THE LIFE OF FAITH. VOL. V. AUGUST, 1883. IN our last number we indicated the three things ordinarily connected with the reception of the Spirit's Fulness-Waiting, Desiring, and Receiving. The first of these we briefly noticed. We propose now to consider how the spirit of Desiring and the act of Receiving are the means, on man's side, for the enduement of power. Desiring.-Faith sees that to be "full of the Holy Ghost" is a blessing not peculiar to Apostolic days, but the great privilege of every believer in the present dispensation-that it is a blessing which may be known and realisedand that to live without this "fulness" is to live below our true normal condition. Let this be seen and felt, and at once a desire is awakened in the soul which is the forerunner of the blessing itself. Without this desire our prayers for the Spirit's fulness will be cold, formal, and unreal. The longing to be filled, is often brought about by a painful sense of barrenness of soul. Language like that of David's in Ps. lxiii. 1, is felt to be the exact expression of the soul's desire after the life and freshness which God alone can bestow. "My flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is." How many a Christian is in this "land" as to his experience! It is sad indeed to be in such a condition, but more sad to be thus barren and unfruitful and yet have no longings for the "water brooks." Is not this the secret of the Church's weakness to-day? Dry, barren and unfruitful, and yet little or no real desire to be "filled with all the fulness of God." [No. 56. But when God is about to fill the soul He allures her into the "wilderness" (Hos. ii. 14). He brings her to see and feel her need. It is "from thence" that He causes her to receive "the fulness of blessing." To be brought to know one's parched and barren condition is to see the utter folly and sin of all worldly compromise, and the necessity of a full and complete surrender to God. We are no longer shrinking from the thought of being too "out and out for God-or of losing too much of this world's treasures. We are no longer afraid of going all lengths with God, we are now willing that He should have His own way with us. Have you, my reader, been brought to this point of self-despair? Have you been brought to know by bitter experience that a half-hearted life brings us, sooner or later, to a "thirsty land where no water is"? Thank God, if now the language of your heart is that of David's: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (Ps. xlii. 1, 2). This desire, let us observe, is not for God's gifts merely, but for God Himself "the living God." The same intense longing of soul after the presence and fulness of the Lord Himself, is expressed in another Psalm: "I stretch forth my hands unto Thee: my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land" (Ps. cxliii. 6). Now we know that to this spirit of desire itself a blessing belongs. Our Lord gave it a beatitude. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Still, let us not stop at the desire. The | a present believing reception-that the Fulness thirsting is only the preparation for the filling. of the Spirit, as well as every other blessing, is to be sought. This brings us to the Our Lord's direction in this matter is clear and explicit-"Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). That is, "We are to believe, not that we shall one day have what we pray actually receive it as we pray." for in a future more or less distant, but that we To believe that we are receiving is more than to believe that we are desiring and asking. It is when our faith passes, from the stage of seeking, to that of receiving, that the fulness comes. Receiving. While we plead God's Promises let us not forget to obey His Commands. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," "Be filled with the Spirit," are Divine Commands. When Peter and John came to the Christian converts at Samaria they "prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 15). When Paul came to Ephesus and found there certain disciples, he put this question to them, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" (Acts xix. 2). Quite apart from the question as to what kind of disciples these were it seems clear that the Apostle put the question supposing them to be disciples of Christ-believers who had been baptised into this name, who had Let us notice our Lord does not say here, therefore been born of the Holy Ghost. We « Ask and it shall be given you." That is see that they were in truth only the followers true, but He is here speaking of the other side of John the Baptist-disciples who had not-man's side of receiving-"Ask and ye shall experimentally entered into the Christian dis- receive." True asking will surely be followed pensation. But the point after all is not what or accompanied by an actual and present rewas their spiritual condition, but what was the ception." Apostle's intention. Does not his question indicate the fact that it is possible to be a believer, to be born of the Spirit, and yet not to have the Holy Ghost in the same sense as the Apostles received Him on the day of Pentecost? So we find the same Apostle writing to the Galatians, "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Gal. iii. 2). "Faith consists not in working but in receiving."