======================================================================== WRITINGS OF PENN by Penn ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Penn, compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 80 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. Penn-Lewis, Jessie - Library 2. 01.00 Soul and Spirit 3. 01.01. CHAPTER I 4. 01.02. The "Soul" (psuche) And Its Functions 5. 01.03. The Fall of Man 6. 01.04. CHAPTER 2 7. 01.05. The Deliverance of the Cross 8. 01.06. CHAPTER 3 9. 01.07. Supernatural Powers Cause Divisions 10. 01.08. CHAPTER 4 11. 01.09. The Pathway of Freedom 12. 01.10. CHAPTER 5 13. 01.11. How The Soulish Man Becomes Spiritual 14. 01.12. The Spiritual Man Is "Full-Grown " In Christ 15. 01.13. The Spiritual Man Is "Made Perfect In Love" 16. 01.14. The Spiritual Man "Walks In Light" 17. 01.15. The Spiritual Man And The "Spiritual Body" 18. 01.16. Some Dangers of the Spiritual Man 19. 01.17. CHAPTER 6 20. 01.18. Soul-Force 21. 01.19. CHAPTER 7 22. 01.20. The Gilded Bait 23. 01.21. CHAPTER 8 24. 01.22. Satan's Great Plot 25. 01.23. CHAPTER 9 26. 01.24. The Flesh Profiteth Nothing 27. 01.25. CHAPTER 10 28. 01.26. The First Man 29. 01.27. CHAPTER 11 30. 01.28. NOTES 31. 02.00. The Awakening In Wales And Some Of The Hidden Springs 32. 02.01. Chapter 1 33. 02.02. Chapter 2 34. 02.03. Chapter 3 35. 02.04. Chapter 4 36. 02.05. Chapter 5 37. 02.06. Chapter 6 38. 02.07. Chapter 7 39. 03.00. The Centrality of the Crosss 40. 03.00a. Table of Contents 41. 03.01. THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS 42. 03.02. THE CHANGED CENTRE THROUGH THE CROSS 43. 03.03. THE CHANGED OUTLOOK THROUGH THE CROSS 44. 03.04. THE PATHWAY OF THE CROSS 45. 03.05. THE LIFE-SIDE OF THE CROSS 46. 03.06. THE CROSS AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 47. 03.07. THE CROSS AND POWER FOR SERVICE . 48. 03.08. THE CROSS AND THE TONGUE 49. 03.09. THE CROSS AND REVIVAL 50. 03.10. THE CROSS AS A PROCLAMATION 51. 04.00. The Magna Charta of Woman 52. 04.000. About the Author 53. 04.0000. Introduction 54. 04.01. Ye All Can Prophesy 55. 04.02. Authority Over Her Head 56. 04.03. Thouroughly Deceived...but 57. 04.04. Thou Art Turning...and 58. 04.05. Some Misunderstood Words 59. 04.06. Some Glimpses into History 60. 04.07. Conclusion 61. 05.00. War on the Saints 62. 05.01. A Biblical Survey Of Satanic Deception 63. 05.02. The Satanic Confederacy Of Wicked Spirits 64. 05.03. Deception By Evil Spirits In Modern Times 65. 05.04. Passivity The Chief Basis Of Possession 66. 05.05. Deception And Possession 67. 05.06. Counterfeits Of The Divine 68. 05.07. Ground And Symptoms Of Possession 69. 05.08. The Path To Freedom 70. 05.09. The Volition And Spirit Of Man 71. 05.10. Victory In Conflict 72. 05.11. War Upon The Powers Of Darkness 73. 05.12. Revival Dawn And The Baptism Of The Spirit 74. 05.13. Brief Notes 75. 05.14. True Workings of God vs Counterfeits 76. 05.15. Appendix 77. S. God Requires Only Himself 78. S. The Battle for the Mind 79. S. The Leading of the Lord 80. S. The Life-Side of the Cross ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. PENN-LEWIS, JESSIE - LIBRARY ======================================================================== Penn-Lewis, Jessie - Library Penn-Lewis, Jessie - Soul and Spirit Penn-Lewis, Jessie - The Awakening in Wales and Some of the Hidden Springs Penn-Lewis, Jessie - The Centrality of the Cross Penn-Lewis, Jessie - The Magna Charta of Woman Penn-Lewis, Jessie - War On The Saints S. God Requires Only Himself S. The Battle for the Mind S. The Leading of the Lord S. The Life-Side of the Cross ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.00 SOUL AND SPIRIT ======================================================================== Soul and Spirit by Jessie Penn-Lewis Jessie Penn-Lewis - 1861-1927 The name of Jessie Penn-Lewis often occurs in works related to the Welsh revival of 1904, not surprisingly as she was a major chronicler of the movement. She wrote an article each week in the "The Life of Faith," tracing the course of the spiritual movement first throughout Wales, and then through many lands and by many individuals. She contributed to a number of periodicals and produced her own history of the revival called ’The Awakening in Wales - and Some of its Hidden Springs.’ She is most well known for her excessive caution against demonic intrusions through the developing Pentecostal work of her day, and her later involvement with Evan Roberts. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.01. CHAPTER I ======================================================================== (Hebrews 4:12) THE ignorance of Christians concerning the distinction between " soul " and " spirit " is very general, and is a primary cause of the lack of full growth in the spiritual life in many devoted and earnest believers. G. H. Pember points out as the cause of this ignorance the popular phraseology of " soul and body ", which has caused a deficiency in the English language. He says that although we have the nouns " spirit and soul "which are too often treated as synonyms-we have no adjective from the latter, with the consequence that the omission of such an adjective has almost concealed man’s tripartite nature in the versions of the English Bible, where the " Greek word which signifies ` pertaining to the soul ’ " is sometimes rendered " natural " and sometimes " sensual " (see 1 Corinthians 2:14, James 3:15, Jude 1:19). Of course Greek scholars know well the different words in the original which stand for spirit pneuma; soul-psuche; flesh-sarx; but to the generality of Christians these distinctions are veiled, with the result that they are unable to discriminate in experience between things that differ, and yet which vitally belong to their peace. The need of knowledge is becoming of more than academic importance, for the fallen Archangel, with his superhuman wisdom, knows the make-up of human beings, and is now, as an angel of light, bringing to bear all the power of the knowledge which he possesses, upon counterfeiting the working of the Holy Spirit, and CREATING IN THE REALM OF THE SOUL such perfect imitations of the pure life of the Spirit of God indwelling the man’s spirit, that the most earnest Christians are liable to be deceived. It is therefore necessary that the teaching of the ScriptureIupon the distinction between soul and spirit, should be brought within the range of the apprehension of the youngest believer, and made as clear as possible from the Word of God. The writer is not attempting to meet the need of those who are able to go direct to the Greek Testament, and read for themselves, but to assist those who must have other help, as they earnestly seek the aid of the Spirit of God to enable them to grasp the truth, and receive spiritual understanding of spiritual facts set forth in the Scripture as necessary for their growth in life and godliness. Let the reader, then, pause at this point, and in an act of faith take the promise of John 14:26 -" The Holy Spirit ... shall teach you all things . . . " and John 16:13, "He will guide you into all truth " with confidence that the Spirit of God will fulfil His office to the teachable child of God. The Holy Spirit is able to teach the believer in experience the distinction between " soul and spirit ", without his ever knowing the truth intellectually; and vice versa, the scholar may see clearly the difference as expressed in the Greek without knowing all that the words mean experimentally-i.e., he may hold the truth in mental instead of spiritual power, and then it is but the letter of the Word without the spirit. Moreover, the believer who has been taught experimentally by the Holy Spirit the dividing of " soul and spirit " before apprehending the distinction with his intelligence, is better able to understand, and " rightly divide the word of truth ", than the reader of the Greek who is untaught of God, for back of the words in the Scriptures there are spiritual verities which cannot be understood by the natural man-i.e., the " pertaining to the soul " man (lit. 1 Corinthians 2:14)-and can only be known by revelation.( See 1 Corinthians 2:10-12) But first as to the missing adjective ! G. H. Pember says that an attempt is being made to use the Greek word " psychic " for expressing in English the adjective for soul. The word is, however, too " Greek ", so to speak, to commend itself for general use. In connection with James 3:15, Pember uses the word "soulish ", and this seems more nearly to express what is needed. Stockmayer also uses this same word-" soul-ish "-to signify that which " pertains to the soul ", for he says in reference to 1 Corinthians 2:14, " the Greek text has it, the ` soulman ’, or `soulish-man ’. As spiritual is the adjective of spirit, so is soulish the adjective of soul ". The word " soulish " therefore might well be generally accepted by English readers as the missing adjective, which will enable us to speak of the " soulish " as well as the " spiritual "(1 Corinthians 3:1) or " carnal " (fleshy), Christian, and the meaning be understood. For this purpose it will so be used in the present treatise. As to the distinction between soul and spirit, Gall points out that not only in the English language is the distinction made, but in every classic language from Hebrew downward. In the English New Testament two passages only bring out the distinction clearly, viz., Hebrews 4:12 Dividing soul and spirit "-and 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Sanctify you, spirit, soul and body ". These two, however, are sufficient, for the English reader, to see that man is tripartite, and not only " soul " and " body ". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.02. THE "SOUL" (PSUCHE) AND ITS FUNCTIONS ======================================================================== The next point for consideration is the question, What is the ` soul’ in distinction from the spirit, and what are its functions ? " Here some quotations from other writers will help us before we turn to the Scriptures, to discover what the Apostle means by the " dividing of soul and spirit ", and thus more clearly understand howspirit, soul and body " can be sanctified, and preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord. Tertullian, one of the Fathers who wrote in the early centuries of the Christian era, calls the " flesh "-or physical being-the " body of the soul ", and the soul thevessel of the spirit ". The soul stands between thespirit and the body, for " direct communication between spirit and flesh is impossible; their intercourse can be carried on only by means of a medium " *-the " soul " being that medium. The " soul was the meeting place, the point of union between body and spirit ", also writes Dr. Andrew Murray. " Through the body, man-the living soul (Genesis 2:7)-stood related to the external world of sense "; through the " spirit he stood related to the spiritual world ". Pember explains the function of each very clearly when he says, " The body we may term the sense-consciousness; the soul the self-consciousness; and the spirit the God-consciousness ". Again he says, the body " gives us the use of the five senses "; and the soul, the " intellect which aids us in the present state of existence, and the emotions which proceed from the senses ", whilst the spirit is the highest part which " came directly from God, and by which alone we apprehend and worship Him ". Dr. Andrew Murray accords with this, when he writes that the gifts with which the soul was endowed when man became a " living soul ", were those of " consciousness, self-determination, or mind and will "; and these were to be but the " mould or vessel " into which the life of the spirit was to be received. Dr. Murray also says " The spirit is the seat of our God-consciousness; the soul of our self-consciousness; the body of our world-consciousness. In the spirit, God dwells; in the soul, self; in the body, sense ". Again, Pember writes concerning the creation of man, and how the tripartite being was formed-" God first moulded the senseless frame, and then breathed into itthe ’ breath of lives ’ (Genesis 2:7. The original is in the plural)," and this " may refer to the fact that the inbreathing of God produced a two-fold life-sensual (in the meaning of pertaining to the senses) and spiritual...." He adds, in a footnote, that possibly the meaning of the use of the plural in the " breath of lives ", is that " the inbreathing of God became the spirit, and at the same time by its action upon the body, produced the soul ". Briefly, we see that all these writers practically define the " soul " as the seat of the personality, consisting of the will and the intellect or mind; a personal entity standing between the " spirit " with its openness to the spiritual world, and the " body "-open to the outer world of nature and sense-having the power of choice as to which world shall dominate or control the entire man.of For instance, when Adam walked in the garden of Eden, the spirit breathed into him by God dominated his " soul "-i.e., intellect, mind, will-and through the vessel the " soul " shone out in, and through, the earthly tabernacle of clay-the body-making it luminous with light, impervious to cold and heat, and able perfectly to fulfil the object of its creation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.03. THE FALL OF MAN ======================================================================== But-alas, that a " but " has to be written-man fell, and after a time the result was seen as described by the Lord Himself in His words, " Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually " (Genesis 6:5 R.V.). The " Fall " apparently began in the intellectual department of the soul, for it is said that Eve saw that " The tree was to be desired to make one wise " (Genesis 3:6 R.V.). The appeal of the serpent was not made to the vessel of clay, or the outer man, for the body was then perfectly dominated by the Spirit; but it was directed to the intellect and understanding of man, and based on a lawful desire to advance in knowledge and power in the unseen realm of another world. " Ye shall be as God," said the serpent, not " ye shall be as the beasts ", created by God ! The temptation was KNOWLEDGE, and the very knowledge which probably God meant to give in due season, but grasped before its time,and out of God’s will. The words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:19, are therefore very significant in connection with this aspect of the Fall, for the " word of the Cross ", is said by the Apostle to be the power of God to " destroy the wisdom of the wise ". Since sin entered through the avenue of the intellect, salvation comes by a Cross which destroys the fallen " wisdom " by the very acceptance of its message, for the preaching of " Christ crucified " is to the wisdom of men " foolishness "(1 Corinthians 1:18-25) Thus God, in His wisdom, provides salvation in a waywhich deals with the cause by which the Fall came about ! Therefore Paul writes, " If any man thinkeththat he is WISE among you ... let him become a fool, that he may become wise, for the WISDOM OF THIS WORLDIS FOOLISHNESS WITH GOD " (1 Corinthians 3:18-19 R.V.) Eve, moreover, fell through yielding to the very temptation which had caused the fall of Satan himself, for lie had said " I will be like the Most High . . . " (Isaiah 14:13-14)The tempter knew how to attract Eve, by suggesting to her something higher than she possessed, for she was limited by a body made of dust, but had a soul capable of appreciating knowledge and growth, through the higher part of the tripartite being. The full effect of the downfall we do not see until years afterward, when the record of the condition of the race shows that the road down was rapid, for the " wisdom " which gave knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden reached its ultimate in due course, in a complete sinking into " flesh ", so that the part of man’s tripartite nature which he had in common with the animal creation, obtained the upper hand. Then it was that God looked down upon the fallen race, and said, " My Spirit shall not abide in man ... for in their going astray they are flesh " (Genesis 6:3) And so it is, that not only has " death reigned " over the fallen race of Adam, but every human being born in the likeness of the first Adam is of the " earth, earthy ", and is dominated by the flesh instead of the spirit; the soul, which is the personality of " himself " (see Luke 9:23) a slave of the flesh and the earthly life, instead of being a handmaid of the spirit. Thus the condition of the unregenerate man is now (I) his human spirit severed from God, fallen and alienated from His life (Ephesians 4:18) " without God ", separate from Christ (Ephesians 2:12), and incapable of fellowship with Him; (2) the soul-intellect, mind, will, self-consciousness may rule over the body, or (3) the body in its desires and appetites may be enslaving and dominating the soul. But while the human spirit is thus " dead " to God, and in darkness, it remains as full of activity as mind or body. In some instances the spirit part of the unregenerate man may be so large in its capacity that even in its dark condition, it dominates the soul and body. Then the man may be said to be " spiritual ", in the sense of possessing more " spirit " than others, who are mainly soulish or fleshly. These are the ones who seek intercourse with the spirit-world apart from the Holy Spirit of God, and become " mediums ", capable of exercising " occult powers ", such as clairvoyance, etc., bestowed upon them by satanic means, for unless the human spirit of a man is regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, it is in accord with the fallen spirits of Satan, and governed by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2-3). We see, therefore, that the fallen spirit of man-bereft of God at the Fall-sank down, so to speak, into the vessel of the " soul "; and the " soul " again sank down into the fleshly body, under, what Paul the Apostle calls, " the power of the flesh ", so that in the unconverted " the soul, manifested sometimes in intellectuality, some times in sensuality, often in both, reigns over them with undisputed sway. This is what Jude wishes to set forth in Jude 1:19, which should be rendered, ’ These be they who separate, men governed by soul, not having spirit. . (Jude 1:19) Fausset very clearly brings out this in his commentary on this passage, for he writes, " In the three-fold division of man’s being ... the due state in God’s design is that ` the spirit’ . . . should be first, and should rule the soul, which stands intermediate between body and spirit, but in the ... natural man, the spirit is sunk into subserviency to the animal-soul, which is earthly in its motives and aims. The ’ carnal’ sink somewhat lower, for in these the flesh, the lowest element ... reigns paramount ". In regeneration it is the darkened and fallen " spirit of man, which is quickened again and renewed ". This is the meaning of the Lord’s words to the " Master in Israel ", to whom He said, in spite of all that he knew in intellectual religious knowledge, " Ye must be born FROM ABOVE " (John 3:3, also margin John 5:7), and later on to His disciples, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing " (John 6:63). The way that the new life from above reaches the fallen spirit of man is shown in the Lord’s words. " The Spirit breatheth where [He] listeth ... so is every one that is born of the Spirit " (John 3:8 R. V. m.); and the cause of the Spirit of God quickening the spirit into new life, is given in John 3:14 as the death of the God-Man upon the Cross in the place of the sinner, that "whosoever believeth into (lit. Greek) Him should not perish, but have eternal life." The Cross and the Fall exactly and perfectly correspond -the one as the remedy for the other. First by the death, of the Saviour on the Cross, the sin had to be put away, and the way made possible for the Holy God to pardon the sinner, and secondly the sinner must be given a way of escape from the bondage of soul and body into which he had fallen. The tripartite nature of man could then be again adjusted, with the spirit once more in domination, and the body acting merely as the outward and material vessel-the instrument of the spirit through the soul. This way of escape is made clear in many parts of Scripture where we are shown the death of the sinner with the Saviour. Its mode of application for deliverance we shall see later on, as we consider the full meaning of the Cross. