CHAPTER XIV. SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED-ATTITUDE OF MIND NECESSARY TO RECEIVE THE SPIRIT-ITS EF- I. As to the attitude of mind in which the spirit must be received, having already spoken to some extent, less need be said in this place. It seems to me that the Holy Spirit comes to a man's relief, at that point where, convinced of the fitness of all the gospel requires, he has made up his mind to live up to its claims, and is putting forth the endeavor to carry out this determination. Every convicted sinner, when he reaches this point, finds how impossible it is for him to withstand the law in his members; and there he would remain till he sunk to hell, did not the Holy Spirit beget in him those divine affections which enable him to fulfil the law. Hence the propriety of the language, the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. This appears to have been the attitude of mind in which the apostles received the bless ing. Their design of obeying Christ in all things, was fully settled; though they wanted the firmness, the courage, the confidence and the power of carrying it into execution. Our Lord, aware of this, directed them to tarry at Jerusalem till they should be endued with power from on high. Accordingly, they remained fifty days after the crucifixion, praying, waiting and looking for some gift of whose nature they as yet had no definite idea. All this time, however, there was no defect of intention to do the Iwill of their Master. The three thousand, also, were pricked in the heart under the sermon of Peter, and under the poignancy of their guilt, they inquired what they should do, in a manner indicating their intention to do it, be it what it might. And no sooner were they informed as to what was required of them, than they proceeded to the doing of it, in the best way they could. In this attitude of obeying the truth, therefore, the Spirit met with them, as Peter had promised, filling them with gracious affections, and thus making services that would otherwise have been intolerable, a source of joy and gladness. Such also, was the manner in which Saul of Tarsus, Cornelius and his household, and all the primitive converts, received the Holy Spirit. This accords to the statement in Acts 5: 32, that the Holy Ghost is a gift that God bestows on them that obey him; that is, those whose wills or voluntary powers, are in a condition of subjection to the truth. When the convicted sinner has come to the point of surrendering to the truth, he finds himself obstructed by a law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin and death. Hence, the things he would, he cannot do; and those he would not, he is precipitated upon the doing, by a fatality that he cannot resist. And in the despair of this struggle, to do what his mind has embraced but his recreant passions cannot brook, he cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? At this extreme crisis, the Holy Spirit comes into his soul, takes of the things of Christ and shows them to him, and enables him to cry out in the spirit of adoption, Abba, Father. Instantly he finds himself in Christ as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. All sense of guilt vanishes, the law requiring supreme love to God and equal love to men, he finds not only accordant with the convictions of his reason, but with every pulsation of his affections. That the Spirit should be received in any other attitude of the voluntary powers, is as contradictory to the laws of accountable agency, as it is to the word of God. As we have already spoken on this subject, however, we will only add the testimony of Bloomfield in his Notes on Gal. 5: 22,-" Evil works come from ourselves alone; therefore, they are called the works of the flesh; but virtuous ones require not our exertion alone, but the aid of Divine grace: therefore the apostle calls them the fruits of the Spirit; the seed (namely, the intention,) being from ourselves; but the fruit resting with God.” II. We come now to consider more fully, the effects or indications of the Spirit's presence in the soul and in the church. It is not to be supposed, that the infinite God would take up his abode in a man's soul, without leaving upon his character and condition, extraordinary tokens of the Divine presence. Would the king spend a night in the cottage of a peasant, without leaving behind him some token of the royal bounty? Yea, would he come there to take up his abode, without imparting to the residence and plantation, an aspect suited to his kingly state? Much less will the infinite God live in a man's soul, without gracious indications of the royal munificence. Even in the past dispensation, God's presence among his people manifested it self in the conquest of their enemies, in the productiveness of their soil, in the increase of their flocks and herds and in the diffusion of bloom and beauty all abroad. Carmel's summit displayed a richer green; Hermon's acclivity with its varying belts of cloud and sunshine, sent forth more fertilizing vapor to irrigate the soil; Ophir and Tarshish poured still ampler stores into the marts of trade; the cleft rocks of Judah's mountains afforded honey in greater abundance; health smiled on every hand; while the motto of all was, every man under his own vine and figtree, none daring to molest or make him afraid. Was not Obed-edom, with his household and all that he had, rendered doubly prosperous and happy, by a three months residence of the ark of God within his doors? How much more, then, will the Spirit's indwelling invest itself with still richer and more enduring.blessings, as suited to the nature of the soul! 1. Those who enjoy such a blessing will be filled with unspeakable joy in God. Hence, mention is made of receiving the word with the joy of the Holy Ghost. There was great joy in those places where the Lord revived his work through the labors of the apostles. The converts at Jerusalem are said to have continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And Peter speaks of it, as joy unspeakable and full of glory. |