* Compare with this our Lord's words in John xiv. 17, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him," &c. "With the world, want of vision prevented possession. With the disciples the personal presence of the Paraclete brought knowledge, and with that knowledge the power of more complete reception " (Canon Westcott). If many are hindered for want of desire, how many are hindered for want of reception. Here seems to be the difficulty with really earnest souls. There is much asking but little or no blessing-because there is not a corresponding reception. And yet it is through this door * Critical and Experimental Commentary-in loco. To ask truly, is to ask in Christ's Name. When we thus pray we not only ask but also receive. "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John xvi. 24). I AFTER THE CONFERENCE. - WALKED the streets of London, when my eyes "WHO TOUCHED ME?" (LUKE VIII. 45.) BY REV. E. W. MOORE. II. IN resuming this history of a touch we observe II. The straits to which this poor woman was reduced. Notice her earnestness. This was not the first time she had sought relief. On the contrary. Mark tells us that she "had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse (Mark v. 26). And in this respect she is a faithful picture of those who are seeking Holiness now. Health of soul is not as a rule sought simply at the hands of Jesus first. Other physicians are resorted to too often. Yet even here the earnestness of this poor sufferer claims attention. She did not settle down content without making every effort to find deliverance. She would get well if she could. She would leave no stone unturned. And these are the souls that are ultimately blessed. God gives nothing to the half-hearted indifferent spirit. It is the diligent soul that is made fat. Would you know what it is to be made whole, to experience in your soul the Holiness Touch of Jesus? then be well assured you must be in earnest. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." There is a holy violence of faith which laughs at impossibilities, and cries, It shall be done. But this poor woman in her earnest quest is a warning as well as an example. How sad that she should have suffered so greatly and gone the fruitless round of physicians of no value. Let us take care we do not imitate her. Many a seeker after holiness goes wrong here. Though the sinner has come to the Great Physician for pardon, yet will he go to some spiritual quack for purity. There are plenty of these gentlemen abroad, and they drive a thriving trade upon the ignorance of their victims. Some writer on this theme gives a list of them. There is Dr. Gaiety and Dr. Ceremony, and a host of others, but the most dangerous and the most popular of them all deserves more than a passing notice. His name is Dr. Legality. It is extraordinary that Christians should be beguiled by him, for if they are Christians at all they have probably suffered terribly by his prescriptions already. You remember his house is hard by Mount Sinai, and that the very sight of it in old days made Moses himself to "exceedingly fear and quake." Yet, strange to say, after having. fled for refuge from Legality's terrors and found peace and comfort in Christ, believers come back to him again, and though they admit that he cannot justify them, they are not at all sure that it is not part of His office to make them holy. Well may we echo the words of the Apostle, "O foolish believers, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you" (Gal. iii. 1). Is it not strange that seekers after holiness do not perceive that all legality proceeds upon a wrong principle. It works from without to within, instead of from within to without. Dr. Legality relies exclusively on external applications. These he prescribes to any extent, varying the discipline and regimen according to the power of the unhappy patient's endurance. Vigils, fasts, hair shirts, lacerations, these are among his severer remedies. Strenuous resolutions, strict rules of conduct, and the like, are some of his prescriptions to patients of a less vigorous constitution-but be they mild or rough they must all fail; no one can be made holy by a constraining power from without. Drunkards, for instance, cannot be made sober by Act of Parliament, useful as Acts of Parliament may be in depriving them of opportunities of transgression. But outward legislation cannot touch the heart; cannot mould the springs of action; cannot cleanse the fountain whence the stream of pollution flows. To do that you want "an inspiring power from within." And that is just what Christ offers to us. His plan is first to make the tree good, and then the fruit shall be good also. He goes to the seat of the disease, and, curing the disease itself, He restores health to the whole being. Blessed be God! patients are finding old