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01.04. CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== " And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ " (1 Corinthians 3:1 R.V.). Let us repeat again at this point, that the " soul " is the seat of the self-consciousness (the personality, the will, the intellect), and stands between the spirit-the seat of the God-consciousness; and the body (the seat of the sense), or world-consciousness. Gall says that the " soul " derives its life, or animating power, from either the spirit (the higher part), or the animal (or lower part). In Latin the word for " soul " is anima-the animating principle of the body. In the converted man i.e., one who has had his spirit regenerated, or quickened into life by the Spirit of God communicating life to the fallen spirit-the soul is dominated either from beneath, by the animal-life; or from above by the spirit life. It may be said, therefore, that there are three classes of Christians, * and these three classes of believers are clearly referred to in the Scriptures as(I) The spiritual man-dominated by the Spirit of God, indwelling and energizing his renewed human spirit. (2) The soulish man-dominated by the soul, i.e., by the intellect or emotions.(3) The carnal man-dominated by the flesh, in fleshly habits or desires, i.e., " the power of the flesh ". The word used in 1 Corinthians 3:1 is not psuche--soul; but sarkikos-fleshly, the adjective of the word in Romans 8:7, where it is written, that the " carnal (sarx) mind is enmity against God ". It is not said that the " psuche ", or soulish life, is enmity to God, but the fleshly mind. It is true that the natural, or "soulish " man, cannot receive, or understand, the things of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14), but he is not said to be in enmity, simply because he is soulish ! " And I (i.e., as the natural man-’ man of soul’, Gk.-cannot receive, so I, also) could not speak unto you, the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was compelled to speak to you as I would to men of flesh," * wrote Paul, in effect, to the Corinthians, for although truly regenerate and " in Christ " yet they were so dominated by the flesh that he could only describe them as still " carnal " or fleshly. This was proved by the manifestation of the works of the flesh in jealousy and strife, for he writes to the Galatians, " the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like "(Galatians 5:19-21). Any of these manifestations seen in a believer mark the workings, in some degree, of the "sarkikos " or fleshly life, passing out through the avenues of the soul, or personality, in jealousy or strife, etc. Such a one is not even a "soulish " man i.e., merely " natural "but a man walking " after the flesh ", even though his spirit may be revivified, and quickened into life; and those who are thus walking " in the flesh ", cannot please God. The Apostle’s description of these Corinthian believers as being " carnal " or fleshly, and yet " babes in Christ ", shows clearly that " babes in Christ " are generally under the domination of the flesh-or " in the flesh "-at the initial stage of the spiritual life. In their regeneration they are truly " in Christ "i.e., vitally quickened with His life, and planted into Him by His Spirit, as it is written in John 3:16, " that whosoever believeth into Him may have everlasting life " (Greek) ; but these " babes in Christ ", vitally in Him by a living faith, have not yet apprehended all that the Cross severs them from by their being baptized into His death on the Cross, and quickened by His life. It appears from the Apostle’s language that he blames these Corinthians for being still " babes ", for the babestage ought not to be of very long duration. (Compare Hebrews 5:11-14) The regeneration of the spirit, which comes through the in-breathing of the Spirit of life from God, on the man’s simple faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God upon the Cross in his behalf, should be quickly followed by the apprehension of the death of the sinner with the Saviour (Romans 6:1-13), which brings about the deliverance from the life after the " flesh " which the Corinthian Christians had manifestly not yet known. The marks of the carnal Christian, babes in Christ, the Apostle sketches very clearly, and by these marks every believer of the present time can judge for himself whether he, too, is "yet carnal". This leads us to consider at this point: ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01.05. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE CROSS ======================================================================== " They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh " (Galatians 5:24, R.V.). These are the words with whichthe Apostle ends his description of the " works of the flesh " in his letter to the Galatians, as he contrasts the " fruit of the Spirit " which the " spiritual " man-the man in whom the spirit, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, rules -should bring forth in his life. The " babes in Christ " who are " yet carnal " need a fuller apprehension of the meaning of the Cross; for in the purpose of God the death of Christ meant that the " old man " was crucified with Him, so that " they that are of Christ have crucified the flesh " with all its affections and desires. The same Cross that was revealed to the unregenerate man as the place where sin was atoned for, and his burden of sin removed by the blood of the Lamb, is the place where the " carnal " Christian, who may be a " babe " in Christ, even though regenerate for many years, must obtain deliverance from the domination of the flesh, so that he may walk after the spirit, and not "after the flesh", and thus in due season become " spiritual ", and a full-grown man in Christ. Romans 6:1-23 IS THE MAGNA CHARTA OF LIBERTY THROUGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST, which the babe in Christ needs to know, for it most clearly sets forth the basis of deliverance, to which only a brief reference is made in Galatians 5:24, and other passages. Only by an appropriation of death with Christ, with the putting to death of the " doings " of the body (Romans 8:13, R. V. m.; Colossians 3:5) can the believer live, and walk, and act in and by the Spirit, and thus become a spiritual man. " When we were ` in the flesh’ the passions of sin ... wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death," wrote Paul to the Romans, " but now we have been discharged from the law, having died. .. " (Romans 7:5-6, R. V. m.). " In the likeness of sinful flesh " (Romans 8:3), the pure and holy Son of God hung upon the tree, an " offering for sin ", and because He died for sin, and to sin in the place of the sinner, God thus has condemned for ever a life of " sin in the flesh " in all who are truly united to His Son. The believer lives " in the flesh " (2 Corinthians 10:3) it is true, in that he is still in his physical body, but once he sees God’s own Son in the " likeness of sinful flesh " hanging upon the tree, and knows that in Him he died to sin, from that hour he lives " in the flesh " (Galatians 2:20) as far as the physical body is concerned, but he does not WALK any longer " after the flesh "that is, according to the demands and desires of his body -but " after the spirit "-that is, according to his renewed spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. (Cf. Romans 8:5-6) Based upon the work of the Son of God on the Cross of Calvary, in which the sinner for whom He died wasidentified with the Substitute who died for him, the redeemed and regenerate believer is called to " reckon ", or account himself " dead to sin ", because " our old man was crucified with Him ". The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in his spirit can then carry out to its ultimate issue the Divine purpose that the " body of sin "-i.e., the whole continent of sin in the whole of fallen man may be " destroyed " or abolished,* as the man on his part steadily and faithfully refuses to " let sin reign " (Romans 6:6,Romans 6:11,Romans 6:13). It is as the " babe in Christ " knows this that the " flesh " ceases to dominate, and have control, and he rises in spirit into real union with the Ascended Lord-alive unto God in Christ Jesus. The "babe in Christ" who apprehends this now knows the fuller meaning of being " Alive unto God "; and walking after the spirit, and by the Spirit, he ceases to fulfil the desires of the flesh, and henceforth gives his spirit, indwelt by the Spirit of God, the domination of his entire being. It does not mean that he may not again lapse into the walk " after the flesh ", but as long as he gives his mind to the " things of the Spirit ", and reckons himself continually " dead indeed unto sin ", he, " by the Spirit ", steadfastly " makes to die " the " doings of the body" (Romans 8:13, R. V. m.), and walks in newness of life. * " The word destroyed in the A.V. is rendered ` done away’ by Alford, and ’annulled’ by Darby. In Romans 3:3, it is translated ` make without effect’; in Romans 3:31, `make void’; in Romans 4:14, `made of none effect’; in Romans 7:2, ` loosed’;in Romans 7:6, ’delivered’. Whatever its best translation in Romans 6:6, it is plain that it signifies that `the body of sin ’ is to CEASE TO HAVE ANY POWER TO BRING THE BELIEVER INTO BONDAGE TO SIN .. . "-W.R.N. The root word means to " leave unemployed, to make barren, void, useless ". Therefore the actual " abolishing " of the " body of sin "which includes practically all that we receive by nature in the first Adamcan only reach its ultimate experimentally when the " body of our humiliation " is " conformed to the body of His glory " at the coming of the Lord from heaven (Php 3:21). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01.06. CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== " The ’natural’ man [’ man of soul ’] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God . . . because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14, lit) CHRISTIANS who have arrived at the stage of knowledge of the Cross where they cease to walk " after the flesh ", think that they are now "spiritual" believers, entirely renewed and led by the Spirit of God; but then comes the most important lesson, says Dr. Andrew Murray-the lesson concerning the danger of the " inordinate activity of the soul, with its power of mind and will the "greatest danger" which the "Church, or individual, has to dread".(* Dr. Andrew Murray. Note in Appendix to The Spirit of Christ. ) The believer who has been quickened in spirit, is born of the Spirit and the Spirit of God dwells in his spirit. He has had the revelation of the Cross which has shown him the way of victory over the life after the flesh and he now walks in newness of life and victory over sin as manifested in the "works of the flesh". But at this stage the question must be asked: What about the "soul" the man himself in his personality and intellectual or emotional activities. Which power is animating the actions of the man himself apart from the "works of the flesh"? Is he animated and governed by (I) the spirit life which comes from above-from the Risen Lord as the Last Adam, the Life-giving Spirit, or (2) by the life which comes from the lower realm-the fallen life of the first Adam ? We have already pointed out the error of the prevailing idea, that when the believer has apprehended his death with Christ to SIN, and ceases to walk habitually "after the flesh", he becomes a "spiritual man", and is "entirely sanctified!" But to be delivered from the domination of the flesh, or carnal life, does not mean that he ceases to be " soul-ish" or ceases to walk after the life of nature; for the "death to sin", and crucifixion of the "flesh", is only one stage of the work of the Spirit of God to be done in the redeemed man. He may cease to be "sarkiko" or fleshly, and still be "physical" -or "soul-ish", i.e., living in the realm of the soul, instead of the spirit, or God-conscious sphere. To understand this clearly, we must consider what are the evidences of the Christian being "soulish", when he ceases to be "carnal" or living "after the flesh". The soul, we have seen, includes intellect, and emotions, as well as the central personality which makes it the seat of the self-consciousness. The believer may be entirely freed from the manifest "works of the flesh" as described in Galatians 5:19-21, whilst his intellect and emotions are still moved by the "psuche", or " animal-soul" life-i.e., they are not yet renewed and fully animated by the Holy Spirit working through the regenerated human spirit. The soulish Christian is therefore one whose intellect and emotions are still governed by the first Adam life and not by the Life-giving Spirit of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) bringing the intellect and emotions under full control as the believer walks after the spirit, i.e., The Holy Spirit may dwell in his spirit, and enable him to " make to die the deeds of the body " whilst his intellect and emotions are still "soulish". If we take, for instance, the question of the intellectual life, a passage in the Epistle of James very clearly shows the distinction between the heavenly, and the soulish or natural-wisdom. The Apostle writes that the wisdom which is not "from above" is (I) earthly(2) soulish (psychikos. The R.V. m. gives "natural" or "animal" i.e. pertaining to the soul; (3) demoniacal (R.V. m.)and produces jealousy and faction, division and partisanship. Whilst the wisdom which is from above, that is from the Spirit of God dwelling in the spirit of man, is characterised by purity, peaceableness, gentleness, mercy and good fruits and so partakes of the Divine character that it is without partiality (James 3:17) The pure heavenly wisdom is without any element of the soulish life-the place of self-consciousness, self-opinions, and self-views and therefore causes peace instead of strife and envy. The third statement of the soulish wisdom being "demoniacal" will be dealt with in another connection. In the light of the passage in James, how clearly we can see the condition of the Church of God, and why it has split up into sections and "parties". Often, alas, the "works of the flesh" in jealousy and strife are the causes of "factions, divisions, parties " (Galatians 5:19-20) in the assemblies of God’s professing people, but there is another cause of disunion in the professing Church where the soulish intellect is the separating factor. We see soulish "wisdom" so handling Divine truths, as to facilitate the work of demons in fostering division among the followers of Christ. Pember remarks that the "intellect is not merely fallible, but the most dangerous of all gifts, unless it be guided by the Spirit of God " and yet among Christians it is relied upon for the grasping of Divine truth, and for the understanding of spiritual verities, whilst the Scripture declares that the "soulish" man-and this includes even the believer in so far as he is "soul-ish"-cannot receive " the things of the Spirit, because they can be only spiritually discerned. Again, it is the soulish element in teachers and professors of holiness, which is often the cause of separation and disunion. There may be, it is true, love in the heart to those who "differ" but the "differences" divide nevertheless, because the demoniacal powers, able to work upon the soulish element in the believer, always emphasise or exaggerate the differences in "views of truth" instead of magnifying the points of union, and even drive eager believers to "fight" for their view of truth, under the name of "witnessing for God". Devoted believers, alas, think they are seeking the blessing of others,whilst unknowingly doing the same as the Pharisees in compassing "sea and land to make one proselyte . . ." (Matthew 23:15). It is also the soulish element in Christians which insists upon the minute correspondence of others to its "views of truth" and "tithe mint and anise and cummin " in words whilst leaving "undone the weightier matters of the law" which in the gospel dispensation is the law of Christ and places love and the unity of the Spirit between believers as the condition of their growth into "unity of the faith" (Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:13). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01.07. SUPERNATURAL POWERS CAUSE DIVISIONS ======================================================================== In brief, the soul-life, influenced by evil supernatural powers, is the main cause of divisions and separations among the professing and even the true children of God. "These be they who separate, men governed by soul ..." writes Jude (Jude 1:19). " Separate themselves" is the A.V. and "make separations" the R.V. text. "Arrogant setting up of themselves, as having greater sanctity and a wisdom and peculiar doctrine, distinct from others is implied," writes Fausset in his commentary. Fausset also translates the words, "sensual" of the A.V. and R.V. text in this passage, as literally "animal-souled". "Separate themselves " as " having greater sanctity ", is always a mark of the soulish life, for the Lord Jesus said, " Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you ... for the Son of Man’s sake" (Luke 6:22, R.V.). The Apostle Paul also said in answer to a question about separation, " Let each man abide in that calling wherein he is called ", and therein " abide with God ". God Himself will " separate " those who walk in light, and those who abide in darkness, by His Presence as the Light, and often the one who elects to walk in the " darkness " will either cast out the one abiding in the light, or himself be brought into the light. Men can be " governed by soul ", even when they have the Holy Spirit, and these soulish ones always " separate themselves ", and " make separations ", proving that in some degree they are " soulish ", and not " spiritual". The other department of the soul-life is the emotional, which proceeds from the senses of the body; and here again a Christian may be swayed by the soulish, and think it all " spiritual ". Pember says that a " knowledge of Biblical psychology dissipates the idea that any holy spiritual influence can be set in motion by appeals to the senses ". Yet the reaching of the spirit through the senses is the purpose of many Church services, and even mission meetings where the Gospel is proclaimed. Pember’s words on this subject are illuminating. He says, " splendid buildings, gorgeous vestments, and picturesque rites for the eye, with sweet odours for the scent, and ravishing music for the ear, although they may bewitch one’s consciousness with the most agreeable sensations, can penetrate only as far as the soul ... [yet] our spirit does not receive its impressions from the senses, but only from spirit...." *( Pember’s Earth’s Earliest Ages) He points out also that the order of our being from God’s point of view, is spirit, soul, body, because " God’s influence commences in the spirit, then lays hold of the emotions and the intellect, and lastly begins to curb the body ". From the standpoint of Satan it is reversed. We have (I) earthly, (2) soulish, (3) demoniacal, (James 3:15) because Satan’s influence enters by the clay made body; then seizes upon the soul; and, whenever possible, gains entrance to the spirit. How solemn are the facts herein set forth. How clearly they show why the churches are filled with nominalworshippers of Christ, who show no marks of a true Christianlife within them ! How sad it is that the very presence of these worshippers shows that within the spirit they have an unconscious cry after God, which in thousands of cases is never satisfied, for their soul-life alone is met, either in its intellectual department by intellectual soul-ish presentation of the letter of the truth; or their sense-life is gratified by soothing music and the calming influences of the hour of quiet, without their being led into real worship of God in spirit and in truth which alone is acceptable to Him. Are all these influences to be depreciated? God forbid. But they will not save the "soul"! They may, and do, prepare the way by bringing the person within reach of the truth which is read from the Scriptures, if not preached in the pulpit, and all these outer things that make for righteousness have their value and place. But-and this is the serious danger-influences that PENETRATE ONLY TO THE SOUL and do not reach the spirit in regenerating power are deceptive and give the person a "form of godliness without the power" and bring the spiritual religion of Jesus Christ down to the level of heathen philosophies and cults. Hence "religious" men who are merely "men of soul" place the Son of God on an equality with Mahomet and Confucius and discuss Christianity as "one of the religions" of the world, instead of men being compelled to see, as in the days of the early Church at Pentecost, the Omnipotent power of God bearing witness to the Name of His Son as the only Saviour for a lost world. Again in mission work the appeal to the senses and emotions of the soul accounts for the large percentage of converts who do not stand and the evanescent influence of much evangelistic