others drift down the stream while he is on the shore, there we may be sure the Great Pentecostal blessing never came. It is only a counterfeit.

5th. Greatly enlarged fruitfulness is another feature, which distinguishes the true annointing from the false. Manifestly, the original and primal advent of this gift upon the Apostles and early Christians greatly increased their moral and spiritual fruitfulness. What multitudes were converted under their labors! Jesus said, John

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15: 5, "He that abideth in Me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit.' And again, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much frui.t" More forcible still and entirely conclusive on this point are the words of Jesus, recorded in John 7: 38, 39. "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water! But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." This immensely rich promise affirms a vast increase of spiritual power and fertility, ever attending the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Why should it not be so, when to our natural power, there is added that of the Holy Spirit? Shall I be more specific in elucidating this part of our subject? Let me say then:

1st. When you pray, you will have a consciousness that the Holy Spirit helps you and others will feel it too. God will seem to them very near!

2d. When you speak in testimony or exhortation God will help you and make your words impressive. 3d. Your very silence, will at times impress people more strongly than words could do, that God is with you, enabling you to control the unruly member.

4th. Your exemplary and conscientious conduct, will after a time impress those who look on and see it with the reality and practibility of the religion you profess. You may not see much of it on earth, but you will in heaven. For your prayers are all laid up, your tears bottled, your words. of warning registered and your general influence the Holy Ghost is gathering in a cloud above, which by and by will descend in showers of blessings. Only believe, thou baptised child of God, persevere in prayer and labor and you will yet see the verity of Christ's words, "He that abideth in me the same bringeth forth much fruit. But the counterfeit baptism beareth only briars and thorns. "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

CHAPTER X.

How can the savor of this Baptism be obtained?

retained?

And is

it ever lost? We have before shown that it exerts a powerful sealing influence. Many passages affirm this. We need not repeat them here. In accord with them is the testimony of Christian experience. The Baptism once enjoyed can never be forgotten! Its peace, its joy, its victory and communion with God, will remain engraved on the memory, as doubtless are pictures of heaven on the minds of the Angels who fell! Life ever after will be to such, as was captivity and slavery to Israel, when they sang so sadly, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down! Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion! We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof! How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land!" And this sweet memory of liberty lost, will lead to many a stout uprising against the powers that oppress. And in some of them, most likely the lost ground will be regained. Hence in part the recovering and sealing

power of the Gift, when once received. And hence while great numbers go back who have received in conversion the first installment of spiritual power, those who receive the second, with few exceptions, hold on their way. Yet we have reason to believe, there are sad exceptions to the rule. Paul intimates this when in his letter to the Church in Gallatia he asks, "Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh ? And in the exhortation, not to "quench the Spirit whereby they had been sealed," he certainly intimates that even such are in danger. And more strongly still he warns against the danger when he says, "It is impossible for those who have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, if they fall away to renew them again unto repentance." We think we have known some such during an observation of nearly seventy years, who evidently received the Great Gift, ran well for a time, and afterward relapsed, finally and fatally. We call to mind one, who received, apparently, this blessing. God annointed him to preach; for a time he ran well; God blessed his labors, and souls were converted under his preaching. But his views were sharply criticised by his brethren, wrongfully I think, both as to the assaults

on his Theology and in the spirit of severe censure manifested. He retaliated, withdrew from the Church and went off with a faction, which finally broke up and was scattered to the four winds. Poor man! He is dead now, but I fear he never regained the height from which he fell.

I knew yet another, who while in the Theological Seminary, seemed to receive richly of this gift, and for a time seemed to walk in heavenly places in Christ. But when he went to preach where his father lived, south of Mason an Dixon's line, he was fiercely persecuted and driven from his native State on account of his views of slavery. And north of that line, even in the free States he was shut out of Orthodox pulpits, assailed by the mob and caricatured by the press. By degrees his spirit become soured, his tongue censorious and vituperative. He left the Church, denounced it unsparingly and finally lost all faith in the Bible and I believe in God. Such cases, though rare are sufficiently numerous, to warn us that as once the angels fell from their lofty principalities, so even eminently sanctified men, are liable to fall from their steadfastness.

On the question, how shall the savor of this holy annointing be retained? We reply: