

in

icor.vi.n.

Jesus,

and

by THE

SPIRIT of our

CHAPTER
A
lies

X.

^*- St Paul of the Holy

GENERAL view of the revelation through

Spirit

and His work

in the

now

before us.

We
to a

proceed

chap

ters

which remain

more

detailed study of
in

some leading Pauline passages, Spirit s blessed operation and its

"

which the

results stand

out manifested with peculiar glory. May our meditation of HinV by His great
PS. dv. 34
.

grace,
in

"be

sweet."

May
sense

thought
His,

and word be

some

true

and

may
I

the whole result be for

Him.

take up in the present chapter the great passage about the FRUIT of the Spirit, generated

and produced in the spiritual man." The Gai. v. 22, 23 words thus specially before us are part of a context, and indeed of an Epistle, full
"

to overflow

of the

truth of the
in

Holy Ghost.
last

What

we

observed

the

chapter

MESSAGE OF THE GALATIAN

EPISTLE.

187

regarding the doctrine of St Paul in general is seen in the Galatian Epistle, and in this
section of

eminently. Epistle is an urgent protest against a false doctrine of Justification. It states with
it,

The

strong and jealous firmness and precision the truth of the finished work of the atoning Cross, and the absolute necessity and simplicity of the
function of faith,
faith

only,

in

order to the

sinner s entrance into the merits of the Crucified,

acceptance in Him who bought us out from the curse, being made a curse Gai. m. 3 for It protests that a Gospel which leaves
into
"

us."

this out,

which has not

this for its

message,

is

not a Gospel but a fatal perversion of the Gospel. But does the Epistle stand still there ? Is Jus
tification its

whole message

No

it

conveys

a warning, a testimony, an affir mation, about the work and power of the Holy Ghost. The all-importance, for St Paul, of the
quite as
truth of Justification resides
that for the justified,
after
all

much

in

this,

and

for

them

only, lies

open the

life,

and walk, and

is

victory,

and

fruit-

bearing, which

As

by the Holy Ghost alone. guilty sinners they take refuge by faith in

88

VENI CREATOR.
"

Jesus Christ

made a

curse for

them

"

and

become possessed of all that is laid up in that same Saviour risen and glori and who now by the same Spirit who led fied, them to Him dwells in them. So in this Epistle of Justification, as it draws
to its

then, and so, they

wonderful

close,
"

of the
Gai.v.

Holy Ghost.
"

we have more and more Walk by the Spirit, and

16.

flesh

ye shall not fulfil the lust of the let us observe the definiteness and

decision of that promise,

my

Christian brother
it.

and
"

reader,

and
this

humbly

claim

Again,
"

The
the

flesh lusteth

(we dwelt on
in
last
flesh."

Spirit, and against divine side of the matter

the

"

chapter)
"

the Spirit

against
"

the

Gai. v.

7 , is.

ye be led by the Spirit, Again, not in ye are not under the law
If
;

collision with

it,

as

it is

the royal proclamation

of your Father s

will.

inspection as solely

Do you challenge His and only JUDGE ? Ah, that

involve

would

to the
1

last

condemnation.
1

a sternly judicial But do you lovingly, and with

"

Good Observe the well-weighed words of Article XII. works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, endure the severity of God s JUDGMENT." cannot
:
.

THE SPIRIT IN THE GALATIAN EPISTLE.

i8q

the heart of the child born again of the Spirit, look up to Him as FATHER, and, giving your
self to

be led along the way of His

"

will

by
.

His

Spirit,

say,
"

Oh how
love
indeed,
to

I"

(not

Ps.cxix. 97

challenge,

but)

Thy
as

law,"

Thy

will

revealed
personal
"

Then
relation
"

that

law,

regards your you are not

"

under

it

it

is

judicial

sword.
it

over you as the Not only has your blessed

not
"

you as you have violated it, and as you fall short of it you also now, in a sense most humble, led by the Spirit, meet
for
;

Redeemer met

it

with

the sincerity
"

of a

loyal

will,

loving
v
.

the

Lawgiver
a few

from

the
later,
"If

soul."

so

Again, the significant

Spirit,"

verses
precept,

comes
the
the

if

indeed

we live by we have by His power

"

new

birth

and

life,

step (o-rot^oj/xei/)

us also take step by Let us con by the Spirit"

let

sciously, with recollection,

and in
our
as

detail,

apply
in

our
the

life-power,

yield

to

Life-Giver,
to

daily

path.

Not only

the

large

scope of existence but in the minutest things of this hour, in the small but strong temp
tations

of ordinary

intercourse,

in

the

facile

190

VENI CREATOR.

commonplace occasions for loss of temper, loss of humility, loss of purity, failure to love, to serve, to remember that we are not our own,
"

let

us
I

"

Can
its

take step by step by the Holy Ghost. too earnestly press that precept, with all

speciality of phrase in the Greek,

upon

my

reader,
Gai. vi.i.

upon myself on we have

?

Again, a
"the

little

further

Spirit

of meek

ness;"

us

the blessed Paraclete ready to guide one of the specially "step by step" through

rough and crooked places of common Christian And a little lower again, in a passage life.
Gai. vi.
s.

which we touched upon

1

in the last

chapter,
"sow

we
the

find

the

Christian
to
cast,

entreated
faith,

to

to

Spirit,"

by

upon

the presence and power of the Holy Ghost within him, as upon a divine soil, the seed

given by each trying incident of life. The issue of such sowing shall be "life everlast

developments of the life of God within him now, and eternal developments from each
"

ing

such sowing hereafter, to His glory. But I must not pursue too far, though
1

it is all

Page

181.

"FRUIT"

AND

"

WORKS."

191

to the purpose, the context of our special pas

sage, nor the general teaching of this Epistle

on

the relations between acceptance come life by the Holy Ghost.

in Christ

and
once

We

now

at

to a

view of the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

first

Here
trast

observe the light thrown by con

"

on the word

fruit."

Just be-

Gai. v. 19-21.

fore

of
is

we have had recounted to The difference the

flesh."
1

us

"

the works

of the phrases

In the one the noun in question is plural, in the other singular. weary course of discords and internal collisions, a life in pieces
significant.

and out of

joint, is thus contrasted

is

with a

life

whose growth

one harmonious development

germinating
result

from one rich central principle,

and fructifying into a

2

peace.
spiritual

Here
man.

is

As

already a far as the

purity and lesson for the

of

Holy

Spirit

is

in

possession of him, as far as he is being led by the Spirit, and is yielding himself to the will
1

See some excellent remarks on

p. 142.
"

this point in the Rev.

"

Hugh

Macmillan s True Vine,

2

the meaning above given.

do not mean that the word works can of itself suggest This would be obviously untenable. and in antithesis to it, But its position here, close to
I
"

fruit,"

suggests that meaning.

92

VENI CREATOR.
(^pomrjfjLa)
life

and mind
Rom.
viii. e.

of the Spirit, so far is his set free from the internal wear
"

and restlessness of

the works of the

flesh,"

and drawn together into a peace and unity which is possible only where what is made
for

God

rests in

Him

and

lives for
this
"

Him.
not

But
"

this singular

number,

Fruit,"

fruits,"

of the passage before

us,

has more
It

to say, besides this lesson of contrast.

re

minds the Christian, as he reads over the blessed

list

heavenly Fruit, that they are essentially parts of one thing, and not
in

of elements

the

isolated things, in the

Lord

s idea of

the ser

vant

They are not separable characters, but a character. They are not put before the
s life.

man who

"

"

lives

by the

Spirit

in

order that he

may pick and choose, and prefer to develop some one or two of them, perhaps those which
he
feels instinctively

have most

affinity

with his

natural

dispositions.

They

are in the divine

;

intention always inter-related, indivisible whole character of the Christian.

Matt. v. 3-12.

the

We

may

compare the Beatitudes, which as suredly describe not various persons but one person, the true disciple of Jesus Christ seen

FRUITFULNESS
from

AND

"ALL

DILIGENCE."

193

many

points of view.