Dr. Legality out. His trade is suffering. Souls that come to Christ for healing discover that He can touch them clean; that He can say to their sin sick souls what He said of old to the leper who sought His presence: "I will, be thou clean, and immediately the leprosy departed from him." It is true that this blessed health of soul can only be preserved by abiding in the Physician Himself; but this only makes the reality and permanence of cure more certain, while it guards it from abuse. It is while we walk in the light, as Ile is in the light, that we have fellowship one with another, and | And depend upon it, when Christ really touches us the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from ALL sin." well we shall know it. There is a great deal that passes for salvation abroad that has well been The most prominent lesson of all in this poor termed "salvation by logic." Given certain premises woman's story is her faith. I have already said you may argue yourself into certain conclusions that our Lord asked His question on purpose to apart, as it would sometimes seem, from the power draw attention to it. Penniless, helpless, as this of God altogether. But such salvation as this can poor creature was, there was that about her faith | never satisfy. True faith stands in this power of which commanded success. It was an of course God, and not in logical propositions. God means kind of faith "if I may but touch His garment I realities, not theories, and the poor convicted shall be whole." Though superstition mingled with awakened heart crying for holiness wants realities her thought, though she probably attached an igno- too, and woe be to them who when the children ask rant value to the border of His robe as more sacred for bread give them a stone. When God heals than any other portion of His garments, yet there your soul you know that a work has been done in was within her such a conviction of success as was you that only God could do, though I dare not say in the highest degree honouring to her Saviour. that in many cases the work may not have been What is our faith, is it of this order that neither wrought before the consciousness of it comes; for questions, nor doubts, nor hesitates, but casts itself faith (a daring to act as if we felt) must precede on the robe of power and mercy Jesus wears in the experience; and it is when by naked faith we have assurance of blessing? Be as she was as deeply launched out on the bare word and promise of God convicted of her need as utterly at the end of all that He does heal us, that the direct witness of the human resource, as desperate in her resolve to be Spirit to the healing will subsequently be given. healed at any cost, and it shall not be long before But while this is most true it is equally true that her blessing shall be yours. Notice, lastly, then, without the witness of the Spirit God's purpose III. The cure she experienced. This was the in us is not fully accomplished. Therefore, let us manner of it. claim and possess and actually enjoy the fulness of His grace. Finally (a) It was sudden; like an electric shock, which thrills your whole being in an instant, did the lifegiving power of Jesus permeate her frame. The life of Jesus did for her in a moment what years of weary waiting on other physicians had failed to accomplish. And let the Sovereign Lord of Life put forth His power and He can, as by a lightning flash, dispel your sins and banish your disease. We dare never dictate or prescribe to God how we shall work, but we know that He can suddenly fill His Temple with His glory, suddenly go forth and smite His enemies, and His comings to His saints in mercy and His comings to His foes in wrath have often been, and shall yet be, sudden comings. "Come, Almighty to deliver Let us all Thy grace receive; Suddenly return, and never, Never more Thy Temples leave." (c) This was a confessed and acknowledged cure. I have often thought if there was ever a case in which we should have said confession might have been excused it would be this. Poor trembling soul! Surely she might slip away in that surging crowd and not be thrust into publicity. And would it not have been better for her to wait awhile, and let her be quite sure that she was really cured? Perhaps it was only a passing excitement, and it would be a pity to call attention to it too soon. And then, worst of all, she was a woman; and certainly a woman ought never to speak in public— nothing more dangerous. So I am afraid a great many of the Master's disciples would have said, if not in His day, certainly in our own; but I rejoice to think we have nothing to do with the disciples when they differ from their Master. What would This coming of the Healer was a sudden coming. Jesus wish, that is the question? Jesus would Again, the cure was, (b) Conscious "the light shone out of her languid eye, the colour rushed to her faded cheek, the vigour came back to her tottering limbs." "She felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." have this poor suppliant confess Him. Let the crowd stand back. "Who touched