mission work; as well as in many instances the excessive exhaustion of the worker, and oft-times his eventual "breakdown". A correspondent writes: "Is it not the exercise of the soulish, or natural man--the glow, feeling, emotion and energy in speaking to others publicly or privately that cause nerve exhaustion? And is it not possible for the Spirit to quicken the truth without the strain or wear and tear of the body? To tell out God’s truth with no `excitement’ and for God to breathe out His power in the words you speak, not through you so much as through your testimony, after it leaves your lips and enters into the minds of others? It does seem as if it could be done and with far less fatigue if my surmise be true." A man may have naturally a "fiery" soul and by that fiery soul sway and move the soul-emotions of others, but their faith then stands in the influence or wisdom of the man they have listened to and not in the power of God. We can now see what Dr. Andrew Murray means when he says that the greatest danger which the Church or individual has to dread is the "inordinate activity of the soul with its power of mind and will ". The old Quakers used to cal this "creaturely activity: and it is manifestly the energy of the creature being used in the service of God rather than the creature seeking in spirit to co-operate with the Holy Spirit given to him as the Gift of the Risen Son of God. We find the intellectual man, with his spirit yet unquickened, dealing with the eternal destinies of immortal souls; and the strong-willed man exercising his will and dominant personality over the consciences and lives of others! Schemes, therefore, to reach men and bring them to God, by smoking concerts, musical attractions, lectures on popular subjects, etc., are but the outcome of various types of "soul" in men who desire to help others. Such men may be regenerated, but "governed by soul" and not knowing the Spirit of God dwelling in the spirit to energise them by His indwelling power and use them as messengers of God in the salvation of men. But there is another section of the Christian Church and a much smaller company who, knowing the Spirit of God indwelling them, are "soulish" in a much lesser degree. These are they who have a mixture of "soul and spirit" in their religious experiences and are not satisfied unless they feel the presence of God continually with them in the realm of their self-consciousness. Consequently although the Holy Spirit dwells in them, they often fall into the realm of the soulish-life because they do not understand the spirit life and the actions of the human spirit in co-action with God. The "soul" not only comprises the intellect and the emotions, but from the Scriptures it can be seen that the soul is the seat of the personality in its affections, power of joy or grief, etc. Thus it is written: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful ... " (Matthew 26:38). "My soul doth magnify the Lord " (Luke 1:46); "Now is my soul troubled . . . " (John 12:27); "In patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19); " Vexed his righteous soul"(2 Peter 2:8); "Beguiling unstable souls" (2 Peter 2:14). It is therefore clear that the idiosyncrasies of the individual exist in the soul as well as in the physical disposition of the body. And this shape of the soul, if we may use the expression, in its capacity for joy, love, grief, patience, etc. may be filled with a spiritual joy from the Spirit-life of the Second Adam, poured out into the vessel of the soul; or filled with a soulish-or sensuous joy, moving into the vessel of the soul from the lower life of the First Adam. In the latter case the believer, although indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is "soulish " to the degree in which the animal-soul-life has play in the realm of these various capacities of the soul. He may cling to a soul-ish joy and live in the realm of his feelings; in the seat of his self-consciousness and not in the spirit, the place of the God consciousness; and thus be among those believers who are always seeking for spiritual "experiences " in the sense consciousness, instead of in the purity of the God-conscious realm alone-the regenerated human spirit. At this point let us see how the spirits of evil work upon the soul-ish life in all its phases. The soul and the "powers of darkness" If in your hearts you have bitter feelings of envy and rivalry, do not speak boastingly and falsely in defiance of the truth. That is not the wisdom which comes down from above: it belongs to earth, to the un-spiritual nature (Greek, psychical) and to evil spirits" (James 3:14-15 Weymouth). In the R.V., as we have seen, the text runs, "This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual (i.e., natural-the literal Greek is pertaining to the soul’) devilish (margin of R.V. demoniacal)". This passage we have already referred to, but quote it again as showing conclusively the relationship of the forces of evil to the animal-soul-life. We have not here any reference to the "works of the flesh" but to man’s intellectual department-i.e., the soul and the words of the text show that evil spirits work upon the soulish part of the man, as certainly as thy do upon his fleshly nature. It is startling to see the truth put so bluntly and to know that all bitter feelings of envy and rivalry in connection with the gaining or possession of knowledge are instigated by evil spirits working upon the soul-ish life and have their origin-as Fausset writes-in hell. This is very little understood by many true children of God. They may acknowledge satanic influence in the matter of gross sin and the manifestation of the "works of the flesh ", but not in the realm of what they consider the highest part of the civilisation of to-day. Back of this lies the unwillingness to recognise statements of the Word of God concerning the Fall and the utter sinking of the entire first creation into corruption and death, so that even the "imagination " of the "thoughts of his heart "-i.e., mental conceptions-was seen by God to be "evil continually "; and back of this total corruption again lies the poison of the serpent, who obtained entrance through the avenue of the desire for wisdom. In the progress of the renewal of the redeemed man it is to the interest of the forces of evil that any element of the fallen life whether fleshly or soulish, should be kept active, for as the believer becomes "spiritual" , he more and more is united in actual spirit-union with the Lord of Glory and hence more and more escapes the power of evil spirits and becomes equipped to recognize them and war against them. But it must first be recognised clearly that the "Fall" was the result of believing the lie of Satan, the fallen archangel and that when Satan succeeded, there entered the race of fallen man a poison which runs through every element of his being. This gives Satan power of access to every part of his tri-partite nature, i.e. (a) the fallen spirit, dead to God, is open to the hellish dark world of spirits ruled over by the Prince of Darkness; (b) the soul, including the intellect, imagination, thought, will and affections is governed by the life of the first Adam, which is fallen and corrupt, and (c) body and soul is therefore open in every department to the power of the Poisoner. Consequently, the Apostle John declares with blunt language that the " whole world lieth in the evil one"(1 John 5:19) The fallen man not only has to be redeemed by the life-blood of the Son of God, but he has to be actually translated out of the power of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s Son and every department of his being,beginning with his spirit, ACTUALLY RENEWED stage by stage by deliverance from the power of sin and the animal-soul-life. If the first creation was "fearfully and wonderfully made", then in truth the re-creation of the creature utterly sunk into the animal-soul and the animal flesh, and lifted again into the realm of spirit to have spirit-dominion over soul and body, is a wondrous work, which only the Triune God could accomplish; the Father giving the Son, the Son giving His life and the Divine Spirit giving Himself with patience and love to work out the will of the Trinity. That the Prince of Darkness resists every step of the man’s deliverance out of his thraldom is easy to understand and it is necessary that we should know clearly the elements in the fallen creation which are open to his power. That he fully controls the unregenerate man is clearly shown in Ephesians 2:2, where the Apostle says that the " children of wrath " doing "the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts " (i.e., soul-ish life), are wholly dominated by him. Then, when the spirit of the man has been quickened into life and he has been delivered from the power of sin, the soul-ish life and elements in the physical body are open to evil powers. For example(I) First in the soul-ish life, the soulish wisdom becomes "demoniacal" when evil spirits use it to accomplish their plans, e.g., the enemy can arouse a mental prejudice, or pre-conceived idea-unknown to the man and use it at a critical moment to frustrate the work of the Spirit of God. This working of the enemy through the mind of a believer, when the heart and spirit may be true to God, is a most serious fact in the Church of God to-day, for through the various "ideas" of good men, the Spirit of God is sometimes hindered even more than through the unbelief and hatred of the world. And again, in the realm of the emotional-soul-life, the adversary can so rouse the life of nature that the deep work of the Spirit of God is quenched or checked, and His voice unheard.(2) In the physical body, the adversary can work upon the nervous system and use the animal magnetism which is inherent in every human frame, as well as many other elements open to the powers of evil, in addition to "the works of the flesh" and what is generally called sin. These elements are in the very "make-up" of the human vessel and on the part of the believer there should be a keen seeking of light from God on his complex being, that he may understand himself, and know how to act and walk in humble dependence upon the Risen Lord for protection from the evil one-a protection which can only operate as the man looks to the blood of Jesus and in implicit obedience to the written Word, keeps himself open to all truth which will give him light upon any possible ground he may have given to the spirits of evil to attack, or gain admittance to mind or body. For the powers of darkness are keenly clever in working alongside of, or simulating "natural" conditions, either in temperament or disturbance of the bodily functions, or frame and they watch for some physical or mental ailment to serve as the cover, or as an "excuse" for their workings. ( For full elucidation of this aspect of truth, see War on the Saints, a text book on the work of deceiving spirits among the children of God.)* i.e., the attack may be in the natural and physical realm, but not from it as the source. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01.08. CHAPTER 4 ======================================================================== " The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart ... "(Hebrews 4:12, R.V.). This remarkable passage in Hebrews 4:12 clearly sets forth the distinction between soul and spirit, the need of the "dividing " of one from the other and the means whereby this is done, so that the believer may become a truly " spiritual " man, living "according to ’God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6). Pember points out, in regard to this passage, that here the Apostle "claims for The Word of God, the power of separating and, as it were, taking to pieces, the whole being of man, spiritual, psychic, soulish and corporeal even as the priest flayed and divided limb from limb the animal for the burnt offering...." Fausset writes, "the Word of God is ’living’ and powerful ’energetically efficacious (Greek)’ reaching through even to the separation of the animal-soul from the spirit,the higher part of man ’"; "piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow .. . distinguishing what is spiritual from what is carnal and animal in him; the spirit from the soul ". " The Word of God divides the closely joined parts of man’s immaterial being, soul and spirit...." An image taken from the "literal dividing of joints and penetrating to so as to open out) the marrow by the priest’s knife." These words show how suggestive and full of teaching, the whole passage to the believer whose eyes are opened to the danger of the soul-life dominating him, instead of the Spirit of God acting freely from the shrine of his spirit. The question at once arises in a believer who desires to be a spiritual man-" What am I to do? How can I discern what is soulish in my walk and service? " The text we are considering shows that we are to yield ourselves to our High Priest Who has "passed into the heavens" and He, before Whom "all things are naked and laid open" (Hebrews 4:13), will exercise His office of Priest and wield the sharp two-edged knife of His Word, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit within us, discerning even the "thoughts and intents of the heart". The "Greek for ` thoughts ’ refers to the mind and feelings, and the word ` intents ’, or rather ` mental conception ’, refers to the intellect ", again writes Fausset in his commentary. The High Priest, Who Himself became Man, that He might be a "merciful and faithful High Priest" (Hebrews 2:17, R.V.) able to sympathise and touched with the very feeling of our physical and moral weakness (Hebrews 4:15, Greek), is the only One Who can take the sacrificial knife and patiently "divide" the soulish life from its penetration into thoughts and feelings, the intellect and even mental conceptions. What a work to be done! How can the animal-soul-life, penetrating the very " joints and marrow" be tracked and dislodged so that the spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit may dominate and every thought be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? Our High Priest will not fail nor be discouraged in bringing forth victory out of judgment in all those who commit themselves to His hands and trust Him to wield the knife of His living Word by the Spirit of God. But what are the steps? What is man’s part? How is the believer to co-operate with the High Priest in this great and delicate work? (I) By definite surrender of the whole man as a burnt sacrifice laid upon the altar of the Cross, with the entire consent of the will irrevocably given that the High Priest, Christ Jesus, should by His Spirit bring the entire being into conformity to His death (Php 3:10) i.e., that He should never stay His hand until the animal-soulish life is " divided" from the "spirit", so that the man may become a vessel into which and through which the inflow and outflow of the Spirit of God may flow freely from the shrine of the spirit. (2) By continual, persistent, watchful prayer and searching the Scriptures, praying that the keen edge of the Word of God may be applied to all that is of the soulish life; the believer implicitly obeying the Word right up to the light given, according to 1 Peter 1:22, R.V., "Ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth". (3) By the daily taking of the Cross in the circumstances of life so that the believer has the entire victory over sin and the "works of the flesh", whilst the Spirit of God is doing the more minute work of separating the spirit from the soul and teaching the believer how to walk after the spirit. How the separation between soul and spirit is carried out in those who thus lay themselves upon the altar (the Cross) and trust the Heavenly High Priest to use the sword of His Word as a knife to do the work in them we see in the calls to the Cross given by the Lord Jesus to His disciples when He walked the earth as man. I. The Cross and the soul affections "He that doth not take his Cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life (psuche, soul-life)shall lose it: and he that loseth his life (psuche, soul-life)for My sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:38-39, R.V. and margin). This passage occurs in the charge given to the twelve when the Lord sent them forth in His Name. He warns them that a "man’s foes shall be those of his own household" and shows that their first following Him in the path of the Cross will mean a "sword" in their family life, when the claims of Christ and the family are not in accord. The " sword " to divide the soulish and the spiritual in the affections generally comes in a clash between the known will of God and the will of the loved ones, which compels the believer to " take his cross ", i.e., " go forth even to crucifixion "* and follow the Lord, even though it causes " variance " with father or mother or the " own household ". It was so with Christ Himself. He Who had said, " Honour your father and your mother," had to say, " Who is My mother and My brethren? " when they judged Him to be " beside Himself ", as He was occupied with His Father’s business. The taking of the Cross in this way and the choosing to be obedient to Christ before family claims, means to the natural affections such suffering that it is as a sword piercing the soul, so that in very truth the soul-life in the affections is " lost " and the purified vessel of the " soul " in the aspect of its affections becomes open to the inflow of the love of God by the Spirit, whereby the believer loves the loved ones no longer for himself but for God and in and through God. The lower life is exchanged for the higher, i.e., the " soul " in its personality and vessel-capacity remaining the same " soul ", but now dominated from the spirit by the Spirit of Christ-the Last Adam-and not by the fleshly soul-life of the First Adam (see 1 Corinthians 15:45-48). In Luke’s Gospel the sword-effect of the Cross in connection with the soul’s affections is more plainly defined for the Lord uses the word " hate " and says, " if any man cometh unto Me and HATETH not his own father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple " (Luke 14:26). Here again the word " life " is "psuche "-i.e., the animal or soul-life. Matthew gives the test for the will in its choice of God or the loved ones first, in the words " loveth more than Me "; but Luke records the language used by the Lord which describes the ATTITUDE of the wholly devoted follower of Christ to the soul-life in its permeating of the affections-an attitude which is necessary for their purification. Such a believer must " hate " his " own life (psuche) " in its penetration to family relationships, so that he may have " soul " divided from " spirit " in this sphere, and, in the " hating " and " losing " of his soul-life, find the higher and purer love life of Christ permeate the close family ties, ordained and honoured by God Himself through His Son in human form. 2. The Cross and soulish self-interest "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself .. . For whosoever would save his life (R.V. m. soul) shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life (soul) for My sake shall find it " (Matthew 16:24-26). Later on Matthew again records a similar statement by the Lord, but this time drawn forth by Peter’s words to Him in regard to His own Cross. Peter had said, " Pity Thyself," but the Lord replies that the path of following Him meant " DENY HIMSELF ". Here is the soul-life summed up in the word "himself ", when shown in self-centeredness in any form, i.e., self-pity, self interest, self-shrinking from suffering, in short, all that would make a man " save his life ", rather than go forward in Divine strength to pour out his " soul " unto death for others. The choosing of the path of the Cross for Christ’s sake means the " losing " of the fleshly soul-life, to have the pure Divine life of Christ in its capacity for sacrifice " found " and poured out through the soul-vessel for the blessing of the world. The Evangelist Mark repeats again the words as given in Matthew’s Gospel (Mark 8:34-36), and Luke does the same with the addition of the word " daily ", showing that the Cross in connection with the out-pouring and sacrifice of the soul-life needs to be of daily choice and efficacy and is a distinctly different aspect of the Cross to that given in Romans 6, and the other Epistles, where the death of the old creation is to be apprehended as a COMPLETED FACT, made true as the believer " reckons " himself " dead indeed unto sin " and " alive unto God in Christ Jesus ". 