And we may com

2

pare also that remarkable passage,

5-7,

Peter

i.

where, under widely different phraseology, obtained the believer, the man who has
"

precious
diligence

faith,"
"

is

entreated

to

"

give

all

to seek for a holy completeness

and

harmony
the
life

the manifestation through him of of God which is in him.

in

That passage, by the way, may caution us

against a disproportionate inference from the in this. The the fruit precious imagery of
"

"

ideas suggested

by

fruit

and fruitbearing are

not those of effort and care in the fruitbearing branch effort and care are the cultivator s part.
;

But St Peter

reminds us that the analogy

between the impersonal fruit-tree and the per sonal believer cannot be in all respects complete.
In the conscious and responsible man, as such, all there must always be place for diligence."
"

Such

"

"

diligence

does

not

create

life,

or

generate it, nor does it in a direct way de But diligence is the velop the issues of life.
believer s

duty
;

in

connexion
if

with
in

that
spirit

de

velopment
in

it

means,

done

and

truth,

the

believer s

"laying

iPet.u.i.

13

94

VENI CREATOR.
in

aside,"

the

Lord

name,

every

known

thing that hinders the outgrowth and fulness of the fruit.

But when

this

is

said,

by way of balance and

clearness, then without reserve

we

can throw

our thankful attention upon the blessed sug

fruit." gestions and significance of the word What does it tell us ? It tells us, the branches
"

of the true Vine, that in us, yet not of us, there is a mighty fructifying PRINCIPLE. It tells us
that the holy characteristics, the holy character,

here painted before us must not be worked up by weary efforts out of the materials of self,

somewhat re-adjusted and

weakness,
if

assisting

one another

The happy, they could do so. pure phenomenon has a nobly adequate vital it is not manu It grows CAUSE behind it.
;

factured.

It

is

roundings, but is the result of a secret of LIFE

not acquired from our sur It produced amidst them.

;

Life, that
;

most wonderful of
the
force

forces,

while most silent

which

in

the natural world can, in

the tender shoots of the young tree, lift the massive stone, and rend the joints of rocklike

masonry

and

which

in

the

spiritual

WHERE DOES OUR GREAT STRENGTH" LIE?

"

195

world

can

make

the

weak

strong,

and

do

silent miracles
sibilities

with what once seemed impos in character within and circumstances

without.

Let the anxious, the discouraged, Christian

ponder
his

this

word

"

fruit,"

recollecting this
it

its

special significance.
"great

Let
lies.

remind him where

It lies

strength"

in

nothing

that

is

his, all

All that is properly and personally his. such that is not sin, is capable indeed of
"

wonderful use by his

Gifts, great strength." talents, faculties of mind, or body, or estate, be

they very large

all

or very, very

small,

all

are

But none, absolutely precious, That lies wholly in none, is his true strength. a divinely given secret, principle, force, which
are usable.
is

in

not for a
ness.

him but not of him, and whose power is moment to be measured by his weak
"From it
is

his fruit

found."

seeHos.

xiv.s.

Let him be
that

at

rest

about the

adequacy of
"

Cause

to produce the effect of holiness.

in
"

all humble faith lay aside and then in the same known hindrance humble faith, watching and praying, but not

Let

him

struggling

to

force

out the

mighty

Life,

let

96

VENI CREATOR.
vi. i 3
.

Rom

him

yield himself unto

God"

for

a divinely natural fruitfulness.

For

this fruit is
is

"

the fruit of

THE

SPIRIT."

Here
for

the all-important and all-welcome fact

in

us,

our present enquiry.

This

vital

secret, force, principle, of which we have spoken what is it ? No abstract truth, no ideal of

duty,
"

no awe-inspiring but
It is

never

life-giving

I ought"

the

Holy Ghost, the Personal

and Loving Paraclete. It is the Lord, the Life-Giver, whose tender and mighty working has drawn -me to Christ, and knit me into Him,

and imparted Him to me blessed be His Name. Because of Him, by virtue of Him,
;

thanks to Him, through

working,
i

Him

in-dwelling, in-

filling,

cor.

vi.

in

begins to be,
its

welcomed in to have His way His temple, the fruit of holiness to grow, to come forth, to take

gracious shape, to ripen into its sweetness for the service of God and Man. And so

our way,
in

our indirect way,

is

to
It

contribute
is

to

the blessed result

clear.

to

remove

His name the

obstacles,

but then to re

member
the

with thankful
life-giving

work of

and peaceful joy that and fruit-producing is

CHRIST OUR LIFE,

His
is

BY THE

SPIRIT.

197

alone.

From

this point

of view,
l
;

my
a

part
rest,

a blessed and wakeful Quietism that He may work.

Need
secret

at

any length remind

my

reader that

this view of the operation of the Spirit as the

of the fruit

inviolate

the
"

of holiness leaves wholly Christ is primary truth that

"

our Life
2

enquiry
of that
is

saw early in our coi. m. how clear and full is the certainty
?
4.
;

We

truth

that while the

Spirit

of
is

God
the

the

Life-Giver

the

Son of God

But then, the Spirit is By Him, in His infinitely gracious personal have the ijohnv. operation, you and I
Life.

the Life-GiVER.

"

12.

Son."

And His own

Son
is
is,

divine vital

connexion
savingly, there He

with the

such that where

He is,
is

there Christ
is.

and where Christ

of
is

If

elsewhere

may quote words The Spirit

"

my own
the

written

eternal

and
is

divine personal Vehicle our Life, is the Thing

Jesus Christ,

who
.

conveyed.

To

In the history of theological language tions with dangerous error.

so.
2

use the word Quietism to express one side of truth, and only it has some associa
etc.

Pp. 39,

198

VENI CREATOR.
an

imperfect analogy from physical science, Christ is as the Sun of the soul, the
Spirit
is

borrow

as the luminiferous

Ether by whose
*
heat."

vibration

we have the Sun s light and And now we come to St Paul s delineation

of this pure and sweet Fruit of the Spirit. Let us take it up for a few very practical enquiries

and remarks.

The
sidered,
in its
is

first

point for observation, an obvious

less

one, but

none the
is

to

be definitely con

that the Fruit of the Spirit consists

essence not of doing but of being.

in

There

nothing

this

description which directly

speaks of energetic enterprise, multiplied labours, severe sufferings, great material sacrifices. The
activities of life are in fact

almost absent from

the immediate view, and the passive, the patient, aspect of the spiritual man s contact with life

and men

is

alone very visibly present.

What do we read in this ? That the spiritual man is called, as his highest calling, to cut
himself off from active, willing, practical service of others? That the celestial fruit will grow,
Outlines of Christian Doctrine, p. Thoughts on the Spiritual Life, pp. 60,
1

136.

may

refer also to

61.

LIFE IS FOR
and
ripen,

WORK; WORK

IS

NOT

LIFE.

199

and be ready
in

for the festival of

life

God,

most favourably

"

of

contemplation,"

in a desert, or a cloister, or a jealously isolated

study ? The whole New Testament negatives such a thought. In it, the ideal Christian life
is

the

life

in

which the Lord

is

glorified

and

manifested amidst the manifold relative duties

and labours of the

life

of home, of citizenship,

of public ministry, of active evangelization. It is a life in which the cross is the daily carried,
cross not of our wilful

but of

the

Lord

and ambitious choosing humbling and searching

If the
life

allotment in the daily path.

of a

monastery were contemplated in the New Tes tament at all, as it is not, surely it would be
presented there as a "counsel" not "of per fection but of imperfection a lower path of surrender and of service, while the higher path
"

was

that of the mother, the child, the servant,

in the

who
of

midst of

common

"

life

did the will

E P h.
V i.e.

God

from the

soul."

But then, the impartial Gospel does not say that work is therefore life. It points to the
eternal necessity of right
right doing.
It

being

in

order to

bids the Christian live to serve,

200

VENI CREATOR.

but live behind his service in and with his Lord

and
i

Life.
xiii. 3 .

It

asks,

ultimately,

not

whether

you give your goods your body to the fire, but whether you

cor.

to the poor, or
love.

So

"

the Fruit of the

Spirit"

is

a divinely

given and developed CHARACTER, drawn out of the fulness of Christ a character which
;

must
coi.
iii.

express 3 essence
.

itself
"

in
is

service,

but

whose
in

hid

with

Christ

God."

This

is

the

"fruit"

which, according
"

own words, we Jesus shall surely bear if by the Spirit we abide xv. 4-8. in Him." John Of this fruit, says the
to

the

Lord

Christ s

same Teacher, we are

the glory of His
not,
in in in

to

bear

"

much,"

to

Father.

