received an especial Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I had been preaching for a number of years, and with considerable success, before I so much as realized, what was meant by the power of the Holy Ghost. The blessing came to me, as the result of the emptying of my heart and life before God, and the shuting up of myself to Him, and a subsequent season of severe testing. My life has been transformed by the definite fulfillment of the promise of God, in the joy and strength and power of the Holy Ghost."

We submit that the testimony of such a man, whose success is so marvellous, and whose praise is in all the Churches, as to the way by which the Lord led him into the baptism, which has so revolutionized his life and his labors, should have especial weight with all practical and earnest men.

MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD.

We next give the testimony of Miss Frances E. Willard, President of the National W. C. T. U., and the most distinguished Christian woman of America, if not of the world. This lady was hopefully converted at Evanston, Ill., in A. D. 1859. For some six or seven years she lived the usual halting and advancing-lower

plane Christian life. Then a great change came over

vision and in power

Thus she speaks of it "In 1886, Mrs. Bishop This saintly woman

her-an uplift in experience, in a baptism of the Holy Ghost! and thus she was led thereto. Hamline came to our village. placed in my hands the life of Hester Ann Rodgers, Life of Carvosso, Life of Mrs. Fletcher, Wesley's sermons on Christain Perfection and Mrs. Palmer's Guide to Holiness. My reading of these books and my talks with Mrs. Hamline deeply impressed me. Soon after Dr. and Mrs. Phebe Palmer came to Evanston and held meetings in our Church. One evening when Mrs. Palmer had spoken with marvelous clearness and power, she asked those who were desirous of entering into the higher Christian life, to come forward and kneel at the Altar. I and my mother went and kneeling, in utter self-abandonment I consecrated myself anew to God." Then there arose a severe testing, such as Mr. Mills alludes to, in which one sacrifice after another came before her, as the conditions of receiving the Great Gift she longed for. One after another were laid on the Altar, even to "the pretty little jewels" on her person. This done, she writes: "A great peace came to my soul. I cannot describe the deep welling up of

joy that gradually possessed me. I was utterly free from care. I was blithe as a bird that is good for nothing but to sing. I did not ask, 'Is it duty?' but intuitively knew what to do. The conscious emotional presence of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, held me. I ran about upon his errands just from love! Life was a halcyon day!" This continued-without interruption-till it was somewhat dimmed by yielding to advice not to confess the gift of God, in a new place to which she went to live, and where the doctrine had been brought into disrepute by the strange freaks and follies of some professing the Gift. This she mourned over as a grevious mistake and a sin, nevertheless she largely recovered the lost ground and still enjoys a large measure of the early joy, and grace and power.

REV. EDWARD PAYSON.

In the State of Maine, no minister has ever equaled Edward Payson, in power as a preacher, or in religious influence over the people. That he received this Baptism of the Holy Spirit, is evident from such records of his words and writings as follow. In a letter to a friend thus he writes: "Were I to adopt the figurative

language of Bunyan, I should date this letter from the Land of Beulah, of which I have been for some time a happy inhabitant. I can find no words to describe my happiness. I seem swimming in a river of pleasure, which is carrying me to the great fountain! God is now, literally, my all and in all, and while He is present with me, no event can in the least diminish my happiness, and were the whole world at my feet, trying to minister to my comfort, they could not add one drop to my cup."

A similar experience is described by President Edwards of a pious lady whom he knew. The Tennant brothers of New Jersey, have left behind a like record of their own experiences. And the death-beds of tenthousand Christians have evinced a power of the Holy Ghost, triumphant over disease, weakness and pain, super-human, Divine and semi-miraculous. One question we wish to ask the reader in view of them, viz: Is it not possible to have this rich endowment-this vivid sense of God's presence-this victory over temptation-this full assurance of faith, and power of utterance long before we reach the chamber of death? We need it in the open field of active labor, where we can use it for the Glory of God, and the Salvation of men.

Admit we need dying grace, more yet we need the grace to live, and work for Christ.

We have the testimony of several others at hand," such as James Brainard Taylor, Rev. Chas. G. Finney, etc., but they accord so perfectly with those already given, that it seems superfluous to add them. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. We will add however some points on which all the witnesses agree-those withheld, and those given.

1st. They all confess the reception of this blessing, at periods considerably distant from conversion. In nearly all cases years after, as was true of the Apostles.

2d. That it did not come to them, till definitely sought, and that too, with strong persistency and importunate prayer.

3d. That its coming was not after the ideal of a gradual growth, advocated by many, but rather after the Pentecostal pattern, and so marked by peculiar experiences that they could not doubt it was from God.

4th. They each confess to a severe testing of their willingness to do and suffer for Christ, somewhat like that which takes place at conversion, before the Spirit in double portion came upon them.