3. The Cross and soulish grasping of earthly things "Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to gain his life (soul) shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life (soul) shall save it alive" (Luke 17:32-33, R.V. m.). Here we find again the same emphatic words repeated by the Lord in connection with self-interest and the natural instinct of self-preservation and self-grasping of earthly possessions. " Remember Lot’s wife," says the Lord Jesus, as He points out the natural tendency of the soul-life to turn back in the hour of danger to save the " goods ", and not to let them go. The law of gaining the higher spirit-life is to " lose " so as to " gain ". The soulish-life seeks earthly treasures, but these must be renounced and the " dividing of soul and spirit " in this connection will come about again by the attitude of the believer when in the vicissitudes of life the test comes. " They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods," is written of some in days of trial (Hebrews 10:34) This attitude to " possessions " is sometimes a greater manifestation of Divine grace than the sacrifice of life. The renouncing of the soul-life in its innate clinging to the things of earth is a necessity for the " gaining " of the Spirit-life of Christ, which, pouring into the vessel of the soul from the spirit, as the seat of the God-consciousness, brings with it such an assurance of abundance in God that earth’s treasures are held lightly and are easily forsaken in the times of testing which come to all men. The undue absorption of the children of God in " house " and " goods " to the neglect of the Kingdom of God, is manifestly an aspect of the " soul " and not the spirit-life and this clinging, or over-occupation with the necessary affairs of earth, needs the knife-work of the Great High Priest in the " dividing of soul and spirit ", so that the affections of His blood-bought ones may be set on things above, in fulfilment of the word : "for ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-4). 4. The Cross and soulish self-love "He that loveth his life (soul) loseth it: and he that hateth his life (psuche-soul-life) in this world shall keep it unto life (zoe-the higher life) eternal " (John 12:25, R.V.). Here we have the contrast between the soul-life and the higher life of the spirit manifested in and through the soul-personality, very clearly defined. The soul-life is now shown as summed up in SELF-LOVE-he that "loveth his soul "-which simply means himself. We have seen the soul-life penetrating family affections and manifested in self-pity, self-protection, self grasping of the goods of earth-in brief, summed up in " My family; Myself; My goods "-with self-love in and through all. All this, the Master says, means loss-eternal loss-for it all comes from the life derived from the First Adam, manifested through the personality of the soul, and prevents that " soul " being dominated by the spirit and giving expression to the pure Divine life of the Last Adam -the Lord from heaven. Is it " sin " to keep it? Yes, WHEN THE LIGHT COMES, AND WE SEE THE TRUTH. In a deeper sense also it is sin although unknown sin-for all the life of the First Adam -i.e., the " natural man "-has been poisoned by sin and even in those who apprehend " death to sin " as set forth in Romans 6:1-23 and in consequence cease to " walk after the flesh " in manifestation of the " works of the flesh ", it penetrates into the realm of the affections and shows itself in self-love, self-pity, self-grasping and other phases of self-centredness. This must be called SIN, although in less discernible form, working through intellect, emotions and affections. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01.09. THE PATHWAY OF FREEDOM ======================================================================== " The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that One died for all, therefore all died and He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves,but unto Him ... " (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 R.V.). The work of dividing soul and spirit is done by the Lord Himself, through His Spirit wielding the Word of God, as a living, active " sword ", which penetrates to the inmost recesses of the immaterial being of man. But the MAN HIMSELF HAS HIS PART TO DO. The Spirit of God cannot carry out His work without the believer’s consent and co-working. Briefly summarised, the conditions of co-operation on the man’s side are as follows: (I) The believer needs to see the necessity of the dividing of soul and spirit and as the sacrifice is laid on the altar, definitely consent to the work being done. (2) The will of the believer must be steadily placed on God’s side in the experimental working out of the " dividing " as the circumstances of life require it. (3)The basis of the Cross as set forth in Romans 6:1-14 must be steadily maintained. As the believer reckons himself " dead indeed unto sin " (Romans 6:11)and actively carries out the command not to " LET SIN reign " in his mortal body, thus finding the "flesh" crucified with its " affections and lusts " (Galatians 5:24), so must he now reckon himself dead indeed unto sin in its more subtle forms through the soul-life, i.e., the evil " self " conditions, such as inordinate self-love, self-pity, etc. (4) The believer fulfilling these conditions must now carry out in practice his light, purpose and faith and steadily be faithful to all that he is shown by the Spirit of God, refusing deliberately all intrusion of the soul life and choosing to open himself to the higher life of Christ in his spirit. (5) The believer must seek in all things to " walk after the spirit "; to discern what is spirit and what is soul, so as to follow the one and refuse the other; to understand the laws of the spirit so as to walk in them and become in reality a " spiritual " man. As the believer fulfils these conditions he becomes in truth a new man for the power of the Cross as the sword of the Spirit has been wielded by the hands of the heavenly High Priest, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit; it has tracked the soul-life even to joints and marrow, to the inner recesses of the soul in the source of its activity and the very " marrow " of its affections; yes, it has even discerned the soulish life in mind and feelings; and in the very conceptions of the mental powers. Now the believer more and more joyfully and easily walks according to the written Word, and takes up the " Cross " as brought to bear upon him daily in the providence of God. Apprehending with ever clearer vision the fact of his death with Christ upon the Cross, the spirit of the man is more and more divided from the soul and joined in essential union with the Risen Lord who is a Life-giving Spirit-so that he becomes " one spirit " with Him and his human spirit a channel for the outflow of the Spirit of Christ to a needy world. * " We have become so accustomed to the expression ’ taking up one’s Cross ’ in the sense of being prepared for trials ... that we are apt to lose sight of its primary and proper sense here-a preparedness to go forth even to crucifixion "-Fausset. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01.10. CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== THE SPIRITUAL CHRISTIAN (pneumatikos) " He that is spiritual (pneumatikos) judgeth all things " (1 Corinthians 2:15). " And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly: and may your spirit (pneuma) and soul (psuche) and body (soma) be preserved entire, without blame ... " (1 Thessalonians 5:23, R.V.). In this passage in Thessalonians we have, as it has already been observed, one of the only two which in English plainly declare the tripartite nature of man, also describing it in the due-and original-order. It is remarkable how frequently the order is changed by many children of God, in the quotation of this verse in Thessalonians, as they pray that they may be " sanctified, body, soul and spirit ", showing that the mind unconsciously describes the true conditions of the fallen creation, until the believer is illuminated by the Spirit of God and the spirit is brought back to its place of control, in thought, as well as all the other activities of the man. The Apostle in his prayer for the Thessalonians gives comprehensively a picture of the " spiritual " believer, for he could pray no less for any of his converts than that they should be sanctified wholly ; just as he wrote to the Colossians that he laboured that he might present every man " perfect " or " full-grown " in Christ-the word he used, denoting " grown to the ripeness of maturity ". " I pray God," he says, " your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless " (A.V.). The being " preserved blameless ", or " entire " follows the being " sanctified wholly ". And this briefly means: (1) As regards the spirit: The Triune God, Who is Spirit, taking up His abode in the shrine of the spirit of the man, who is first quickened in spirit by the Holy Spirit through the redemptive work of the Son. (2) As regards the soul: The Triune God dwelling in the spirit manifesting Himself through the vessel of the soul or personality-of the man, in (a) a will wholly one with the will of God, (b) an intellect renewed and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and (c) emotions under the complete control and usage of the man, guided by that same Spirit. (3) As regards the body: The Triune God abiding in the spirit, manifesting Himself through the avenues of the soul, keeping the body under complete mastery (1 Corinthians 9:27), with every member yielding quick obedience as a " weapon of righteousness " (Romans 6:13), thus making the outer man-the body-verily a sanctuary of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19). This is the " spiritual " believer, grown to the " ripeness of maturity "; sanctified wholly in spirit, soul and body, and needing to be " preserved entire " and blameless-not faultless-by the God of Peace dwelling in the central shrine of his being. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01.11. HOW THE SOULISH MAN BECOMES SPIRITUAL ======================================================================== But how, we may ask, does the believer pass from the "soulish " stage to become actually a " spiritual " man? " The ` spiritual’ is the man distinguished above his fellowmen as he in whom the spirit rules," writes Fausset, and the " ruling of the spirit " does not only mean the Spirit of God ruling the carnal, or the soulish man, but the regenerate spirit made stronger than soul and body, so that it rules over both as it is indwelt and strengthened by the Spirit of God, according to the prayer of Paul for the Ephesians, that they might be " strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man "-i.e., the regenerate humanspirit (Bishop Mottle). The " spiritual man " is he who " walks after the spirit " and " minds " the spirit-the spirit being thus so in co-working with the Holy Spirit, that the Life-giving Spirit of the Second Adam is able freely and fully to animate the faculties of the soul-i.e., mind, imagination, reason, judgment-quicken the members of the body (Romans 8:2) and manifest through them His fullest and highest will. For this to come about, the believer must not only apprehend the negative side of God’s dealing as depicted in Hebrews 4:12 -the dividing of " soul " from " spirit "-but the positive side depicted in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, as the God of Peace " sanctifying " the whole, by taking possession of and working through the spirit, and seeing that the soul and body fulfil their proper functions. " He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit " (1 Corinthians 6:7), wrote the Apostle. " Ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him Who was raised from the dead " (Romans 7:4, R.V.). Here is set forth clearly the " joining " or union with Christ in the spirit, which is the purpose and outcome of the work of the Cross. This union with the Risen and Ascended Lord can be only in spirit, and EXPERIMENTALLY REALIZED as the SPIRIT OF THE BELIEVER IS SEPARATED FROM THE ENWRAPPING OF THE SOUL; for, as Stockmayer observes, the Risen Lord cannot be said to be the Bridegroom of the soul; the soul-the personality of the man-can only be the vessel through which the Lord manifests His own life, bringing forth, in union with the believer’s spirit, " fruit unto God ". The " spiritual " man, therefore, is one in whom, through the dividing of soul and spirit by the Word of God, the SPIRIT HAS BEEN FREED from the entanglement of the " soul ", or, as Bromley (who wrote in 1774.) says, raised out of its "embrace" and joined to the Lord in union of essence-spirit with spirit-one spirit-so that the soul and body may serve as vehicles for the expression of the will, and life, and love of the Lord Himself through the believer. In the light of this, the contrast between the " works " of the " flesh " and the "fruit " of the " Spirit ", described in Galatians 5:18-24, is very striking. The " flesh " works, and works out to the surface its repulsive manifestations; whilst in the man who knows the Romans 6:1-23 aspect of Calvary, the crucifixion of the flesh, and the dividing of soul from spirit by the Word of God, the spirit united to the Lord brings forth FRUIT-spontaneous manifestations of life in the form of fruit; fruit manifested in and through the soul (personality) in its various forms of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control. The word " self-control " mentioned as one of the " fruits " of the Spirit, shows that the Spirit of God uses the " self "-personality or " soul " of the man as His means of control. The personality, as meaning self-or soul-is therefore not to be destroyed or suppressed, but ennobled as it becomes a vehicle for expressing the Spirit of Christ dwelling within. In brief, the " fruit of the Spirit ", in " love, joy, peace ", means love manifested through the " soul ", but derived from the Holy Spirit in the human spirit, instead of from the soul-life. There are many passages in the Scriptures describing the various " soul " faculties in activity, and deriving their animation from the spirit. We read of the being "fervent in spirit " (Romans 12:11); the purposing in the spirit (Acts 19:21) ; the spirit of faith (2 Corinthians 4:13); love in the spirit (Colossians 1:8); all these spirit-activities being manifested through the avenue of the soul-the personality of the man: the " wisdom " through his mind; the "purposing " through his will; the " love " through his affectionate part; the "joy" through his emotional senses, but springing from the eternal depth of his spirit, and not merely from his senses alone. The laws of the spirit life It is at this stage that it is vitally important that the believer should know the laws of the spirit, and how to walk after the spirit, lest he fail to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and give opportunity to the deceiving spirits of Satan to ensnare him with counterfeits of the true spirit-life, produced in the soul-realm, which he does not recognise as spurious, for their object is to draw him to walk unknowingly in the soul-sphere again. The spiritual man-with his spirit liberated, or " divided " from the soul-is one who walks by, or is governed by the spirit, and not by his soul or body; but this does not mean that he cannot be entangled in the soul-life again, if, through ignorance of the laws of the spirit, he fails to let the spirit rule. He must know how to discern what is from the spirit, the soul or the body in his experience; how to keep the spirit free and open to the Spirit of God; and what condition of spirit is necessary for continuous co-operation with the Holy Spirit. He needs to be able to recognise, and deal with the attacks of evil spirit-beings upon his spirit to hinder fellowship with God; or to press it down into the soul, paralysing its action and causing passivity of spirit. Failing this, they will seek to drive his spirit beyond a sober activity-the entire object being to prevent or hinder continuous resistance of their attacks. For walking after the spirit (I) the believer must know what is spirit, and how to give heed to the demands of the spirit, and not to quench it. A weight comes upon his spirit, but he goes on with his work, putting up with the pressure; he finds the work hard, but he has no time to investigate the cause, until at last the weight becomes unendurable, and he is forced to stop and see what is the matter, whereas he should have given heed to the claims of the spirit at the first, and in a brief prayer taken the " weight " to God, refusing all pressure from the foe. (2) He should be able to read his spirit, and know at once when it is out of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, quickly refusing all attacks which are drawing his spirit out of the poise of fellowship with God. (3) He should know when his spirit is touched by the poison of the spirits of evil; by the injection, for instance, of sadness, soreness, complaint, grumbling, fault-finding, touchiness, bitterness, feeling hurt, jealousy, etc.-all direct from the enemy to the spirit. He should resist all sadness, gloom, and grumbling injected into his spirit, for the victory life of a freed spirit means joyfulness (Galatians 5:22). This touching of the spirit by the various things just named is not the manifestation of the " works of the flesh ", when the believer is one who knows the life after the spirit; although they will quickly reach the sphere of the flesh if not recognized, and dealt with in sharp refusal and resistance. (4) He should know when his spirit is in the right position of dominance over soul and body, and yet not driven beyond due measure by the exigencies of conflict or environment. There are three conditions of the spirit which the believer should be able to discern and deal with, i.e.: (a) The spirit depressed, crushed or " down ". (b) The spirit in its right position, in poise and calm control. (c) The spirit drawn out beyond " poise " when it is in strain, or driven. When the man walks after the spirit, and discerns any one of these conditions, he knows how to " lift " his spirit when it is depressed and how to check the over action by a quiet act of his volition, when it is drawn out of poise by over-eagerness, or the drive of spiritual foes. The human spirit may be likened to the electric light. If it is in contact with the Spirit of God it is full of light; apart from Him it is darkness. Indwelt by Him " the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord " (Proverbs 20:27). The spirit may also be likened to elastic; when it is bound, or pressed, or weighted, it ceases to act, or to be the source of power and " spring ", so to speak. If a man feels weighted, he should find out what the weight is. If he is asked, " Is it your body ? " he would probably say " No ", but that he " feels bound inside ". Then what is it that is "bound" or "weighted?" Is it not the spirit? The spirit can be compressed or expanded, bound or free. The possibilities and potentialities of the human spirit are only known when the spirit is joined to Christ, and " by reason of use " is made strong by the Holy Spirit to " stand against the powers of darkness ". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 01.12. THE SPIRITUAL MAN IS "FULL-GROWN " IN CHRIST ======================================================================== The " spiritual " man is also described by the Apostle as " full-grown " in Christ, and in the first letter to the Corinthians we have a striking contrast drawn between the spiritual and carnal believer. The carnal-or fleshly -believer, can only be fed with " milk ", the simplest element of the Gospel, whereas to the " full-grown " or " spiritual " man, can be given the " deep things of God ", things which cannot even be spoken " in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth, interpreting spiritual things (not truths, be it noted, but things-facts-substances-as real as things material on earth) to spiritual men " (1 Corinthians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 2:13, R. V. margin). The Apostle makes it clear also that the "soulish "or " man of soul "-cannot receive these " things " of the Spirit, any more than the fleshly " babes of Christ " (1 Corinthians 2:14), for to the soulish intellect and wisdom, they appear nought but foolishness. None but those who are " spiritual " can discern them, and examine (R.V. margin) them-for they can be " examined " as really as material things ! The " spiritual " man " examines all things ", for he is able by the Holy Spirit to penetrate to the inner spiritual source of all things, and pierce through the veil of sense and sight to the spiritual verities lying at the back of all things, but the "soulish " man, i.e., the man who can use only his natural intellect, cannot pierce further than the intellect can go, he can examine all things in the " natural " sphere, and no more !. The " ` spiritual man ’ is ripe in understanding ", writes the Apostle, and if we carefully examine all the references in Paul’s Epistles to the " spiritual " man, and the " full grown " man, we shall see how the dividing of soul and spirit in the believer is the condition of reaching the stage called " spiritual ", or " of full-growth ". The " full grown " stage is again and again connected with the knowledge, teaching, and discernment of spiritual things, all having to do with the soul. "We speak wisdom among the ` full-grown ’ " (1 Corinthians 2:6, R. V. margin) ; " Be not children in mind... but in mind be of full age " (1 Corinthians 14:20, R. V. margin) ; " Teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect " (same Greek word as rendered full-grown, Colossians 1:28) ; " solid food is for full grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern . . . " (Hebrews 5:14, R.V.). " Let us therefore, as many as be perfect "-or " ripe in understanding ", " perfect " being the antithesis of " babe " (same Greek word as " full-grown " in 1 Corinthians 2:6)-" be thus minded " (Php 3:15), writes the Apostle in his letters. For the Colossians he prays that they may be " filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding " (Colossians 1:9); and it is the " spiritual " man who is bidden to restore a brother overtaken in any trespass, for he only can exercise the heavenly wisdom required for faithfulness in dealing with sin from the standpoint of God, whilst loving tenderly the erring brother.