His providence,
enterprise,
in

may or may have much to do for

in

We

Him
mony,
will

effort,

public

testi

memorable
us,

suffering.

Perhaps His
wholly
"

for

as

we submit
"

ourselves

to

humbly ready to toil and not His name, may be to do the most
it,

faint

in

silent of

domestic duties, or to bear the most exhaust ing weakness or pain in a neglected sick-room.

But these questions touch the accidents of the

matter, not the essence.

The

"

"

fruit

is

the

THE
character

"FRUIT"

ANALYSED.

201

by the Holy Spirit from The much fruit Jesus Christ our Head. is that character not stunted and dwarfed by

drawn

for us

"

"

the frosts of unbelief, but expanding in sweet and strong development in the sunny open air

of the simplest
the

faith.

And now we
description,

will

look at the particulars of at the elements which this

inspired

analysis

shows us

in

the texture

of

this fruit of

Paradise grown on earth. Those elements are nine Love, joy, peace,
"

longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness,

meekness,

self-control.

"

And we may

with

out over-refinement trace a threefold grouping in the nine. Love, joy, peace," if I read
"

their
in
its

its

reference aright, describe the character immediate relation to the Lord, who is
"

love," spring of law of internal living

its
"

cause of
"

"joy,"

its

peace."

Longsuffer
it

ing,

gentleness,

goodness,"

describe

in

its

men, evermore from the

Presence"

relations

with

as

the

Christian

comes

"secret

of the
life,

PS. xxxi. 2 o.

to live his

"hidden"

unharmed

Ey/fpdreta.

202

VENT CREATOR.
it,

and bearing blessing with and the plotting of men

"

amidst
of

"

the

"

strife

tongues."

"

Faithfulness,

meekness,

self-control,"

denote

the

Christian s
trials

characteristics

not

so

much

of opposition or provocation as in the common calls and duties of the day.

under the

And

so the

"fruit"

and ripeness.
filled
"

appears in its fair roundness So the man, born of the Spirit,

led of the Spirit, taking step

Spirit,
"

by step by the

filling

with this same blessed Spirit (a of which we shall say more in the
lives,

next chapter), with and for

sonality,

God and man.

his
is
"

moves, and has his being, He is one per

regenerate and one, from the
Spirit"love"

and so

developed character self-control to the

"

from his inmost inter

course with his Lord to his act of most watch

ful
life.

and

practical self-discipline in

open human

What
is

he

is

as indeed a Christian, in toto,

that

the Spirit s Fruit.

close, let us

As we

observe some main truths

about our Christian character, conveyed to us in this view of the Fruit of the Spirit.
First,
it is

a character essentially of love and

THE
light.
it

NEW LIFE

A LIFE OF BRIGHTNESS.

203

There are other qualifying facts about There is in the true Christian assuredly.

a gravity, an earnestness, a recollectedness, the lack of which would put the man out of
character.
in the

This we have set before us here

"

word

temperance,"

self-control.

But and

the

material,

the

essence,

of

the

life

character
"

thus

love, joy,

governed and controlled is Let the disciple remem peace."

nothing hinders
is

ber

this,

and see that

of
it.

the

manifestation

He

man

in

whom
it
.

dwells that Spirit whose special function to "pour out the love of God in the Rom. v
heart."

is

5.

That
as
"

Spirit
oil

Head
that

the

was shed upon the exalted of gladness" and Heb.i. 9

.

as such

He

flows

down upon
him
"joy

the

member
Romxiv>17

of
.

Head

to give

in the

Holy

Ghost."

And He
;

is

the

Dove

His "mind" is Rom.vm. e. of divine peace as well as "life;" He is "the Spirit "peace"
of
faith,"

and

"peace"

as

well as

sCor.iv.

i 3.

"joy"

comes by

"believing."

His

Rom. xv

J3 .

unhindered in-working must come out then in life which the known love of God makes
loving towards the Lord, and, in the

loving

204

VENI CREATOR.

Lord, towards

men

joyful, with a calm but

contagious and beneficent blessed certainty of Christ

fulness
;

happiness,

in
in

its

glorious fulness which cannot but diffuse itself around,

as the Spirit
Rom.
v.i.

and peaceful,

possessed with a rest-

His

shows our
with

spirit that
God,"

"

we have
that

peace
of
God"

and

the

"peace

can indeed

"keep

our hearts

and thoughts, in Christ Jesus." Let us remember, let us yield ourselves up, that
phn.
iv. 7 .

we may
man,

manifest this essential threefold bright ness of the life and character of the spiritual

Ghost, giving us possession the heavenly Antidote to coldness, to "unpleasantness," to reserve of sympathies
of Christ,
is

The Holy

and

service,

to

melancholy,

to

beclouding

"worry."

Self-control

may have
;

to carve

lines

in

heart and

life

but the chisel

deep need

never deface the brightness of the material.

in

Again, the character of the spiritual man is, the relations of man with man, a character
is

which
bear,

essentially ready to give way, to for

to

bear.

No

elaborate

qualification
I

is

needed here of
well

this statement.

remember
Spirit

what energy

for service the

Holy

THE

NEW LIFE

A LIFE OF YIELDING.

205

can and does impart to the weakest, and what immovable firmness for truth, for principle, He

can and does developc in the most sensitive and But deep below such manifestations, timid.

where they are indeed His work, there lies in the order of grace the presence, by His in
dwelling, of a tender and willing surrender to others, because first to the Lord, of every mere

claim and jealousy of self. the fulness of the Spirit s

In proportion to

in-working Jesus Christ really occupies the throne usurped before

self.

occupation of the throne by its true King the man will whatever else he be, more than anything else

by

And

in proportion to that

has to be in the direction of activity and firm ness long-suffering, gentle, good."
"

Lastly, the truly spiritual

its

character

will,

in

God-given development, issue always in a practical and wakeful life. Bright with a secret

a deep and long-suffering with genuine surrender, the spiritual man will be
happiness,
[

"faithful",

in

every particular of duty.

He
rela

not

"

That the word TTLCTTIS in this passage means faith is dear by its collocation with words
"

"faithfulness"

in
10.

which

tive duties are plainly in view.

See,

e.g.,

Titus

ii.

206

VENI CREATOR.
be loyal to every promise made or trust He will be to be depended on in

will

undertaken.

His correspondents the business of the day. will receive punctual answers his friends, faith
;

ful

and

careful counsel.

a service out of him in

will

His employers will get which their just interests

equitable, considerate,

be as

his

own.

His servants and dependants

will find

him watchfully

and courteous.
Rom.
"

He

will

take

great

care

to

xiH.

s.

owe no man
will

anything."

His church

and parish

be truly served, be they ever

so large, or small, or unresponsive. be known to be one who will take

for others,

He

will

trouble

and who

is

glad to

be their servant
"

indeed for Jesus sake. He will be meek" in the sense of a jealous avoidance of a manner

and habit of
in

self-assertion

among

his brethren

And with matters of opinion or of work. and over it all he will be self-controlled." He
"

will, for

the glory of his Master, and that he

may be truly serviceable among his fellows for Him, watch and pray over his own acts and
habits
;

over bed, and board, and

literature,

and

companionship, and recreation, and imagination, and tongue. Not that he will try to exercise

GAL.

v. 22,

23,

A SPIRITUAL TOUCHSTONE.
;

207

the Stoic s fancied empire of self over self but he will humbly, recollectedly, with decision,

bring the whole of his life, hour by hour, to his glorious Master for orders and for discipline.

He

will

"

keep under

his body,

and

iCor.

ix. 27 .

bring it into subjection," by a steadily main Rom. x n. tained surrender of it as living

"a

i.

sacrifice,"

in all its faculties, to

"

Him

of

whom
i3.

it

is

written,

the body

is

for the
body."

iCor.vi.

Lord, and the Lord for the

spiritual

For the
the deep

man, a true self-surrender

is

secret of a true self-control.

So we shut
will

the

Epistle,

and close
Spirit.
life

our

enquiry into the Fruit of the

But we

do so only

to turn again to
is

with a fuller

recollection

of what

the character

we

are

intended to bear as spiritual men, and what is the divine provision, present and perfect,
for the

being of that character in us and

its

manifestation by us. will take this

We

amongst other
spiritual health.