Me?" says the Master. And "when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came, trembling, and falling down before Him she declared unto Him, before all the people, for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately." Yes, brethren, we must confess Him. Is He able to heal us? Has He healed us? We will not, we dare not, and we do not conceal the fact. "He laid His hand on me and healed me, Is "Is this nothing else than 'consecration,' or than a more definite abiding in Christ, and a clearer view of our position and possession in Him? "What," says an eloquent writer (I quote from "It appears to me that it must be something memory, not ipsissima verba, but the substance), further, that may be and ought to be distinguished— "are the greatest of all saints secret saints? though of course not dissevered from such abiding. that so? Are the greatest of all soldiers secret "Is it not a special, definite act of the Holy soldiers, who, from motives of modesty, never appear Ghost, making a vessel truly meet for the Master's on the battle-field? Are the greatest of all lights use,' when, and only when, it is ready to devote secret lights that never shine? Are the greatest of Are the greatest of itself exclusively to such service? Is there not, in all scholars secret scholars for whose learning no one God's order of sanctification, after 'peace, after is the wiser?" What flimsy, vain reasoning is here!'rest'; and as a preparation for power,' the interChrist wants witnesses; it is your solemn duty to mediate blessing of purity'? witness for Him. Only bear testimony to your Physician, not yourself. "Rightly given testimony to the physician can bring no credit to the patient. Was this poor woman sounding her own praises, or the praises of Christ, when she confessed her cure? Surely there is no merit in acknowledging what Christ has done for us, for this is only to acknowledge that all we have and all we are we owe to Him. "Then come to this valley of blessing so sweet, A CLEAN HEART. FROM a private letter communicated to us we extract the following, in the hope that it may be useful to our readers, and promote thought and study on the important question of which it treats. We shall be happy to open our columns to a further elucidation of the subject: "... I would especially have wished to exchange views with you concerning that question on which the mind and heart of many are now centering with great longing, 'a clean heart.' "Testimonies, clear, unquestionable, various in expression, one in substance, are multiplying, to the effect that there has been received, as definitely as the forgiveness of sins, or the rest of full surrender, the sense of a change in one's relation to evil desires: 'they seemed to rise from within-now they appear to attack from without;'-'it is like hearing the beating of the storm against the walls within which I am safely sheltered; it is as though Satan were touching the keys of a piano the chords of which had been taken away or could give no sound;' 'it is as a volley of arrows glancing off from a shield;' it suddenly seemed' (so a lady, of culture and , and as we both understand the Scriptures to teach), "While there is and will be (as I believe with you, and as we both understand the Scriptures to teach), these members, waiting for better ones (Phil iii. 21), a law of sin'in my members' as long as I have may not "the deeds of the body" be so mortified through the Spirit, that I may be conscious of the mortification? that I am to look upon as effectually nailed to the Further, is it not that very 'body of death' cross of Christ? And if so, need it defile my heart, my new heart, the true man, 'the new man, which after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth' (Eph. iv. 24, R.V.)? "If my true man is now the new man, is there not a sense in which it may be said that temptation, even from the flesh, does (the Spirit having thoroughly moved me into Christ) come from without,' although there is also a sense, in which, considering my entire person (flesh and bones, instinct, memory-which has a physical side-&c.), it may be said to come from within'? (N.B.--When Christ'stands at the door and knocks,' is He 'without' the lukewarm heart, or within'? Surely, both. His Spirit is being heard striving, appealing, somewhere within the precincts of the moral personality, while, on the other hand, He is being kept without the inner sanctuary of the will.) "Is there not, in that direction, further advance to be made, in the searching of Scripture and the interpretation of experience, that we may all arrive. at a common understanding on the subject, and, at any rate, obtain a common blessing, less for our own joy than for the joy and service of our Lord? "Excuse my thus thinking aloud on a subject which seems to me of immediate and paramount importance. Will you help me, will you help many, towards obtaining clearer views of truth, while abstaining from mere 'striving about words, to no profit'? Perhaps you would be disposed to send an article on the subject to the Life of Faith." |