* Again, to the Ephesians the Apostle writes, " Till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ " (Ephesians 4:13, R.V.). Here again is knowledge linked with full-growth, and the fulness of Christ ! The " unity of the faith " which should characterise the mystical Body of Christ, and bring about its " full-stature ", cannot be manifested until each of the individual members reaches the full-grown stage, and becomes a " spiritual " man; and again, each member cannot thus become " spiritual " until he apprehends the separation of soul and spirit, so that the spirit may be fully joined to the Risen Lord, and the " soul-vessel " in its intellectual and other departments, be energized and dominated by the spirit from the sphere of the God-consciousness; and not from the lower life of the first Adam. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 01.13. THE SPIRITUAL MAN IS "MADE PERFECT IN LOVE" ======================================================================== The word " perfect " or " complete " which is " full-grown " in 1 Corinthians 2:6, R.V. margin, and joined so often with the mind or knowledge, by Paul, is joined with love by the Apostle John. He speaks of the believer being " made perfect in love " (1 John 4:18) and tells how " perfect love casteth out fear ", and " love made perfect " gives " boldness in the day of judgment ". The Epistle of John shows the " spiritual " man, therefore, as one with the affections of the soul fully possessed with the love of God, and so entirely as to be completely filled full with love flowing from Him Who dwells in the spirit. " God dwelleth in us and His love is ’ perfected ’ in us," writes the Apostle, i.e., the vessel of the soul is perfectly filled with Divine love, so that up to its measure and capacity it is " complete " with the love of God, and so filled that " fear " has no place, and no room. But John’s language means even more than the fact that the Divine Love of Him Who dwells in the spirit of the believer, can flow freely through the soul-vessel. He is really describing the life in the Spirit of the spiritual man, i.e., what living and dwelling in the sphere of the " God-consciousness " means. " God is love," he writes, " and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him " (1 John 4:16). The " spiritual " man who lives and walks in the spirit of love is thus " abiding in God ". If " fear " or " hate " comes in, he has descended to the soul-realm, and admitted some element of the natural soul-life, or else, through the attack of evil spirits, he has ceased to co-work with God in his spirit. Upon discerning it he must at once go to the Cross, to submit the soulish element to its severing power; whilst Godward he calls it "sin", and seeks the application of the cleansing blood according to 1 John 1:7, at the same time resisting the powers of darkness, and taking up once more the " whole armour of God " for victory. The spiritual man is " perfected into one " with all believers The " spiritual man " is perfected into one spirit with others in Christ. The word " perfect " used in 1 Corinthians 2:6, was also used by the Lord Jesus in His High Priestly prayer, to describe the union between His redeemed ones, which lay as the burden on His heart on the eve of His going to the Cross to make that union possible. " As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in us ... that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one . . . " (John 7:21-23, R.V.). The essential union which exists between Father and Son the Union of essence in spirit with spirit-is the union of the believer each with the other who is IN God. The language of the Lord is unmistakable. He said, " That they may be one, even as WE are ONE! " This means Father and Son, dwelling in the spirit of the believer, by the Holy Ghost, in perfect-or complete-union; and of necessity it means also the same union of spirit with other believers. The " spiritual " man is therefore not only one with Christ in God, Who is Love, but he finds the same union with the same God abiding in others. Therefore, he cannot be fully abiding in God if he in any degree admits the soulish life of nature which is manifested in (I) divisions, (2) partiality (James 3:17, R. V. margin), or (3) partisanship (Galatians 5:20, R.V. margin). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 01.14. THE SPIRITUAL MAN "WALKS IN LIGHT" ======================================================================== Again, it is of the " spiritual " man that the Apostle John writes, " If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin . . . " (1 John 1:7). The walking in light can only be by the man living in the sphere of the God-consciousness, where God dwells in his spirit. Any descent into the realm of the soul may be likened to the " spirit" joined to Him Who is light-sinking into an opaque vessel, which brings a cloud or film over it, and obscures the light. The believer abiding in God Who is light, abides and walks in light, and in that light finds " fellowship " with God and with others who dwell in light, whilst the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing continuously from all unknown sin, which may unconsciously touch the abiding one by any intrusion of the " soul-life ", or from contact with sin in the world around. " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." " He that loveth ... abideth in the light." This is the Ascensionlife, or life hidden with Christ in God, of which the Apostle Paul writes. It was spoken of to the disciples by the Lord Jesus in His farewell words in the upper room at Jerusalem, and brought into their real experience by the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of the glorified Jesus entered their spirit, and they were lifted up out of the soul-realm into spiritual oneness with the glorified Lord. Abiding in Him, and He in them, the " world " believed. They saw the oneness of the Spirit filled company " made perfect in Love ", with all " fear " cast out; they saw them walking in such light that sinful selfishness, such as that manifested by Ananias, could not be allowed to exist among them. In the light of all this, and what it means to Christ and His Church, that all the members of His Body should thus become " spiritual ", and adjusted-or perfected-into their place in union with the Risen Head, the importance of the believer understanding the difference between " soul " and " spirit " cannot be over-estimated. For upon his ceasing to live " after the flesh "-in the senseconsciousness-depends his growth into a fully " spiritual " man, i.e., a man able to understand his spirit, and to discern and examine spiritual things. A man sanctified wholly, by the complete liberation of his spirit from the domination of either soul or body, indwelt by the Triune God; and, walking whereunto he has attained, is yet pressing on to fuller " perfection " or completeness (Php 3:15-16). How long should be the stage between the first step of the new birth and full-grown in the life of Christ, in the sense of the spirit being liberated, and-in union with the Risen Ascended Lord-having complete domination of soul and body, we cannot clearly say. The language used by the Apostle to the Corinthians, and again by the writer to the Hebrews, suggests blame that many had continued too long in the stage of babyhood, " yet carnal ", and needing milk on account of their weak spiritual life, when they should have been teachers, leading other " babes " on into full growth. The babe-stage can evidently be protracted or shortened, and need not be measured by ordinary periods of time. Probably either is determined by the measure of truth apprehended, and the knowledge and self-surrender of the believer. At all events, the language of the writer to the Hebrews makes it clear that the attitude of the believer has much to do with his progress. Writing to those he had just rebuked by saying that they had become " dull of hearing ", and needed to be taught again the first principles of the Gospel, he says: " Let us leave the word of the beginning of Christ, and press on unto full growth . . . " (Hebrews 6:1 R. V. margin) almost the very words of Paul to the Philippians in Php 3:1-21, where he tells of his own eager pressing on, not considering that he was " already made perfect ", although he could say " Let us who are ... perfect ",i.e., complete, or full-grown-be thus minded in pressing on towards the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 01.15. THE SPIRITUAL MAN AND THE "SPIRITUAL BODY" ======================================================================== The " spiritual " body, referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:44, with which the believer will be clothed in the resurrection, is a logical outcome of the spiritual stage we have been considering. " That is not first which is spiritual," writes the Apostle, " but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual " (1 Corinthians 15:46). The babe in Christ is " yet carnal ", but by his apprehension of Romans vi. he ceases to walk after the flesh, and walks after the Spirit. Then he apprehends the " dividing of soul and spirit", and becomes a " spiritual man ", with mind renewed, and his soul and body a vehicle for God to express Himself through him. Now the original order of the tripartite man is restored, in the sense of: 1. The Holy Spirit ruling in the liberated spirit (the seat of the God-consciousness), with 2. The Soul-or personality-as the vessel (the seat of the self-consciousness), and 3. The Body as the slave (the seat of sense-consciousness). Now the man is truly " spiritual ", or, to put it more crudely, we might say he is a " spirit " dwelling in the vessel of the " soul ", and this again encased in a physical mortal body. The language of Paul clearly shows that the full redemption of the body awaits the appearing of the Lord from heaven. " We ourselves groan," he writes, " waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body " (Romans 8:23); " We wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory" (Php 3:20-21); " We would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life " (2 Corinthians 5:4). The body is, therefore, still a " natural " body; a mortal body; a vessel of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7) and not until sown in the earth at death-or changed in the twinkling of an eye at the Lord’s coming-is it raised " a spiritual body ". But the " spiritual " man who lives under the rule of the Holy Spirit day by day, may have an increasing " earnest " of the coming redemption of the body, for as he walks in the spirit, his body shares in the life-giving power of the Spirit, according to Romans 8:11, where the Apostle declares, " If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you " (R.V. margin). The power of the reality of this " quickening of the mortal body ", by the very same Spirit of the Father, which " raised up Jesus from the dead ", can be known only as far as the soul-life of nature is continuously " lost " by the power of the Cross (Matthew 16:24-26), for the mortal body can only be quickened by the Holy Spirit when the Life-giving Spirit is free to energise soul and body. The Apostle’s suggestive words in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, have to do with this stage of the believer’s life. Just as the soul-life has to be " lost " to find the Spiritlife inflowing from the Holy Spirit, using the soul-capacity and faculties; so the same principle of "loss" for " gain " must work in the mortal body. Therefore, it is written : " Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body ". The loss of the carnal-life animating the soul was gradual, giving place to the inflow of the Spirit-life as the believer yielded to the dividing of soul and spirit, brought about by the wielding of the sword of the Spirit by the Heavenly High Priest; and so is the " dying of Jesus " in the mortal body inwrought continuously, as the believer follows on in the way of the Cross, " pressed, perplexed, pursued, smitten down "-yea, " pressed above measure, despairing even of life " (2 Corinthians 1:8-9), so as to cast him upon the God Who raiseth the dead, that he may prove the " life of Jesus " manifested in the sustaining and quickening of the mortal body. This " losing " of life, to " gain " the life of Jesus, is brought about by the Holy Spirit as the believer follows on to know the Lord. " We who live," writes the Apostle, " are always delivered to death ... that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us but life in you...." Painful as it is to the " mortal flesh ", the " spiritual " man, able to " examine " these deep things of God, can see that the inworking of death and life means two results of vital importance to the Lord and His people : (I) That when the life of Jesus can freely flow from the sanctuary of the spirit through the soul faculties, quickening the " mortal body " with unhindered power, it means life to others, as well as to the believer himself-a quickening life to the whole Church of Christ, as depicted by the Lord in His promise of rivers of living water. (2) That this quickening of the mortal body is the " earnest of the Spirit ", whereby the body itself is being prepared for the hour when " what is mortal may be swallowed up of life ", even as the Apostle writes, " . . . He that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit " (2 Corinthians 5:4-5). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 01.16. SOME DANGERS OF THE SPIRITUAL MAN ======================================================================== The believer who has become really " spiritual ", that is, with his spirit ruling soul and body-does not at that time pass out of the realm of conflict, but enters upon a more subtle phase of it, as set forth in Ephesians 6:10-18. The man who is said, in Ephesians 2:6, to be " seated with Christ in the heavenlies ", is afterwards described as " wrestling " with spiritual hosts of wickedness in " high places ", particularly in the form of " wiles " of the devil. This indicates that the spiritual believer in conflict has mainly to watch against subtle spiritual wiles of spirit foes, who are seeking to entangle him in matters connected with the spiritual realm, rather than in the conflict between flesh and spirit described in Galatians 5:17. In this phase of conflict, the wiles of the powers of darkness are mainly directed toward getting the spiritual man to walk, in some degree, after the soul and not after the spirit; that is, to be influenced by and to walk by anything in the realm of the senses, instead of in the spirit in co-operation with the Holy Spirit of God. It is essential, then, that the believer, who is spiritual, should understand that deceiving spirits of Satan can create a counterfeit of the human spirit in the realm of the soul. They do this, by getting access to the outer man by guile, and then producing motions in the man other than those of the spirit. When these other motions-which possibly appear spiritual-get a hold, they may become strong enough to silence or overpower the true spirit action. If the believer is ignorant of the tactics of the enemy in this way, the true spirit action is easily allowed to sink into disuse, by the man following the counterfeit spiritual feelings, thinking he is " walking after the spirit ". When the true spirit-action ceases, the evil spirits may suggest that " God now guides through the renewed mind ", which is an attempt to hide their counterfeit workings, and the man’s disuse of his spirit. At the same time comes counterfeit light to the mind, followed by counterfeit reasoning, judging, etc., and the man thinks he has light from God, because he is unaware that he has ceased to " walk after the spirit ", and is now walking after the natural mind. Another danger of the spiritual man lies in the subtle attempts of the deceiving spirits of Satan to get him to walk after the flesh (i.e., body), under the belief that he is still walking in the spirit, by creating feelings in the body which the man thinks are " spiritual ". To defeat these wiles, the believer should understand that all physical consciousness of supernatural things, and even undue physical consciousness of natural things, should be refused, as both divert the mind from " walking after the spirit ", and set it upon the bodily sensations. Undue physical consciousness is also an obstacle to the continuous concentration of the mind, and in a spiritual believer an " attack " of " physical consciousness " made use of by the enemy may break concentration of the mind, and bring a cloud upon the spirit: therefore the body should be kept calm, and under full control. For this reason, excessive laughter, and all " rushing " which rouses the physical life to the extent of dominating mind and spirit should be avoided. Believers who desire to be " spiritual ", and of " full age " in the life of God, must avoid excess, extravagance, and extremes in all things. (See 1 Corinthians 9:25-27) Because of the domination of the physical part of the man, and the misunderstanding of supernatural experiences felt in the body, the body is made to do the work of the spirit, and is forced into prominence which suppresses the true spirit life. Under such conditions the body feels the pressure and feels the conflict, and becomes the " sense " in the place of the mind and spirit. Believers should learn to discriminate, and know how to discern the true feelings of the spirit, which are neither emotional (soulish) nor physical. (See, for example, Mark 8:12; John 13:21 ; Acts 18:5 A. V.)Through ignorance, a large majority of believers walk " after the soul ", i.e., their mind and emotions, under the impression that they are " walking after the spirit ". Because of what this means-depriving the believer of vital spirit power-the satanic forces use all their wiles to draw him to live in his soul or body, sometimes flashing visions to the mind, making presentations to the mind during prayer, or giving exquisite sensations of joy, buoyancy of life, etc., to the body. To depend upon supernatural things given from outside, or experiences in the sense realm, checks the inward spiritual life. By the bait of " experiences " in the senses, the believer is drawn out to live in the outer field of his body, instead of living in the true sphere of the spirit; then, ceasing co act from his centre, he is caught by the outer workings of the supernatural in his circumference, and loses-quite unconsciously-his inner cooperation with God. Then his spirit, which is the organ of the Holy Spirit in conflict against a spiritual foe, drops into abeyance and is ignored, because the believer is occupied with the sense-experience. Consequently, it is practically out of action, either for guidance, power in service, or conflict. There is a serious danger arising out of the human spirit acting apart from co-operation with the Holy Spirit. When the spirit has been " divided " from the soul and become dominant, it is then open to become influenced by deceiving spirits in quite another way. Supposing in one of the ways already indicated, or otherwise, the man has ceased (unconsciously) to co-operate with the Holy Spirit, and is still guided by his spirit, he is liable to think his own masterful spirit is an evidence of the power of God, because in other directions he sees the Holy Spirit using him in winning souls. Under that delusion he may have a flood