Scripture to be to us, a touchstone of our things,

pious and devoted

Not long ago I heard of a woman who used it habitually

208

VENI CREATOR.
this purpose.
If in

any degree conscious of a decline or obscuration in her life and

for

work

Lord, she took Gal. v. 22, 23, and read the words over as in His presence,
for her

and asked herself before

of the

Him

in

what particular
led

Fruit

of the Spirit any recent failure

was apparent.
at

Such asking and finding

once to a repentant renewal of surrender and of faith, and so back to the rest, and to
the readiness, which are for us, by the

Holy

Ghost,

in

Jesus Christ our Life.

CHAPTER XL
"\"\

7E

engaged upon the revelation through St Paul of the Holy Spirit and
are
still

present chapter we take up a group of Pauline words and phrases on the subject, rich in materials for enquiry and

His work.

In

the

for faith.

And,
SPIRIT.

first,

and mainly, the FULNESS OF THE

precise

The
it is

phrase

is

not Pauline

But equiva not verbally Biblical. in many parts lent expressions are abundant,
indeed
In the Mosaic age we find the of Scripture. sacred artificer Bezaleel filled with Exod. xxx 3
"

i.

the

Spirit

of

God

"

for

the

work of con
s.

structing and adorning the Tabernacle, whose true Designer was none other than Heb. i*.

the

In the Gospel age the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus Himself is seen going up from

Baptism

to

"

Temptation

full

of the

14

210

YENI CREATOR.
Ghost."

Holy
Luke
i.

His Forerunner was

"filled

15,67, 4 i.

mother

with the Holy Ghost, even from his womb." And both the father and
special

mother of the second Elijah were on

occasions
"

filled

with the Holy

Ghost."

At

Pentecost the gathered company, apparently hundred and twenty" of Acts i. 15, the
"

Actsii. 4

were
Peter

"

all

filled

with
"

the
"

Ghost."

was

specially

filled

Holy when

he met the Jewish Council

Acts
iv. s, 3 i.

for the first time,

witnessing

to

his

Lord
all

and

so,

immediately afterwards, were

the brethren.

So was Paul at when he sentenced Elymas

Acts
ix. i 7 .

his

baptism,
the

and

to blindness.
at

So

Acts

xiii. 9 , 32.

were the
in

disciples
trial

Pisidian

Antioch
Actsvi. 3
"

their

hour of

and
of

joy.

The
Holy
in

seven
of

"Deacons"

were chosen as
the
the

men
Actsvii.

honest

report,

full

Ghost and
55.

wisdom."

And

Stephen,
"being

act of confession,

full

of the

Holy Ghost, saw heaven

Acts X i.
24.

opened."

Barnabas
of the

is

described as a
faith."

man

"full

Holy Ghost and of Such are the main

by way
of illustration

Scriptural parallels which

may be gathered around

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF

"THE

FULNESS."

211

the great Pauline passage on the Fulness of "Be not drunk with the Spirit, Eph. v. 18
:

wine, wherein
Spirit"

is

excess, but be ye Jilted in the

Let us approach the text through the avenue of the parallels, and ask what they have to tell
us on this great and precious fact and non of the New Life.
In the
first

phenome

place we gather very plainly that the Filling is not identical in idea, whether or no it coincides in time, with the initial work
"

"

The Filling of the Spirit as the Life-Giver. always seen as taking place where there
already present the sion of that Birth

is is

New
is

Birth; and the posses thus the occasion for a

holy desire and longing to possess in some sense the Filling.

Again we gather that there are upon the whole two main aspects or phases of the
Fulness of the
cal,

Spirit.

There

is

a special,
it

criti

phase, in which at a great crisis

comes

out in

marked,
to

and
utter

perhaps wholly abnor

mal, manifestation, as or

when

it

enables the

man

woman

supernatural

prediction

212

VENI CREATOR.
what we
it

And there is also or proclamation. call the habitual phase, where may
to

is

used

describe the condition of this or that be

life

liever s

day by day and in its normal course. Thus the Seven were not so much specially
"

"

filled

as

known

to

be

"full;"

and so was

Barnabas.
entered,
it

Into this holy habitual fulness Paul On the appears, at his baptism.

other hand the same Paul experienced from time to time the other and abnormal sort of
filling
;

and

it

thus results that the

full

same man

might in one respect be needed to be filled.

while in another he

There

is

a close connexion from one point of

view between the Fulness of the Spirit and what we commonly mean by miraculous powers

and works, particularly the miraculous work

of infallibly
"inspired"

speaking.

The imme

diate result at Pentecost

Acts.ii.4.

was an instantaneous
other

"speaking

with

the

Spirit

gave them

tongues, as utterance." St Peter,

St Paul, St Stephen, all spoke supernatural words of testimony, or authority, or vision,

when

thus

"

filled

with
in

the
the

Spirit."

The
of

Lord Jesus Himself

Fulness

the

"THE

FULNESS

AND

"GIFTS."

213

Spirit sustained six

weeks of
that

fasting

and met
infer
is

the

Tempter under
think
reference
if it

mysterious

conditions.

And some may

a
similar

we

should

wherever the Fulness

spoken of; as

implied a miracle-working
Pisidian Christians,

power
"

for

instance in the

or in the Ephesians who are here enjoined to be filled in the Spirit."

But

it

seems

clear that this inference

is

by

no means necessary.
statement
lies

the proof of this in the general testimony of the

And

Word

of God, which

now

in successive chapters

we have been

collecting, to the character of the

highest ranges of the

Holy One
to

work.

Those

highest ranges have

lous,

do with not the miracu

sense of that word, but

in

our
;

common

the transfiguration of the will, of the heart, of the soul, by the immediate action
the moral
of the

Lord the

Spirit.

And

there

would

be surely an anomaly, a disproportion,

in a real

appropriation of the glorious phraseology of His FULNESS to the abnormal and (from a true
view-point) not noblest and most perfect kind As we study the description of His operation.
of the Fruit of the Spirit, and (what will be

214

VENI CREATOR.

before us in our closing chapter) the Indwelling of Christ in the heart by the Spirit, we are surely right in being certain that, whatever the

it

Fulness has to do with tongues and prophecies, has its very highest concern with the believer s

spiritual
life

knowledge of His glorious Lord in the of faith, and with the true manifestation of
life in

that

filled

the loveliness of a holy walk. To be with the Spirit is a phrase intensely con nected with the fulness of our consecration to

the will and

I

w ork
r

of

God

in

human
if
I

life.

would not be mistaken, as

off-hand
to

meant

to

the apostolic age alone relegate all manifestations of the presence and power of God through His people in the way of sign

and

do gather, both from the of the Church and from that pregnant history Scripture, i Cor. xiii. 8, that on the whole the
wonder.
I

commonly called miraculous power were intended for the

or at least
in

displays
first

of that

days only,

a degree

altogether peculiar.

That period had

characteristic conditions

and

needs which can never quite recur, even where the Gospel is a new thing among the heathen
of our time.

For the Gospel was then every-

OUGHT WE TO

"CLAIM

MIRACLE-GIFTS?"

215

where and absolutely new, with no history as yet behind it, no results of long years to
give
it

their credentials.

do not
that

think, with

some earnest Christians, Church is "responsible"

miraculous manifestation,
while
faith

the

Christian

for the

abeyance of
faith

by a lack of
time
claim
I

might

at

any

the

the wonder-working power. other hand that subtle dangers and strong temptations lie concealed where the Christian,
believe

on

or the community,

eager for the gift of such miraculous faculties rather than for an everis

deepening abasement of self before the Holy One and an ever closer and more chastened

walk with Him.

But meanwhile

it

is

no part

of such convictions to deny a priori the pos our sibility of signs and wonders in any age,

own
it

or another,
to

since

the

apostolic.

Only

seems

me
as

to

be certain not merely that

is

itpon

the whole such operation

it

not the will

is

of

God now

was of

old,

but that this

so because more and more His people are to be led in His plan of teaching to rest in that
"

more

"

excellent
first

way

which already

in

that

wonderful

age the Apostle preferred to

216

VENI CREATOR.
xii. 3 i.

cor.

even
us

"

the best gifts

"

of the other

kind.

But
to the

let

now
:

take up the Apostle

word
;

Ephesians

Be ye filled with

the Spirit

TrXrjpovoOe iv IlvevfJian.

be seen, as we look into the context, and as we recall what has now been said
It will

on the two phases of manifestation of the Fulness, that we have here a precept not for
a crisis but for the whole habit of the Chris
life. Not the least reference wonder occurs in the context. and hymns, and spiritual songs,"

tian s

to
"

works
the

of

Psalms,
are

manifestation

once

in view,

of the Fulness specially and at and the blessed habit of thank

to

fulness,
self in

and the habitual readiness

the
interests

forget
all

of others,
life

and then

the lovely

details of the

of a

sanctified

home.

And we must

observe that the pre

is

the present or It enjoins a course, a habit, continuing tense. It lays it upon effort or venture. not a critical
in
I commend to the reader s attention the late Dean Goode s Modern Claims to the Possession of the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit, stated and examined (ib^.
1

ceptive verb (7T\r}povo-0)

7HE

FULNESS"

IN EPH.

V.

18.

217

the believer so to use the open spiritual secrets of his life in the Lord as to enter upon and

walk
be,
for

in

a state of divine Fulness which shall

all

above
the

things, useful

and

rich in blessing

needs

of the
else
it

daily

path,

and

shall

result,

whatever

results in, in a

temper

of continual modesty and unselfish serviceableness towards all around him. must observe

We

further
its

the

exact
"

wording of the phrase

filled
if

in

last

words
It
"

Be ye
as

in the Spirit, eV

HvevfjiaTi"

is

the Apostle had written

at large,

Be
are

filled
;

whom you
you
with
;

with that Holy Spirit in you are in the Spirit, if so

be that the Spirit of

see

God
that

dwell in

Rom.viii. 9 .

now
that

to

it

are in such relations

by His grace you of faith and submission

is

Him

He who

within

you

shall

be no longer, if hitherto, a well-head hidden beneath the ddbris of disobedience and un

belief,

but

springing,

rising,
till

unhindered

in

His blessed overflow,

inner

all regions

of the
river

man
;

live
till

indeed
parts

where that
of

cometh
outward
Spirit

all

your

Ezek.

xi. 9

walk

and
and

work are

of God,

by the a holy abundance goes

ruled

2i8

VEN1 CREATOR.
forth through
others."

johnvii. 3 8,39.

you

to the blessing of

the souls of

Such,

believe

Fulness of the
in this divine

a simple account of the Spirit as it is presented here

is

word of appeal, exhortation, and

implied promise.
Rom.vi.
i3.
"

The

Apostle

in effect

calls

upon the believer to "yield himself unto God the Holy Ghost as to a Power and Presence already dwelling in living real
but waiting, as it were, for the welcome of the soul to come forth from
ity

within

him,

within and take entire possession of the whole circle and range of life. It is no invitation
to

a
a

spasmodic
call to let

It is

tempestuous enthusiasm. the water from the mountainrise in

or

springs of
poses,
will,

God
his

the man, in
in

his

pur

in

affections,

his

works,
its

in his

calmly and

surely

towards

blessed

level.

Let us not forget the holy reality under its sacred imagery. This appeal of the Spirit by St Paul is sent straight to the innermost heart
of

my
?

reader,

and of myself.
as that
life is

What
to

does

it

mean
day

in

our

life,

be lived

this

By grace we

believe in the

Son of God

A PERSONAL APPEAL.
revealed.
us,

219

Therefore most surely the Spirit is in for without His inworking we should never
"

have

called Jesus

Lord."

But are
"

iCor.xu.

3.

springs a power fully welcomed of thought and will Are we watching and praying over there ?
"

we filled, nay are we filling, with IsH is blessed power upon our

the Spirit
first

the matter, and

light, that

humbly
in

resolved, looking

up

for

nothing

we know

of in
in

act,

or habit,

in

occupation,

recreation,

thought and
rise of

word about
means, calm
is

our neighbour, in use of time or

such as to obstruct the

His

excess"

have

through all we are and all we St Paul calls us to this humble and
;

holy watching and resolve and assuredly the whole Word of God promises a blissful result,
to the glory not of ourselves but of our Lord,

upon our so doing in His name. So let us do then, in the name of Jesus

Christ.

And precept implies a promise. the promise is unto not great or exceptional who yields Christians, but to the Christian
As
I

said, this

himself to
for the

God.

At Ephesus,

it

was meant
;

everyday Christian believer

husband,

wife, parent, child, master, slave.

They were

220

VENI CREATOR.
meant
;

all

to

live lives divinely

full,

full

from

within
"

Not roughened by those cataracts and breaks Which humour interposed so often makes
"

and which are made indeed by anything and everything in which the soul at all rebels against

Holy Ghost but equal, equable, under the welcomed power of the Lord. And what this precept meant at Ephesus it means in England, it means to the man who writes these words in
the
;

his study at

Cambridge, and to his brother in Christ who reads them wherever God has bid
dwell.
"

him

Are our

lives

"

full

with the fulness of mul

tiplied duties, of heavy calls upon every hour ? Let us calm them and illuminate them with this

other Fulness in

divine simplicity. Let the Spirit, the Life-Giver, the Revealer of Christ, the Imparter of Christ to us, have His way,
its

and
of

rise

and

fill

the man.

Then

the

life

full

toil will

be a
be

life full

also of internal peace.

It

will

in place

here to

remark on the

phrase

the

BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT.

That

THE BAPTISM OF THE

SPIRIT.

221

phrase is not precisely Pauline. only an approach to it in the words,

Spirit

We
u
i

have

by one
.

we were
But

all its

baptized

into

c or

xii. i 3 .

one

body."

connexion with the sub

ject of the Fulness of the Spirit, as seen in the Ephesian Epistle, is close and important. It occurs in each of the Gospels Matt.m. H.
Mark
i.

8.

and twice
i

in
i

the Acts.
T
i

It

will

be
Acts
i.

seen that the

Lord Jesus appears

5,

xi. 16.

And it will be there always as the Baptizer. seen also that while the mentions of the holy
Filling

are

of

the

frequent the Baptism are two

recorded occasions
only
;

the

Day
/\cts xi.

of

Pentecost,

and

the

closely

parallel

occasion
c oee

when

in the

house of Cornelius St

Peter, the Apostle of Pentecost, was

permitted solemnly and for ever to open the door of faith to the Gentiles." Nowhere in
"

the Epistles does the precise phrase Baptism of the Spirit Are we not thus led to occur.
"
"

the conclusion that the Baptism is not to be identified with the Filling, and is not, like the

presented to us as a blessing for which the Christian is to seek ?

Filling,
I

am aware

that the question

is

not without

222

VENI CREATOR.
special
difficulties.

its

The

analogy

of the

Sacrament of Baptism would

in itself lead us to

connect the Baptism of the Spirit rather with the beginning of the new life than with a great development of it but we can hardly do this
;

without reserve, in view of the fact that the Apostles themselves were not till the Day of

Pentecost subjects of this Baptism. Still, both the Pentecost and the Visit to Cornelius were
not only historical events but great representa which was as it were a

tive occasions, each of

birth-time of the true

Church by the power of

the

Spirit.

And

each

may

thus be held

to

and signify on a great scale the true birth-process and birth-time, by the same
typify

power, in the case of the individual soul. Any wise it is remarkable and significant that the

developed teaching of the Epistles contains no appeal to the man already in Christ to seek
the Baptism of the Spirit. and to be full of Him, as

We

are to be

filled,

those

who have

already received

Him

"

from the height that

knows no

measure."

In view of these facts of Scripture may I say, with tenderness and deep spiritual sympathy,

ZS

THE

"BAPTISM"

TO BE WAITED FOR?

223

that a mistake appears to underlie the practice,

not

uncommon now among

"

earnest Christians,
"

of waiting for a special Baptism of the Spirit in order to more effectual service for the Lord
Surely,
into
"by

one

one

body,"

Spirit we have been baptized And now our part iCor.xii.

i3.

is to open in humblest faith all the avenues and regions of the soul and of the life, that we may be filled with what we already have. 1

And how
the answer
ceive
faith"

shall this
"

be done
of the
faith,

St Paul gives
re- Gai.m.
i 4.

That we might
through
"

the

promise

Spirit

throitgh

Yes,

the

mouth of
PS. ixxxi.
10.

the inner man,

opened"
"

that
"

He
it.

who has promised may

brief,

fill

In

this

Ephesian saints, loving appeal the Apostle does but ask them to open and
1

to

the

may

refer to
;

an admirable

little

tract in verse

by an anony

mous Writer
"to

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

London."

The

tract is

be had of the Secretary of the Mildmay Letter Mission,

66,

Mildmay Park,
:

A short

quotation shows what

its

drift is

"Thine is

the throne-room of the soul

Its Ruler,

break each barrier down

As with

full tide

o erflood the whole,

Self overborne

by Thee alone

Spirit of truth, of holiness,

We cry not

enter,

but possess.

"

224

VENI CREATOR.
;

receive

to take their stand

upon a promise.
but in order to
"received."

Not by mighty
it

spiritual effort

is

that

"promise"

to
at

be

We

are to take the

Lord

Him

to bless us fully in

His word, to trust His keeping His word.

all

We

are to open to

Him

the inner doors of

the soul, the chamber doors, as the main portal. key, "the key of

we have opened
same
is,

And we

are to use the

promise,"

which

from the

other point of view, the key of our simplest and

most confiding
Believing, be the will
received, in

faith.

we

receive.

And

blessed

then
Gift

manifestations

of the

holy

We
Rom.

shall
xv.
i3.

one special direction and another. know something of what it is to be

"

filled

with

all

joy and
in

peace
hope,
shall

in

believing,

that

we may abound
Ghost."

by
be

the power of the

phii.
i.

ii.

Holy on our way to be

"

We

"filled

with the with

the
shall

fruit
coi.
i.

of
9
.

"

righteousness knowledge of His

;

filled
will."

We

be realizing something indeed, by the power of Him who is the Bond betwixt us and our

Head, of that Filling which

(but possession
is

\ve already possess not realization) in Him in

THE SEALING, EARNEST, AND F1RSTFRUITS.

225

whom
be

"all

the Fulness
shall

dwells."

Yes,

we
.

shall
zg with

filled,

we

be

filling,
"

in

our
Co?

finite receptivity,

with that

Fulness
E P h. m.
i9.

of

God

"

which means whatsoever

in

being glory
grace
to the
in us.
will

Him

is

capable of becoming

Here

be a blessed and continuous answer

prayer of our Communion Service, that wonderful and pregnant petition humbly beseech Thee that all we, who are partakers of this holy Communion, may be FUL-FILLED with
"

We

Thy

grace and heavenly benediction." Let us not forget the words which, with
:

profound significance, just precede that prayer Here we offer and present unto Thee, O
"

Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a

reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto
Thee."

We

yield ourselves to

Him

for

His

will.

He

meets us with His sacred Fulness.

To

this

same range of

truth

we may
Eph.
i.

re

language of St Paul about the SEALING by the Spirit, and the -r^ r o
fer the

13, 14
.

EARNEST of the

Spirit,

and

11 the
No

2 coV?l: 22

Rom.

viii. 23.

FIRSTFRUITS of the

Spirit.

doubt
15

the

226

VENI CREATOR.
"

"

Gifts

of
in

the

siderably

view

primeval Church are con in each of those phrases.

But surely the same reasons which have con

strained us to apply 1 the Apostle s language about the Fulness to the more excellent
"
"

way

of the divine

apply here.

The
"

hope, and love, believer, already a believer

life

of

faith,

by the
also
"

Spirit s

lifegiving

operation,

is

now

sealed

as the property of his

s

Master

by the same Spirit

developed possession of
with
full
;

Him.
is

And
4<

this possession,
"

the

earnest

of his
in

holy fruit, possession of his

"
"

its

God
which

for

ever

eternity

the
"life

first-fruits
everlasting"
"

cai.vi.8.

of the harvest of
to

is

be reaped

"

of the Spirit

then

at length.

Come
coming
to
fill

forth then, eternal

forth,
all

Spirit,

and be ever
that

from
that

Thy
we
and

secret place within our

spirit, into

are,

and

all

we

have,
us.

all in all in us,

to overflow

through

Fill

Thou

us in a blessed continuousness and

habit, enabling us in

humble continuousness

to

Page

215.

PRAYER.

227

receive Thee, day

by day and hour by hour,

crisis

through
with

faith.

At each

of need

fill

us

Thy And when

us that

special fulness out of

Thy

habitual.
fill

the hour of death shall come, so

we may

see

with

our

spirit s

eyes,

in Thy light, heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Amen.

CHAPTER
TT^OR
last

XII.
in

the main

theme of our enquiry

to

the

chapter we went
of
to

And the Ephesians. successive explorations

living
truth,

the Epistle to now, for the last of our

this

continent

of

we come

the

same

Epistle

again, and to a passage more full if possible than even that other of the inmost treasures

of the doctrine of the Spirit. has not read and re-read the closing verses of the third chapter of the Ephesians

Who

with

the

feeling

of

one

permitted

to

look

through parted curtains into the Holiest Place

has not longed to step into that sanctuary in a personal experi ence of its riches and blessings ? Who that
of the Christian
life ?

Who

any true sense has entered in by grace does not feel, does not know, that indeed it is rest and joy beyond all exposition to be there ?
in

THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE,

It
is

EPII.

II.,

III.

229

the

spiritual

summum bonum

of

the

It is the beginning of the happi Pilgrimage. ness of the eternal Country. Approaching this very sacred passage for

some
of
it,

special meditations
let

on one glorious part

its

us

first briefly recall

contents as a

whole.
It

forms the resumption of a dropped subject.

ii.

At

the close of ch.

the Apostle had written

of the building of the great spiritual Temple, the true Church of God, the holy structure in

which every stone

is

living

and

in living contact

with the Angulare Fundamentum, the Stone of That structure he had described the Corner.
as rising, growing,
"

into an holy sanctuary in

the Lord
its final

preparing for the eternal Day of consecration, when it should be ready

;

"

length and habitation of

at

for

ever to be the
in

"

abiding
E P h.
H. 22
.

God

the

Spirit."

Then
sion,

in

followed a long and memorable digres which the imagery of sanctuary and

habitation disappears. But at the fourteenth verse of the next chapter, our present chapter, it comes read again, and in a up again.

We

like

connexion with the work and grace of

230

VENI CREATOR.
Holy Ghost, of a
1
"

Father, Son, and

perma

see again a divine Indweller, abiding in a shrine constructed as it were of human materials and prepared for
inhabitation."

nent

We

His presence by the But there is a Spirit.

skill

and power of the

difference.

The former
of the
true

passage had to do rather with the believing

Company
Church.

as

such,

the

Temple
;

This has to do rather with that com

its

pany

as seen in
i

individuals

it

speaks of the
full

Eph.iii.

"hcaits"

of the saints, a word

;

of the thought of separate personalities it con templates them as each an abode for the divine
Indwelling.

Each

living

stone

is

as

it

were

taken by
is

itself,

and seen as a miniature of the

;

Living Temple
forgotten, for
in the

it

not so that the glorious total appears throughout the whole

("

passage
Eph.iii.is.

use of the plural your hearts" and with all saints"), but so that
"

the individual aspect of the matter is the most prominent for the time. This form of the divine

Inhabiting St Paul here dwells upon, and supplicates the Father of the great Family Eph.iii.ie.

The

KaroLKrjaai of

iii.

17 takes

up the

KaroiKrjTrjpiov of

ii.

22,

2HE
that

PRA YER OF EPH.

it

III.

231

by the

Spirit

may

decisively in

each Ephesian

take place fully and And then disciple.

he proceeds to prayer on prayer, all ph. m. 17-21. He springing from this same root of blessing.
asks that the saints, thus each possessed by Christ as perpetual Inhabitant, "rooted and
grounded"

in

that

eternal

Love

which

is

manifested and conveyed through Him, may all together in some sort grasp the measureless
get a new and blissful knowledge in particular of the Love of Christ Himself, and all be filled with "the

dimensions of that Love, and

all

Fulness of

God,"

with

"the

plenitude of those

blessings which the Infinite One is willing and able to bestow at each moment upon the finite
recipient."

Then
"glory

follows that great

is
given,"

Doxology
in

in

which

now and

the

endless prospect, to the Father of the Son and of the saints in Him, in view of His almighty and unmeasured power to bless, and of the

coming eternal manifestation of His praise the Church, and in Christ Jesus."

"

in

We
1

have thus

in

some

slight sense traversed

77; E

use the preferable reading here, ev

VENT CREATOR.
the paragraph and reviewed so partly because there is
its

outline.

do

sort

of sacred

necessity to do so; to be so near such treasures

of revealed grace and life, and to say nothing about the rest of them because our precise con cern is with only one or two, is at least difficult.

view of the passage as a whole brings out what I would wish to remember

But

also this

throughout our present enquiry, that the pro

foundly individual blessing and experience with which we are specially concerned is set
forth
in

connexion with more than individual

It is

a thing which does not termi nate in the saint it goes out through him to
interests.
;
"

all

the

saints,"

and

it

finds its rest

and goal

in the

glory of God.
to

But now

come

to the treasures of truth

which are our immediate subject.

They

are,

the Dwelling of Christ in the heart by faith, and the connexion of this great gift of grace with a special work of the HOLY SPIRIT.

Let

me

speak very simply, and

is

at

no great

length, of the
heart.

Inhabitation of the Lord in the

The theme

one rather

for believing

CHRIST DWELLING IN THE HEART.

233

and adoring prayer, and reception, and experi

ence, than for

much

few

great

explanation or disquisition. points stand out however so

clearly from the words that I may reverently say a little of them, as in the presence of our

Lord the Indweller.

First
special

we

plainly

have here a truth more

"in"

than the underlying truth that

every true believer Christ is, by the Holy Precious beyond all estimate is that Spirit.
truth,

happy remembers it and

Christ
is

and

the
acts

man
upon
it.

who

habitually
"

in
"

you,

counterfeits

Jesus except ye be 2Cor. xm. s and great indeed are the in

;
.

Yes

ferences

meant

to

flow direct

from that
1

fact

into the Christian s faith

is

and

life.

But there

For these something more special here. are addressed as no counterfeits in Ephesians
;

spiritual life

and yet St Paul prays that Christ

may

dwell in their hearts.

Secpndly, the kind of speciality is indicated not your nature, by the word your hearts
"

/"

your being, but your hearts.

1

And
ii.

"

"

the heart

See above,

ch.

2,34

VENI CREATOR.

a word which, in Scripture, means very much the organ of the whole inner consciousness, of
is

living thought, affection, will.

Accordingly the

Indwelling here must be something appropriate to that organ a blessed Presence of the Lord
;

in

the saint s recollection,

"

and

love,

and pur

poses.

In
"

"

Lord

still

is,"

the Christian off his guard the in His patient mercy; but not
his
heart."

"dwelling

in

To borrow
1

the

imagery of

a Puritan

commentator

on the

Ephesian Epistle, may be present in the Temple, in the Church, of the believer s being, while yet He is not sitting enthroned
Christ
in its Choir.

Thirdly,

the

us that

it is

words of the Apostle assure the plan and purpose of the Gospel

that such a session of Christ in the sanctuary

of affections and will should be the experience, and the abiding experience, of every disciple.

Not some of the Ephesian saints but all of them are contemplated in this great prayer in each heart of all the company Christ is thus No esoteric privilege, to be won by to abide.
;

Bayne, or Baynes, of Cambridge

obiit 1617.

A CONTINUOUS PRESENCE IS MEANT.

special achievements, or

235

by

special austerities,

or under exceptional surroundings, is here in The means of attainment, or rather of view.

are divinely simple, as we shall see this sacred bliss of the Presence presently is to be entered upon by faith." And it is
reception,
;
"

meant
glory,

to

be not an intermittent and precarious

clouds

dropped for a season through the rolling of doubt and fear, and soon to fade

again into twilight. describe it is a word

The word selected to made expressly to denote

1

residence as against lodging, the abode of a master within his own home as against the aside for a night" of the jer.xw.s. turning
"

wayfarer

who

will

be gone to-morrow.
!

Holy

It is within the scope and welcome intimation of prayer, and of humblest expectation, and

of believing reception, that this most sacred Presence of our Lord, in a mode which affects the inmost experience of His servant, shall be as continuous and as regular (may I not venture
to say
?)

as the very consciousness of our

"

own

personality.

Even
1

so,

come, Lord

Jesus."

Kui

236

VENI CREATOR.
Lastly,

same

the grammatical shape here of this 1 verb, its aorist tense, suggests to the

reader the thought not only of a divine In dwelling in the heart, but of a certain coming
in of the

Indweller,
within.
in
It

residence
initial

a taking up of His holy conveys the idea of an

entrance

order to a stated perma

nence of presence. And the inquiry presents itself, whether this teaches us that for each
Christian, in the law
is
c>f

his spiritual
at

life,

there
of

intended

to

take place

some stage

his progress a definite

lower to
to
his

and solemn step from a a higher experience, from an ordinary

an extraordinary state of communion with Did St Paul view the Ephesians Lord.
all

as

then occupying a lower level from which

they were all to rise decisively and forthwith I cannot to another as yet unknown to them ?
think
that his
thus, in

meaning can be put precisely view of the whole context, and of his

whole teaching. I do not trace in the New Testament at large any formed and deliberate doctrine of such a single and ruling crisis as

IS

THERE ALWA YS A CONSCIOUS

intended
in

CRISIS?

237

divinely

every case of life and faith, and accordingly to be sought by every convert. The blessing indicated has nothing
in
it

to

forbid

that

it

should

coincide

with

the earliest living acceptance of Christ by the awakened man and it has nothing in it to
;

forbid
it

the

belief that

in

countless

instances

should be truly present while yet its arrival, its development, was unnoticed by the man

and took place through a process which he cannot even seem to analyse. Let no Christian
judge another
Christian
(if

in this matter.

But then

let

no

whose record is thus uniformitarian we may borrow a word from the geologist)
critical

think that for his friend or brother there can

not be a

and decisive experience of the

to

Indweller

"

arrival

reside

in

the

heart."

Testimonies innumerable, and given by gravest witnesses, tell us that such experienced arrivals

dence

of Jesus Christ there are, followed by a resi in the heart which is indeed a new and
blissful

experience to the man, as he discovers that what has before been an occasional and
exceptional

communion of soul with His living and present Redeemer may be, and in fact

238

VENI CREATOR.

Such proves to be, prevailing and habitual. cases St Paul I doubt not contemplates here,
within the large community at there were many for whom such a Ephesus And he crisis was the great spiritual need. includes the whole company in his prayer

assured

that

partly,

if

read him

aright,

to

remind each

disciple that whatever might be his experience

of the Arrival there

was no man who might

to
;

not possess, and ought not experience of the Presence

possess,

the

but partly for

another reason.

holy Reality, in this as in other things of the soul, inevitably tran Arrival scended any single metaphor of it.
limited to

The

and Residence were ideas not narrowly any one crisis of the life of

to

be

faith,

however great and memorable. Even for the most fully experienced, each access of conscious
knowledge of the power of that Presence in the heart would be as it were a new arrival
for

another stay.

Such
is

is

HE

of

whom

the

writer speaks, and such

in the

very heart itself, in from one point of view be lastingly present while from another point of view He

His indwelling, that the very same heart,

He may

THE SPIRIT S WORK IN THIS MATTER.

may be
Lord
arriving even now.
"

239

Even

so come,

Jesus."

But while we thus speak of

life,

this sacred

In

dwelling, this dear inner secret of the Christian

are

we

forgetting our true theme, the

Spirit
?

work
have

of the

Holy

No, we

are not.

dwelt thus far upon ver. 17 in order to put with the more emphasis the truth of ver. 16, the
revealed action of the Spirit in this matter. Observe then that it is HE who so to speak
stands behind this whole wonderful experience

immediate Agent and Secret. The bows his knees to the Father that these Apostle dear Ephesians, each and all, one by one, may
as
its

be dealt with
Ghost.

in divine speciality

HE
the

must
is

act

in

by the Holy them and through

them
below

if

Christ

thus to dwell within.

consciousness,

Deep
within

Christian s

those springs of thought and will which are such mysteries to the person himself, the Spirit
of the Father

and of the Son

must do the

work of
man."

strengthening with might in the inner Operating there with the divine skill
"

which violates nothing in the nature He has made, and with the divine power which can do

240

VENI CREATOR.

what
give,

He He

will in

and with that nature,

He

must

will give,

supernaturally to the

man

inmost self a spiritual firmness and vigour which

shall discard certain

deep

fears

and do certain

acts that could not otherwise

be done.

Sacredly significant indeed is the phraseology. In order to a reception into me of what is alto gether the gift of God and not the sequel or remuneration of any toils or endurances of
yet need to might by the Spirit

mine,

be

in"

strengthened with as the ("deep within,"

"

Greek
man."

seems precisely And I ask what

to indicate) this

"

the inner
is

means, what

the

occasion in this matter for a divine strengthen ing, where perhaps I might have looked rather
for
I

such words as subduing or alluring. And read the answer in the light of the truth that

the blessing in question is the residence always in the heart of its MASTER and LORD, who

where
cheer
else

He

dwells must rule

who

enters not to
all

and soothe alone but before

to

things

reign.

And
fears

remember
greatly to
eVco

that nature,

nature in the Fajl, does not like that Presence

in

that aspect;
1

admit

"this

rov

avdpaonov.

WHY HIS "STRENGTHENING"

Man
the
to reign over
us."

IS

NEEDED.
Lukexix.

241

remem-

i 4.

her that the

regenerate soul itself such is dimness of sight and the spiritual im

of even
"

becility

the

child

of

God

"

in

this

tabernacle
certainties

all

of

too easily loses its conscious the absolute tenderness along

absolute sovereignty and royalty of the Lord who stands at the" inner Rev.iii.ao.

with

the

"

door and knocks

"

it

trembles

lest

His

in

coming should of necessity bring some nameless

shock or sorrow
in its train.
"

dreaded to

yield myself without reserve to Jesus Christ, said a Christian kinswoman of my own, relating
to a little
circle the story of
felt

her

own

experi

ence

"I

so sure that
Hugh."

He

would take from

me my

little

quiet confidence in of the claimant King, along with a calm intui tion into His adorable beauty and desirableness,
at length

But the strength of a the perfect wisdom and love

overcame that dread

cost

and the door

was opened, and the in

mother
s

He has come might. child has not been taken from the
what
it
"

embrace, or rather
her,
Isaac-like,"

back to

has been given more than ever her

it

own, out of that supreme surrender.

16

242

VENI CREATOR.

not understand in the light of such an instance the need of the Holy Spirit s strengthgiving work, in order to the reception of the

Do we

Lord Christ as the abiding and ruling Inhabi tant of the very heart ? And do we not see

how
is

it is

THE SPIRIT so
1

the special function of none other than to deal with the inner man? He
;

the Glorifier of Christ

it is

His, as

we have

seen above, to
"

Show

us that loving

Man

That rules the courts of bliss, The Lord of hosts, the mighty God,

The

eternal Prince of

Peace."

matter of the Indwelling, it is He shows" Him to accordingly who so the wistful soul that it sees, with an intuition
in the sacred
"

And

own yet supernatural in its conditions, how safe, how satisfying, how blissful is His
truly
its

all-ruling presence, not only in

"

(i

the courts of
s heart.

bliss

but in the believing sinner

is

So

the door

opened, for this private but royal

entrance of the

King

then in us
the Son.

all,

of Glory. So work Thou of the Father and of Spirit

Paore 120.

-BY

FAITH."

243

And
oracle

here, as our meditation

closes,
let

on

this bright

us lastly
"

remember

those
are
all-

words of

ver.

17;

by

faith"

They

important to a practical use of the truth and On the one promise of our Lord s Indwelling.
Indwelling is to be our experience indeed, there is need of genuine personal action on the Christian s own
part,

hand they remind us

that, if that

action God-taught

we have seen, yet not The Lord stands at

"

and God-granted, as the less the man s own.

the door and
Rev.iii.ao.

knocks

"

the man, the inner man, must rise

open.
"

and
it

set

it

Faith

is

the act of
"*
"

man though

is

"the

means

and by Eph.ii.s. gift of God; of faith Christ arrives in the heart to

dwell there. the action

But on the other hand, because

of the soul
else,
is

in

this

case

faith,

and nothing
our
is
"

the

words remind us
hope"

for

comfort and good

effect

that the action

in

nothing

but the

utmost

sim

plicity of reception. faith to ourselves

1
"

Do we

need to define

over again? 2 Has not every instance of the use of the word by our
1

See above,

p. 106.

See above,

p. 108.

244

VENT CREATOR.
in
it

Lord Himself
sured us that

the

Gospels long ago as

just personal reliance,
l

means

It is personal trust, personal entrustment ? the open arms which in their emptiness em

brace Christ, the open lips which receive as the bread of the soul, the life, the all.

Him
As
our

in Justification so in this its glorious sequel,

part is to take the Promise as it stands, to take the Thing in the envelope of the Promise, and
to act

upon Well has

its
it

holy presence and

reality.

been said that weak

faith
it

may

indeed do- but weak works but that

can

open a door.

And He who
2 cor. iv.
i 3.

is

"the

Spirit

of

faith"

is

faith s appropriate Giver, for this as

for

all

things.

For

this,

as

for our earliest

acts

of trust,
in

HE

Christ

His

divine

enables us, by manifesting trustworthiness and

putting the soul into contact with Him, the seen, the trusted, the welcomed Lord.
"

Son of God, who lovest me, be Thine alone And all I have, and all I am,
I will
;

Shall henceforth be
1

Thine

own."

See Bp

O Brien,

Nature,

etc.,

of Faith,

ch.

i.

CONCLUSION.
It
is

245

all this

and glad surrender." And hath worked that one and the selfsame
a
"

full

"

SPIRIT."

enquiries and meditations on the Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit here draw to

Our

a close.

It is

needless to spend words in

own

ing how fragmentary, how imperfect, even on a very modest standard, the attempt has been.

But

may

can hope and can pray that my reader have gained here and there a suggestion,
I

perhaps about some forgotten side of a familiar truth, and that he may have felt some stimulus
to

an ever-deepening search into the divine Word for more and yet more of the treasures

of the truth of the

Holy

Spirit.

And may

writer and reader both be found,

through His great grace, among the happy ones who, living by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit,

and by the
fulness

draw continually out of the of Jesus Christ, to whom by the Spirit

Spirit

they are conjoined in an unspeakable union.

More than
great
thinker

thirty years

ago that great man, and preacher, and great saint,

246

VENT CREATOR.
suffering
at Paris.

Adolphe Monod, lay on his sorely and comparatively early deathbed

Led

in his

youth through experiences of

com

plicated

profound melancholy to the foot of the atoning Cross of a divine and

personal

doubt and

Redeemer, and to the solemn and glad experiences of the work of the Spirit in the believer s life, and to a holy submission
and repose before the whole revealed truth of our salvation by grace, he had spent his years
and used
heart
"

all

his great gifts of intellect

and of

in the

defence and confirmation of the

with the one longing, loving desire to bring others into the peace and certainty
Gospel,"

he had found, and Now he was dying,

to

build

them up

in

it.

age of fifty-four. His beloved ministry was over, and he was looking back on work and onward into the
at the

heavenly rest from his Pisgah-top of suffering. One day, 2 in the midst of much physical
distress,

a few words escaped him,

his

brief

An impressive word-portrait of M. Monod is given in M. Guizot s Meditations sur VEtat actuel de la Religion Chretienne
1

(1866), pp. 170-184.

3

Vie, p.

470

Life

and Letters

(English translation),

p. 244.

ALL BY THE HOLY

summary
and
all.

SPIRIT.

247

of a Christian s peace, strength, aim,

I

my
this

by repeating them, and invite reader with me to make them the motto
close
life

not only of our death hereafter but of our

day

in Cfjrttft

ty

tfje

^olp
(

fepfrft

for

tlje

(Blorp of (Boti*

#11 etee

"

aus der ew gen Stille, Durchwehe sanft der Seelen Grund ; Fiiir mich mit aller Gottesfiille, Und da wo Siind und Grauel stund, Lass Glaube, Lieb und Ehrfurcht griinen, Im Geist and Wahrheit Gott zu dienen.
,

Du Athem

"

vom Sohne und krystallenrein Aus Gottes und des Lammes Throne Nun quillt in stille Herzen ein, Ich offne meinen Mund und sinke Hin zu der Quelle, das ich trinke."
Geist,

Strom, der uns

Eroffnet,

TERSTEEGEN, 1697

iy6<j.