of indignation inserted into his spirit, and he pours it out, thinking it is all of God, but others, with real discernment, are conscious of a harsh note which is clearly not of God. Such an experience may easily take place in conflict, as well as in speaking, if the praying one is not watchful, the energising power being demoniacal, either directly influencing the spirit or by way of the soulish emotions. This influence on the human spirit by evil spirits counterfeiting the Divine workings in the man himself, because he is out of co-working with the Holy Spirit, needs to be understood and detected by the believer who seeks to walk with God. He needs to know that because he is spiritual, his " spirit " is open to two forces of the spirit realm. If he thinks that only the Holy Spirit can influence him in the spiritual sphere, he is sure to be misled. If it were so, he would become infallible, but he needs to watch and pray, and seek to have the eyes of his understanding enlightened to distinguish the true workings of God from the counterfeit. The believer who is " spiritual " must ponder deeply the unveiling of the heavenly warfare given in Ephesians 6:1-24 and strive to know in its fullest extent the experimental meaning of the " whole armour of God " which he is to " take " and use in the " evil day " of specific onslaughts of the foe. The burden of the Spirit of God at this present time is the perfecting, or full ripening into maturity, of the membersof the Body of Christ, so that His appearing may quickly take place, and the millennial reign of Christ, and His co-heirs be ushered in, for the peace of the world and the discomfiture of Satan; who will then be cast down into the pit, and the kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." Even so, Lord Jesus-come quickly. Amen." Made free ! Made free in Jesus Deep planted in His death, He liberates His Life power, And breathes His Spirit’s breath, Then, waxing strong in spirit, With force of quickening life, The soul and body governed, Its members cease from strife. Made free ! Made free in Jesus: Joined to the Risen One, By conflict prayer you triumph, And claim His victory won. Freed with His glorious freedom, Above the darkness rife; For now the law of sin and death Is conquered by His life. M.M. * For fuller light on this aspect of the walk after the spirit, see War on the Saints, from which this portion is extracted * Colossians 1:28-29. See Conybeare’s Note.36 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 01.17. CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== Some light upon the perils of the Last Days "THE forces of psuche (soul) arrayed against the forces of pneuma (spirit)," is the expressive sentence used by a correspondent in India, to describe the conflict in the unseen realm in these solemn days. This is his description of the real issues in India at the present time, but to those able to distinguish between " soul and spirit " the words just as vividly depict what is taking place in Great Britain as well as in the East. The situation is undoubtedly changing. The Church of Christ in her advance in the things of God is meeting with new phases of testings, in which all she has hitherto known seems inadequate to meet her need. Fresh light from God the Holy Spirit is therefore an imperative necessity, and this He is giving as new situations arise. " The forces of psuche arrayed against the forces of pneuma ! " What does this " soul-force " mean ? Our correspondent writes at length as follows: " The forces of the pit have gone forth to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:7-12). The consequence is that great upheavals are taking place in the political world. It becomes us to take account of these happenings, as they vitally affect the Church of Christ. " I once met a man in North India, who had access to the highest circles of society in Simla, the summer seat of the Government of India, who told me one evening of his connection with the Mahatmas in India and in other countries of Asia. He said that he knew of great political events weeks and months before they came to pass. ` I do not depend for news on telegrams and newspapers. They only record past events, we know events before they take place,’ he said. How can a man in London know the events happening in India and vice versa ? " It was explained to me that it was through ` soul-force’ being projected by men who knew the secret of the Mahatmas. What is soul force ? To the believer taught of the Spirit of God, in the light of the Word of God, it is the power of the pit projected upon the nations of the world to deceive them, so as to bring about catastrophic changes. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 01.18. SOUL-FORCE ======================================================================== " ` Soul-force’ is a word whose charm and magic is only known in the East. It is the power believed to have been exercised by holy men, known as Mahatmas, who were the spiritual leaders in India in centuries gone by, and who are credited with supernatural powers as much to-day as in ages past. It is said to have power, not only to energize, but also to control the will of the people. " To illustrate the power of this word in the Indian mind, it is sufficient to point to the revision of the Treaty of Sevres, under which all that was lost to Turkey has to be restored. A greater triumph of one Eastern nation over all Western nations put together, cannot be imagined. The explanation given, and believed in by millions in India, is expressed in the word ’ soul force ’. " This ` soul-force ’ is believed to be cultivated by prayer, fasting, and religious meditation. The Mohammedans point with pride to their gatherings for prayer in their Mosques. Consider the mass of Mohammed’s at prayer in the great Jumna Mosque of Delhi, where an hundred thousand followers of Mahomet assemble inside the Mosque, with a still larger crowd engaged in prayer outside. It is here where ` soul-force ’ is generated ! In the Mosques of India, which count by thousands upon thousands, where devout Mohammed’s meet three times for prayer every day. It is here that the hidden springs of Islam lie. Every Mohammedan believes that the secret of world-power is in prayer, and what he believes, hepractices. They ` pray’, and lo (they believe) the council of European nations is set aside. What a lesson to Christendom ! " And how is soul-force cultivated amongst the vast Hindu population of India? If the gatherings of Mahomedans for prayer are large, those of Hindus, who meet for devotional exercise at their great festivals, are ten times larger. The Hindus point with pride to their sacred places of pilgrimage, where they assemble by hundreds of thousands. At the great Magh Festival at Allahabad, millions of Hindus assemble every seven years. " Prayer-an exercise of devotion which unites Hindu and Mohammedan into one common action, to generate ’ soul-force ’ in order that it may be projected upon Western nations, to undermine their power and prestige in the East. It is the greatest revolt known in history ! ... " There is a passage in Pember’s " Earth’s Earliest Ages " which throws light upon this matter. He writes, that the man who would generate " soul-force " must " so bring his body under the control of his own soul, that he can project his soul and spirit, and, while living on this earth, act as if he were a dis-embodied spirit ". The " man who attains to this power is called an ` adept’ and ... can consciously see the minds of others. He can act by his ` soul-force ’ on external spirits.... He can subdue ferocious wild beasts and send his soul to a distance ", and he can " exhibit to his distant friends his spiritual body in the likeness of that of the flesh ". We read that the " development of these faculties . . . can only be compassed by a long . . . training, the object of which is to break down the body to a complete subjection, and to produce apathy in regard to all the pleasures, pains and emotions of this life...." The whole tenor of Indian religious life undoubtedly develops these soul-powers, for what can be the effect ofintense " prayer " fixed on a given object by a hundred thousand men, who know not the Gospel of Christ, but the " projecting " of soul-forces, directed by the god of this world, upon the object desired. " Soul force " verses " spirit force ". What does this mean in England? Just this. That the same development of psychic power is taking place knowingly, and unknowingly, all round us, bringing into action forces which are at the disposal of the invisible powers of evil. " The forces of psuche arrayed against the forces of pneuma." What are the " forces of psuche " but the " natural man " drawing out of his nature latent powers which are not of the Spirit of God. And the forces of "pneuma ", what are they? The power of God Himself as " Spirit " brought into action through the spiritual man, born of the Spirit, walking after the Spirit, and praying to God on the ground of the Blood of Calvary. (See Revelation 8:3-5, as an example.) How this ignorant bringing into action of psychic force can affect spiritual believers has come to me in a recent letter. The writer says: " I have just come through a terrible onslaught of the enemy. Haemorrhage, heart affection, panting and exhaustion. My whole body in a state of collapse. It suddenly burst upon me while at prayer to pray against all psychic power exercised upon me by (psychic) ’prayer’. By faith in the power of the Blood of Christ, I cut myself off from it, and the result was remarkable. Instantly my breathing became normal, the haemorrhage stopped, exhaustion vanished, all pain fled, and life came back into my body. I have been refreshed and invigorated ever since. God let me know in confirmation of this deliverance, that my condition was the effect of a group of deceived souls who are in opposition to me ` praying’ about me ! God has used me to the deliverance of two of them, but the rest are in an awful pit...." This is not the only instance which has come to my knowledge within the last few months of the fresh dangers coming upon spiritual believers, through the deepening tribulation conditions which are coming to pass throughout the whole inhabited earth. Through these other instances it appears that this generation of soul-force under the guise of prayer, is most likely to take place in those who have had great supernatural experiences, and have in some way opened themselves to evil spirits. These souls seem, in some way, to get what might be called a fanatical spirit of insistence that other believersshould come into the same experience that they have had, and if they in any way refuse to seek these experiences, or appear to these souls to be a block in the path of others obtaining these supernatural manifestations, they direct, as they think, " prayer " upon them, that they should be punished by God with judgment, or that they should be compelled to yield to what these souls call " the truth ". But this is very much like the disciples who said to the Lord, when they came to a village where they would not receive Him, " Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them ? " And the Lord replied, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of ". God never uses compulsion to force any soul into receiving Him, even for their own benefit. God the Holy Ghost recognizes the human responsibility of a man’s own choice, whether God shall save him or not. So we would earnestly warn God’s servants-truly God’s servants-who seem to be concerned about others who will not seek their own particular line of " blessing " -and pray them to commit these other believers to God, and not to lay themselves open to the danger of generating soul-force by directing, what might be called evil prayers upon them. In any case it behoves all who give themselves to intense prayer, to carefully avoid praying for others what they think is the " will of God " for them, and above all things, never to direct " prayer " upon others, but upward toward God, thus leaving those for whom they pray free from the possible danger of soul-force working upon them through the aerial currents of the hour. As an example of this a minister writes " We have recently had a Convention in this town and one of the ’speakers’ was ’out’ to enforce his own supernatural experience on others-his own particular line of ’ blessing’. I was the subject of much ’ prayer’ on this line, and I have since seriously felt the effect ... This concentrating the mind (i.e., soul-force) in prayer on something that one wants is fraught with evil...." Let us remember that true Spirit-born prayer has its origination in the spirit, and that it is not the mind concentrating upon something the person desires under the cover of " prayer " language. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 01.19. CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== The World-issues of To-day Several letters have reached me concerning the brief paper " Soul Force verses Spirit Force " given in our last issue. A ministerial reader describes it as being epochal in importance, whilst others confirm from personal experience some of the statements made, showing how truly the present increase of Satanic activity is hastening the world on into the tribulation period foretold in the Word of God. But I am asked to give more light on the meaning of "soul-force" and why in its present development it is fraught with such peril to the children of God. To explain clearly what "soul-force" consists of and why it is now being aroused and used by the powers of darkness in the last great phase of the warfare against the truth of God we need first to go to the Scriptures and under the illumination of the Spirit of God see what is taught therein on the subject of "Soul and Spirit". Dr. Andrew Murray’s explanation of what the " soul " or psuche is, and its relation to the spirit and the body, is very clear. Man consists of (I) spirit, (2) soul and (3) body-" The spirit is the seat of our God-consciousness; the soul, of our self-consciousness; the body, of our worldconsciousness; In the spirit [of the believer] God dwells; in the soul, self; in the body, sense...." The distinction between the soul and the spirit is of the greatest moment, for it is for lack of knowing this that the devil is able to deceive and mislead even children of God. There are passages in the Scripture where it appears that " soul and spirit " are synonymous terms, but a knowledge of Christian experience when it reaches the full stature of Christ, where the " spirit " inter-penetrates the " soul ", that they become practically one, makes this synonymous use of the words clear. " God is a Spirit." They who " worship Him must worship Him in spirit. .. " said Christ. Every human being has a spirit, albeit a spirit separated from God through the Fall. It is the " spirit " which has to be rekindled by the light of God, and regenerated by the impartation of the life of Christ; so that the man is " recreated " or " born " from above (John 3:3 margin). There is no " spark " of the Divine in man by nature since the Fall, but a " spirit " which is fallen and needing regeneration, or a new birth. This is the crux of the whole matter, and of far more than academic importance. A mistake here is eternal in its consequences. The " Fall " and the need of regeneration through the Substitutionary death of Christ cannot be a question of " opinion " upon which men may differ. Right here is the bedrock division of the human race into those who are born of God, and those who are not. Right here is the one point of the devil’s concern, and the fundamental issue of every kind of " ism " under the sun. The " soul " is the seat of our " self-consciousness ", writes Dr. Murray. It comprehends all our " moral and intellectual faculties ", also " consciousness . . . self-determination, or mind and will ". " What occurred in Adam’s Fall," he writes, was that " the ’ soul’ (i.e., the self), had to decide whether it would yield itself to the spirit, by it to be linked with God and His will, or to the body and the solicitations of the visible ". In the Fall the soul " refused the rule of the spirit, and became the slave of the body...." Thus " because the soul is under the power of the flesh, man is spoken of as having ` becomeflesh ’ ... " and " all the attributes of the soul " therefore This makes the matter quite clear. In the natural man the development and use of " soul-force " means the development and use of all the " attributes of the soul " whilst in its fallen condition, and therefore apart from God, even though it might appear to be in the service of God. Truly regenerated believers must face the fact that since " soulpower " our " soul-force " has its source in the soul-or self-and not in the spirit, which in the Christian is the place of the Divine Indwelling-the Spirit of God does not use the natural forces of the soul for the carrying out of the purposes of God, though He does use the faculties ofthe soul in a consecrated man, as a vehicle for expression of the life of God. How important this fact is, we find Dr. Murray emphasizing in the following solemn words : " The greatest danger the religion of the Church, or the individual, has to dread, is the inordinate activity of the soul,WITH ITS POWERS OF MIND OR WILL ", for in many the " soul has been so long accustomed to rule, that even when ... it has surrendered to Christ, it imagines it is now its work to carry out that surrender ". So " subtle and mighty is this spirit of self " (or soul) that " the flesh ... even when the soul learns to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let the Spirit alone lead, and in its efforts to be religious is still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the Spirit.... What has been begun in the Spirit.... very speedily passes over into confidence in the flesh ". Here we see the meaning of the words used by our India correspondent to depict the world-issues of the close of the age. It is the old battle described by Paul in Galatians 5:17 " the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh ", and the " carnal mind is enmity against God " (Romans 8:7, see also Colossians 1:21). " Flesh " and " Spirit " are in radical opposition, and always will be, even when the " flesh " is manifested in the form of " soul ", i.e., through the natural powers of mind and will, etc., inherent in the natural man. These are referred to in the list of " works of the flesh ", under the words " Idolatry, witchcraft (magical arts, Conybeare),hatred, variance, sedation, heresies" (Galatians 5:19-21 )-all activities of the soul-powers under the power of the flesh. But now let us go into the matter from the standpoint of world-issues rather than in individual experience. Why can it be said that the world-conflict is becoming a question of " forces of psuche " (or soul) versus the " forces of pneuma " (or spirit). To get light on the causes underlying this, we must again go back to the Eden tragedy and see what the Fall of Adam meant, and the serpent’s objective, which is nearing its climax at the present hour. For we have not clearly understood how deep and tragic were the results of the Fall, nor what Adam carried with him into his fallen condition, nor realized that the God-given powers which Adam possessed in his sinless state lay open afterwards to the Tempter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 01.20. THE GILDED BAIT ======================================================================== The gilded bait held out to Eve in the temptation was " Ye shall be as God " (Genesis 3:5). This was God’s very purpose for the sinless pair before they fell. It seems that the word " likeness " in Genesis 1:26 signifies to " become like ", indicating that the wonderful potentialities breathed into Adam constituting the image of God, were meant to be developed in a process which would " end in man being like his Creator "* in dominion and rule over all things. How tragic, then, that God Who alone could rightly develop and guide the use of these powers, should be shut outside the wonderful being He had created, and more terrible still that the very potentialities inherent in Him should now lie open to the hand of His enemy. We cannot now trace through the centuries all that has followed in this particular aspect of the Fall. We see references in the Scriptures again and again which indicate that the Arch-Enemy of God and man knew how to use the resources he had gained, and how " sorcerers " and " magicians " with abnormal powers were to be found linked with the powers of evil. It was reserved for the " Time of the End " in which we live, for Satan’s objective in Eden, to be brought to its full manifestation. His purpose is to obtain the rule of the whole inhabited earth, and we are told that for a brief period he will be allowed to obtain his desire through a super-man he will endow with abnormal powers. Therefore the words are strikingly true of the present hour that " THE ` FORCES ’ OF PSUCHE ARE MASSING AGAINST THE ’FORCES’ OF SPIRIT ". For it is through the fallen soul powers of men that the whole world will be prepared, and made ready to accept the rule of the Anti-Christ. It means that for a time God will be ruled out of the universe. The potentialities given to sinless man in Eden, which when developed would have made him `like God’ in power of rule and dominion, will be brought out into activity in such a degree that man in his fallen condition, will believe he is " like God " and exercise these powers under the control and instigation of the devil. Spiritists already boldly say that " Man possesses all the attributes hitherto ascribed to Deity . . . ", and Dr. Gratton Guinness wrote years ago that the apostasy would " take the perverted form " of " the fallen life of Adam ", assuming what " belongs only to partakers of the Divine Nature ". This throws light upon the present time in a remarkable way. How rapid has been the spread of the Apostasy from the faith of the Gospel, among the leaders of the professing Christian Church-the result of the use of the fallen " soul-powers " under the unsuspected instigation of the enemy. In other directions the great theme is" Psychology ", with " discoveries " of " psychic " forces undreamt of by mortal man, so filling the minds of men that they are indeed like " children blown round by every shifting current of teaching ", led " cunningly toward the snares of misleading error " (Ephesians 4:14, Conybeare), little thinking that they are helping to fulfil a great world-wide scheme of the devil. The story of the great plot of Satan the Master Strategist, to capture men of science, men of business and men of religion, must be left to another paper. Suffice it to say that the scheme was to lead men to " discoveries " of " natural phenomena " under the name of " Psychic Science ". A list of some of these " discoveries " is given by a writer* on Prophecy to which many more recent ones could be added. How they counterfeit in the soul realm the wondrous life of God in the spirit, cannot but strike those who know anything of the latter, and it is in this present development, and increase of the use of the powers of the soul, that peril lies for the children of God who are really " spiritual ", and ignorant of these latent powers in the human frame. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 01.21. CHAPTER 8 ======================================================================== The Psychic Discoveries in the Last Days "The greatest danger," said Dr. Murray, " the individual has to dread is the inordinate activity of the soul with its powers of mind and will." This danger is intensified a thousand-fold at the present time, through the advance made by those who term themselves " Researchers " in Psychic science, having led multitudes into knowledge of the hitherto undreamt-of forces latent in the human frame. The danger to the Christian desirous of walking after the spirit, and being a channel for the out flow of the Spirit of God, is very real, for even when a man becomes regenerate, and has the life of God in his spirit, through ignorance he may be using " soul force ", even in his mission work for God. This may account for the transient results in missions, more than we know. But now let us endeavour to get a bird’s eye view of the dangers which we are attempting to point out under the term " soul-force ". There is no writer who appears to have given such full information on the dispensational aspect of the subject, as the late Mrs. McHardie, but her valuable books are out of print, instead of being available for the very hour for which they were written. It is remarkable that in these closing days of the Age, the book of Genesis should be so much contested by the devil, in his endeavour to overthrow its authority. The reason undoubtedly is that it not only contains the basic truth of the Fall, and of the gospel of redemption, but it also holds the key to all the problems of the present time. It is so in the present instance. As we have pointed out already, the gilded bait offered to Eve in the temptation in Eden was " Ye shall be as God "-which was the very purpose in the heart of God in His creation of man. The point we need to grasp is this : (I) That the very attributes of the soul, now being brought to light by " Psychical Research ", were placed in the sinless Adam for the express purpose of their development in fellowship with, and for the purposes of God; (2) That the Tempter knew of these potentialities in the sinless Adam, and desired them brought into action under his control instead of God’s-hence the temptation to Eve; (3) That when Adam fell into awful separation in spirit from God, all these latent powers fell with him, and became open to the control of the Tempter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 01.22. SATAN'S GREAT PLOT ======================================================================== In a previous paper we referred to the great plot of Satan, the Master Strategist, to capture (I) men of science, (2) men of business, and (3) men of religion. This was made known by a medium under the direction of the evil spirits controlling her. Up to that time, said the controlling spirit, they had only succeeded in reaching the " noncritical part of humanity ", and scientists, with some exceptions, stood aloof. We see the results at the present time in the numbers of scientists caught in the great deception, through the specious plea of " investigation " into a " natural science ". From this history of Spiritism we learn that the first stage of advance into conditions which enabled the spirits to break through into communication with man, was the discovery of Anton Mesmer, somewhere about 1778, from which has come a knowledge of what is called to-day, " Mesmerism ". Following Mesmer, we read that numbers of his converts made further and further " discoveries ", producing phenomena which almost seemed incredible. But it was when Mesmer assumed the position of a man of science, and appealed to the scientific world to examine " natural phenomena ", declaring that he wanted for his " discovery " the " unqualified approval of the most scientific men " of the age, that the satanic scheme of capturing the men of science succeeded. For Psychical Researchers admit that Mesmerism is " the rock from which all mental sciences (including Christian Science) were hewn ". A list of some of the " discoveries " which followed the obtaining by Mesmer of the basic knowledge of themysterious forces latent in the human frame, shows how amazingly the movement advanced, once men had obtained the key. In 1784, a pupil of Mesmer discovered " clairvoyance ", as the result of mesmeric sleep, and incidentally stumbled upon " Thought Reading ". Then ancient books were studied for further knowledge, and it was seen that these " secrets of nature " had been made known to a few, but now through Mesmer and his pupils, the time had come for the advance of the movement which in the end would re-engulf the world in darkness. Hypnotism, Neurology, and Psychometry-the discovery that the mind can act outside the human body, and that the " psychometric sensitive " can read the past like an open book - and numberless other " discoveries " followed as the years went by. Then came a discovery, called Statuvolism, signifying a peculiar condition produced by the will, in which the subject can " throw his mind " to any distant place, and see, hear, feel, smell and taste, what is going on there. Then through a revivalist preacher, somewhere about 1847, came a discovery which he called " Pathetism ", which caused him to leave the ministry to devote himself to the investigation of the " trance ". Large numbers became magnetically affected at his lectures, the discoverer attributing these trances tothe power of "self-induction inherent in human life ". By thisthe mind could withdraw itself from the consciousness of pain, and cure diseases. At first, scientific men only followed up these " discoveries " as branches of Natural Science, and no attempt was made to connect spirit agency with the phenomena, all teaching and doctrine being carefully withheld by the spirits. Then came the development of the plot to capture " men of business ", which is assuming such wide dimensions to-day. The plan was to show how to put these " discoveries " to practical account for success in business, and other pursuits, and to this end, through wide advertisement, books were offered showing how to develop " The Power Within ". Business men everywhere were urged to use " mind power ", or mental magnetism, to attract friendship and success, and to develop a " strong magnetic attractive personality ". Then followed the further carrying out of the plot, in the endeavour to reach "men of religion". How successful this has been is to be seen to-day, in the veritable landslide of professing Christian teachers absorbing the demon teachings of rationalistic views of the Bible, and especially the objection to the Atoning work of Christ, which is the main burden of all doctrines of demons. The subtle undermining work of the deceptive spirits of Satan is now reaching its climax, and we can see how section after section of the leaders of the people have been captured by the enemy. The strategy has been masterly. " Men of Science " led the way, and now " men of religion " have capitulated to science (falsely so-called), led astray by the Deceiver of the whole inhabited world. We are undoubtedly reaching the high tide of the foretold " Falling away " from the Faith. The momentum is increasing rapidly. The hand of the Arch-enemy of God and man is on the helm, and the world is rushing to the dark hour, when, for a brief period, Satan will actually be the " god of this age ", ruling through a super-man whose " parousia " cannot long be delayed. To-day " discovery " is following discovery until it is difficult to keep pace with the announcements in the daily Press. "Psycho-Analysis " for example, is now a recognized " science ", bluntly described, however, by a Canon at the Church Congress, as a " dabbling in dirt to an unnecessary degree ! " And " teachers " galore are coming forth, each one with some fresh " teaching " of this whirlwind of psychic madness, leading the unwary away from the true Gospel of Christ. The purpose of the present psychic flood is plainly discernible by those who have some knowledge of what " thedays of Noah", meant to his generation, so that a Flood, to destroy all flesh, was a necessity for the preservation of the race, through the one family that was clear of the prevailing corruption. It will be found in the ultimate thatall phases of psychic science, are a definite substitution for some aspect of the Gospel of Christ, even to the point of UNION WITH INVISIBLE BEINGS, as counterfeit of the Christian’sunion with Christ. As the tide rushes on, it will be seen eventually that the latter is the main objective of all the purposes of Satan, so as to bring about the same corruption " as in the days of Noah ". The children of God must now know for their own safety, the difference between " Soul and Spirit ". They must know the possibility of ignorantly using "Psycho-Analysis " in dealing with the personal problems of others, instead of leading such souls to the Cross for deliverance, in reliance upon the INDWELLING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Yes,and in " warfare " against the devil himself, there can be an actual development of soul force, unless there is a deepwork of the Cross continually applied to the old Adam life, with a real life-union with the Risen Lord by the Holy Ghost. " Soul-force " versus " Spirit-force " is the battle ground to-day. The Body of Christ is by the energy of the Holy Spirit within her, advancing heavenward. The atmosphere of the world is thickening with psychic currents behind which are massed the aerial foes. The only safety for the child of God is an experimental knowledge of the life in union with Christ wherein he dwells with Christ in God, above the poisonous air in which the Prince of the power of the air carries on his work. The blood of Christ for cleansing. The Cross of Christ for identification in death. The Power of the Risen Ascended Lord by the Holy Ghost, continually declared, laid hold of and wielded, will alone bring the members of the Body through in victory to join the Ascended Head. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 01.23. CHAPTER 9 ======================================================================== " The Son can do nothing of Himself " The meaning of " soul-force " can be briefly defined as that which has its origin in the soul, and " spirit force " as that which has its origin in the spirit. The soul is the medium for the outworking of both. Soul-force is manifested through the faculties of the soul, and spirit force is manifested through the faculties of the soul likewise. Let me try to explain it crudely thus. Draw three sections, one above the other, and mark the top one " spirit ", the centre one " soul ", and the lowest one " body ". Then draw an arrow passing down from the "spirit " into the soul, and then outward. This suggests the Holy Spirit in the human spirit, passing down and out through the faculties of the soul. Or draw an arrow going up from the " body " section into the soul, and out through the faculties of the soul. In the first you have spirit-force coming from God energizing the soul-and in the second you have " soul-force ", or power arising from the flesh into the soul and out. The " soul ", as the central compartment, is the medium for both " spirit " and " soul " force, and we can only tell which force is in action by its fruits. (See Matthew 7:16-17) I have said that " soul-force " as soul-force, has its origin in the soul. More correctly, it rises from the body or animal life-this the Bible calls " flesh ". There are great discoveries at the present time of powers in the " soul ", such as our fathers never dreamed of. These forces have their origin in " flesh " and not " spirit ", even though they do not appear so, for the " soul " is under the power of the flesh, until the regenerated spirit rules by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within. He desires to control and use the soul faculties. For instance, either the mind-one of the faculties of the soul is energized and animated by soul-force, or it is renewed by the Holy Spirit, and energized by Him through the human spirit. The danger to-day is the counterfeit in the soul-realm of everything in the spiritual realm. Through ignorance there has been a developing and using of these psychic forces, thinking them to be spiritual. But the word spoken by Christ is the test. He said, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ". Only that which comes from the Holy Spirit through your spirit, has its origin in God. The latent powers of the soul are not Divine-though some think they are. For example, some say that the " gift of healing " is in the soul, requiring to be developed by those who have it. A clergyman writes, " This power is sometimes spoken of as ` animal magnetism’, sometimes as `psychic power’. .. . This power when dedicated to God becomes a ` gift of the Spirit ’. . . ." But surely the true gifts of the Spirit must come from God, who is Spirit, via the spirit, and not the " soul ". Again, in connection with the seeking of " manifestations " as an evidence of a believer having received the " Baptism of the Spirit ", methods have been used to bring these about, that synchronize with the methods of mesmerism, and thus counterfeits have broken into the true Church of Christ. In other cases believers have had a true influx of the Holy Spirit into their human spirit, and then through ignorance they have developed the psychic power latent in the human frame, and brought about mixture in their own life and service for God, e.g., if a chorus is sung over and over again, they can bring a meeting into a psychic condition, when those present become incapable of intelligent thinking, or of any decisive action of the will. Thus on a flood-tide of psychic force in the world to-day, the demons are carrying out their plans and purposes. " It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." Every child of God is governed in all service-preaching, teaching, working-either by the Holy Spirit or by the psychic force of which we speak. It is the spirit that is regenerated-" a new spirit will I give you ". Fausset says that the spirit is the shrine where the Holy Ghost dwells, and it is the organ through which He works. When He comes in and renews the spirit and dwells there, He then renews the mind, and gains control over the faculties. As we walk in the Spirit, and fulfil the conditions of His working, we become " spiritual " in all our actions. Everything touched will have a spiritual stamp, every faculty will be changed, quickened, uplifted. The believer becomes a " new man ", and not only a new man, but one who has the life of God in his spirit. Through the renewal of the mind, in due season, confused thinking passes away, and the mind becomes clear. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 01.24. THE FLESH PROFITETH NOTHING ======================================================================== " The flesh profiteth nothing." How true it is in spiritual work. If it is animated by the flesh life of the soul there is no fruit. Toil as you may-no fruit ! The reason is that it is " soul ", energized by the life of nature, and therefore it " profits nothing ". Vast toil and little fruitage ! It is quite a fair exegesis of these words to say that if the " flesh " profits nothing, soul-force also profits nothing. Let us look at some passages in John’s Gospel, and note the Lord’s words about His own attitude as to reliance upon Himself and His own " powers "-which in His case were sinless powers. Our Lord had spoken about " eating His flesh " and " drinking His blood " (John 6:53-58), and His disciples said it was a " hard saying ". It was in connection with the apprehension of spiritual truth that the Lord said that the "flesh" profited nothing. This is a very " hard saying " to the flesh, and to the natural man who is unable to receive the things of the Spirit. How marvellous to read that the Lord Jesus Christ said " The Son can do nothing of Himself ". In no case did He originate His own activities. He did, He said, just what He saw the Father do-" the Father dwelling in Me doeth His works ". There should be in our measure, a continuous waiting upon Him for every step taken, until we can see what is from Him, and what originates in ourselves, and then we may know the co-working of God in all our words and work. The Lord Jesus said again, " As I hear, I judge ". " I receive not honour from men." " I came not to do Mine own will," " I seek not Mine own glory." That was the position He took, and it is the position we are to take-entire dependence upon God. Again the Lord said, " No man can come to Me except the Father draw him " (John 6:44) The danger to-day, for the true children of God, is the development of psychic powers in ignorance of their existence. There is also peril through the wide-spread teaching on psychology. Children are now to be saved from their " weaknesses " by psychic means, not by conviction of sin, conversion and regeneration. Even children of God need to be careful lest they take a psychological view of themselves, and whilst trusting God on the one hand, become so occupied with the " laws " of spirit, soul and body, as to practically forget reliance upon the Holy Spirit Himself, Whose office it is to take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto us. In the great supernatural movements of to-day there is a vast amount of psychic power. I have just received a letter from abroad concerning a great healing movement, and the writer says, " It is all a dead failure. There are thousands upon thousands who have come, but it is failure, and what can you expect if the leader who ` lays hands ’ on others smokes and drinks whisky ! " Let me close with a few points in which " soul-force " can be a danger in the Christian life. There can be " soul-force " in relation to the will. The Lord liberates the will, and energizes it, but it must be energized by the Spirit and not by the flesh. There is a possibility of soulforce in will prayer. There can be a bringing of willpower to bear upon another person, through soul-force energizing the will. In ignorance of this danger, some believers project their thoughts on to the person they are praying for, saying that such and such a one " shall " do this or that. To avoid the possibility of soul-force prayers, we should be careful always to pray upward in a prayer directed to God. Every prayer should be directed Godward, and should never be a telling the Lord what to do for somebody else. We may pray that God will direct them what to do, but we ought not to say that they " must " do what we think is God’s will they should do, or even that they " shall not " do what we know is wrong. We are members of one Body, but we are each of us responsible to God only, and before Him we must stand or fall. Then there is the danger of the drawing out of psychic forces in worship. The Lord said "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth". What means then all the cultivation of the sensuous in the churches? Why do some people, living a worldly life all the week, become so happy because they have gone to church on the Sunday? Is it not that through the music and other influences, they have been made happy and comforted ? They have been soothed,but the question is, have they been truly convicted of sin and regenerated? Is it wrong to have music ? Not at all. There is a worship of God in song. But think of the psychic elements in the worship of the Roman Catholic churches ! Dr. Andrew Murray points out that the ordinary activities of the soul intrude into worship. He adds that people little think that one reason why they do not get victory over some sin, is because they yield to the soul life in the religious part of them. They yield to self (flesh) in their worship, and thus keep alive and active some fleshly sin, fed from a quarter they little suspect. They think they have done with the " flesh ", and cannot understand why these things remain. The strength of the " sin " lies in the activity of the soul in its worship of God. It is " flesh " under cover of the religious life. What must be dealt with first is our approach to God. He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, "for the Father seeketh such to worship Him ". The present danger of the spiritual believer is the danger of soul-force. There are currents of thought sweeping in all directions. Many are caught in them, and are not on guard against such currents. You can cut yourself off from them absolutely, by taking your place in the death of Christ, and asking that it shall come between you and all the atmospheric forces that are abroad at this time. Let us ask ourselves whether our minds have been really renewed ? Are they illuminated and energized by the Spirit of God, or have we only the mind of the natural man ? The Rationalism of to-day is not going to be dealt with by intellectual arguments, but by spiritual power, and by prayer. Let us pray that the Lord will teach us how to live and walk after the Spirit. With a renewed mind may we learn to discern the difference between soul and spirit. " For the Word of God is quick and powerful ... dividing between soul and spirit," so that the soul life is dealt with at the Cross, and we become " spiritual ". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 01.25. CHAPTER 10 ======================================================================== Calling the Psychical " Spiritual " It is said of the " Beast " in Revelation 13:5 that inspired by the Dragon he would be allowed to speak " blasphemies ", and " he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name and His Tabernacle ... " (Revelation 13:6). So rapidly are all the characteristics foreshown as accompanying the manifestation of the AntiChrist, coming to pass at the present hour, that it is difficult to keep pace with the need of unveiling them for the protection of those whose names are written in the " Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world " (Revelation 13:8). Especially are the blasphemies against God becoming more manifest, in the appropriation of some of the most sacred elements of the Gospel of Christ for the conveyance of demon-doctrines and demon-power. The climax of blasphemy is surely when the Lord’s Table, instituted to show forth His death till He come, is made to be the table of demons by attributing to its magnetic and " psychic " power. This, by a Bishop, in a book just published, is said to be the " science of the sacraments " which is obvious to those who have " developed psychic faculty ". The " priest " is " an almoner to distribute His (the Lord’s) `force ’ to the people ". These " forces " are being transmuted or materialized within his very body " as they " accumulate inside the surplice ". There is also a constant and vigorous emission of power from the magnetized stones upon the altar and from the crosses and candlesticks ". And " particularly when incense is used, there is always a large attendance of the holy Angels, and the wondrous forces perpetually flowing from them are caught and utilized for the congregation when suitable vestments are worn to act as conductors...." This " divine force " says the writer of the book teaching this " science of the sacraments ", is " a definite scientific fact ". It is " often spoken of as the grace of God " and is "just as definite as steam or electricity ". It is indeed " much more powerful in that it works upon the soul, the mind, the emotions...." On every side the word " psychic " and "psychical " is to be met with in connection with religious teaching, and often from leaders in the professing Christian Church. For instance, the Archbishop of Caledonia writes in an English paper: " A great discovery is being made in the psychic world ". " Our psychic spirits are not confined by material barriers to one limited space. Our spirits can co-mingle with other spirits, whether they be in the body or out of the body. This is the fellowship of the spirit. . . ." " The modern disciple, taught by psychology, focuses his attention upon Christ in all the goodness of His character and all the power of His Spirit. Through the perfect Man he enters into communion with the infinite God. It is a fellowship of the spirit...." " Each human mind while it is in a limited sense an individual mind, is at the same time a part of the universal mind. Each human spirit, while it has characteristics of its own, is at the same time a part of the universal spirit...." The peril of calling the psychical " spiritual " is strikingly shown in these quotations from current literature. Let us once more emphasize the difference between " soul " and " spirit " as revealed in the Scriptures. The word " psychic " is derived from the Greek word "psuche ", which is translated into English in the New Testament, forty times as " life ", or " lives ", and fiftyeight times as " soul ". It means, says the Lexicon, " animal life ", or the " animal nature ". It describes the " soul "-the person when animated by the life ofnature. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 01.26. THE FIRST MAN ======================================================================== The " first man " made a " living soul ", is clearly said to be " of the earth-earthy ", the " Second Man " was " the Lord from heaven " (1 Corinthians 15:47-48) That the "psuche " nature is opposed to " spirit " comes out clearly again in 1 Corinthians 2:14 where it is written " the natural (physical) man rejects the teaching of God’s Spirit, for to him it is folly, and he cannot comprehend it because it is spiritually discerned ". This "psychical " man, says Conybeare in a footnote is " properly, man considered as endowed with the anima (the living principle) as distinguished from the spiritual principle ". The " animal man " he adds, would be the best translation, but the language is a little harsh in English. " Psychic " power therefore, which is so much to the fore to-day, is not " spirit ", for it belongs entirely to man’s fallen nature. The development of the " psychic faculty " is the drawing out into action some of the capabilities lying dormant in the " natural man ". The " forces " which are said to materialize and accumulate " within the very body " of the " priest ", by the writer of the " science of the sacraments " referred to, are natural forces and not from the Holy Spirit of God. They do not constitute the " grace of God " as taught in the Scriptures. It is probably true that the psychic, or soul-powers, require supernatural power for their full development, and that since the Fall this power is not of God but Satan. If so, much that has been unaccountable in the influx of satanic workings in the supernatural experiences of many of God’s children during recent years, becomes clear. It also explains why a " baptism of power " which was supposed to be of God, could result in the development of a "selfhood " with strong personal powers manifestly in exercise, instead of deep humility, brokenness of spirit, tender love of souls, and effacement of self. Once again the Word of God gives the answer to these fresh dangers of the day. The cry on every side, reiterated even in the pages of Christian magazines, is " develop the personality ". " Strengthen your will." But what is the teaching of the Lord Himself concerning the psychic or soulish life ? On the way to the Cross He bids those who would follow Him, take their Cross, and " lose " or " hate " their " psychic " (psuche) life, so as to save or keep it (the soul) to " life eternal ". Once again the distinction between soul and spirit gives the key. As we have seen, the " soul " is either governed by the Spirit of God through the human spirit, thus drawing life from above (see John 3:3, margin), or it is governed and animated by the animal life from the body-the lower realm -or by the latent soul powers drawn out into action, and oftentimes mistaken for the spiritual. In the first case, governed by the Spirit of God, the man is a " spiritual man ", and his " soul " is " saved ", or in the second, the man is an " animal-soul ", and his soul is lost. He that "loveth his life (psuche) ", said the Lord, " shall lose it; and he that hateth his life (psuche) in this world shall keep it unto life (zoe) eternal" (John 12:24-25). Does this not show that the " psychic " part of the life of nature is to be laid down, and not " cultivated " ? That the lower life of the psuche is, by the taking of the Cross, perpetually to be kept out of action for the outworking of a higher kind of " life " from the Lord Himself, Who is to His redeemed ones, a " Life-giving Spirit ". How wonderful to see that the Cross of Christ becomes to everything the " touchstone "! If " supernatural power " can draw into activity psychic forces latent in the believer, then it is not safe to accept any manifestation of " power " as of God, except it comes by way of the Cross, and leads the believer into the path of the Cross. " Power " that results in the building up of " self " with compulsory forces at work upon others, simply means that the psychic powers have been developed, instead of being kept latent and unused by the exercise of the Cross. This alone makes way for the outflow of the Holy Spirit, who works upon the consciences of men, not by forcing and compelling power, but in conviction of the conscience by the light and truth of the Word of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 01.27. CHAPTER 11 ======================================================================== The Distinction between Soul and Spirit From Fausset’s Commentary Note on Hebrews 4:12. "EVEN TO THE DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT "-i.e., reaching througheven to the separation of the animal soul (lower part of man’s incorporeal nature, the seat of animal desires, which he has in common with the brutes; c.f. the same Greek, 1 Corinthians 2:14, ` the natural [animal-souled] man’, Jude 1:19) from the spirit (the higher part of man, receptive of the Spirit of God, and allying him to heavenly beings). " AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW "-rather (reaching even to) " both the joints (so as to divide them) and marrow ". Christ " knows what is in man " (John 2:25): so His Word reaches as far as to the most intimate and accurate knowledge of man’s most hidden parts, feelings, and thoughts, dividing, i.e., distinguishing what is spiritual from what is carnal and animal in him, the spirit from the soul: so Proverbs 20:27 As the knife of the Levitical priest reached to dividing parts, closely united as the joints of the limbs, and penetrated to the innermost parts, as the marrows (the Greek is plural), so the word of God divides the closely joined parts of man’s immaterial being, soul and spirit, and penetrates to the innermost parts of the spirit. The clause (reaching even to) " both the joints and marrow " is subordinate to the clause " even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit ".... An image (appropriate in addressing Jews) from the literal dividing of joints, and penetrating to, so as to open out, the marrow, by the priest’s knife, illustrating the previously mentioned spiritual " dividing of soul and spirit ", whereby each (soul as well as spirit) is laid bare and " naked " before God; this view accords with Hebrews 4:12. Evidently " the dividing of the soul from the spirit " answers to the " joints " which the sword, when it reaches unto, divides asunder, as the " spirit " answers to the innermost " marrow ". " Moses forms the soul, Christ the spirit. The soul draws with it the body; the spirit draws with it both soul and body." . . . The Word’s dividing and far-penetrating power has both a punitive and a healing effect. " DISCERNER OF THE THOUGHTS "-Greek, " capable of judging the purposes ", " INTENTS "-rather, conceptions "[Crellius] ; " ideas " [Alford]. As the Greek for " thoughts " refers to the mind and feelings, so that for " intents ", or rather, " mental conceptions " refers to the intellect. NOTE ON Jude 1:19. " Sensual " (lit. "animal-souled ") as opposed to the " spiritual ", or " having the Spirit ". It is translated " the natural man " in 1 Corinthians 2:14. In the three-fold division of man’s being, body, soul and spirit, the due state in God’s design is, that " the spirit ", which is the recipient of the Holy Spirit, uniting man to God, should be first, and should rule the soul, which stands intermediate between the body and spirit; but in the ... NATURAL man the spirit is sunk into subserviency to the animal-soul, which is earthly in its motives and aims. The " CARNAL " sink somewhat lower, for in these the flesh, the lowest element and corrupt side of man’s bodily nature, reigns paramount. " Not having the Spirit ": In the animal and natural man the " spirit ", his higher part, which ought to be the receiver of the Holy Spirit, is not so; and therefore, his spirit not being in its normal state, he is said not to have the spirit. (Cf. John 3:5-6) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 01.28. NOTES ======================================================================== Note on 1 Thessalonians 5:23. " Spirit, soul and body. .. entire." It refers to man in his normal integrity, as originally designed.... All three, spirit, soul and body, each in its due place constitute man " entire " The " spirit " links man with the higher intelligences of heaven, and is that highest part of man which is receptive of the quickening Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:47). In the " unspiritual " the spirit is so sunk under the lower animal soul ... that such are termed " animal " (English Version sensual, having merely the body of organized matter, and the soul the immaterial animating essence), having not the Spirit. Note on 1 Corinthians 2:14 " Natural man ": lit. a man of animal soul. As contrasted with the spiritual man,he is governed by the animal soul, which overbears his spirit, which latter is without the Spirit of God (Jude 1:19). So the animal (A.V. natural) body, or body led by the lower animal nature (including both the mere human fallen reason and heart), is contrasted with the Spirit quickened body (see 1 Corinthians 15:44-46). The carnal man (the man led by the bodily appetites, and also by a self-exalting spirit, estranged from the divine life) is closely akin: so too the " earthly ". Devilish or demon-like, led by an evil spirit (James 3:15), is the awful character of such a one in its worst type... . NOTE ON 1 Corinthians 2:15. " He that is spiritual," lit. " the spiritual (man) ". In 1 Corinthians 2:14 it is " A (not the as in A.V.) natural man". The spiritual is the man distinguished above his fellow men as he in whom the Spirit rules. In the unregenerate, the spirit which ought to be the organ of the Holy Spirit (and which is so in the regenerate),* is overridden by the animal soul, and is in abeyance, so that such a one is never called " spiritual ". NOTE ON 1 Corinthians 3:1. " And I ... " i.e., as the natural (animal) man cannot receive, so I also could not speak unto you the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was compelled to speak to you as ...to "MEN OF FLESH. . . ." The former (lit. fleshly) implies men wholly of flesh, or natural. Carnal or "fleshly ", implies not that they were wholly natural or unregenerate, but that they had much of a carnal tendency, e.g., their divisions. Paul had to speak to them as he would to men wholly natural ... not withstanding their conversion. NOTE ON James 3:15 " Sensual," lit. animal-like: the wisdom of the " natural " man ... DEVILISH in its origin ... and also in its character, which accords with its origin. Some " Soulish " Counterfeits of " Spiritual " realities Every genuine spiritual phenomenon has its soulical counterpart, e.g., the love of truth, or love viewed as a spiritual phenomenon, differs essentially from the soulical counterfeit. Love, as consisting in sentiment and the strong stirrings of affection, is a mere fleshly principle. It shuns suffering, it courts worldly enjoyment and consideration, it exhibits itself in the strength of the domestic and social attachments, and in its most refined form, takes a deep interest in alleviating the miseries and promoting the comforts of the family of man. All this may exist with deep rooted hatred to the truth. Love as a Divine principle and spiritual phenomenon, is distinguished by properties exactly the opposite of all this. It is love to God and is the result of our knowing that God hath first loved us (1 John 4:19). While soulical love pretends to cherish attachment to the Creator through the medium of the creature, spiritual love goes out to the creature through the medium of the Creator. Soulical love would, for the promotion of the apparent good of the creature, sacrifice at any time the truth of the Creator, whereas spiritual love rejoices to know that through the truth of the Creator the real good of the creature is secured and promoted. Spiritual love is emphatically love to the truth, and love to others for the truth’s sake. Soulical love appearing to be spiritual, may be detected to be what it is by this test, that the truth of God is always in its estimation secondary, whereas the essential feature of spiritual love is its supreme and exclusive attachment to the truth of God. The soulical nature of love professed often betrays itself in a great anxiety to reconcile the Word of God with wellestablished human facts, and cogent human reasonings founded thereon, and this even at the expense of the Divine veracity being compromised and encroached on. The language of love which is Divine and spiritual, is " Let God be true, though every man should prove to be a liar ". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 02.00. THE AWAKENING IN WALES AND SOME OF THE HIDDEN SPRINGS ======================================================================== The Awakening In Wales And Some Of The Hidden Springs BY JESSIE PENN-LEWIS Introduction Preface Chapter 1 - The First Pentecost in Jerusalem and Joel’s Prophecy - The Prayer-Movement - The Prayer-Circles in 1902--The Renewed Preaching of the Cross. Chapter 2 - The Principality of Wales--The Prophet of the Revival --His Last Message to Wales In 1903--The First Llandrindod Convention in August, 1903. Chapter 3 - The Life-Stream at New Quay in February, 1904 -- The Second Convention at Llandrindod, August, 1904 -- A Midnight Prayer-Meeting -- The Rivers Rising in the Autumn. Chapter 4 - New Quay in September, 1904 -- The Blaenanerch Convention -- The Spirit-Baptism of Evan Roberts -- Loughor in November, 1904 -- The Tidal Wave and Its Results. Chapter 5 - The Overflowing Streams Through Divers Channels--How the Holy Spirit Wrought in Many Centres--The General Effect on the Churches. Chapter 6 - The Life Streams in North Wales--Some Traces at Ponkey in June, 1904--The Tidal Wave at Rhos, November, 1904--The Healing of the Breach at Bethesda. Chapter 7 - The Message to the Church--The Object Lesson in Wales--The Place of Calvary in the Awakening. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 ======================================================================== Chapter 1. The First Pentecost in Jerusalem and Joel’s Prophecy - The Prayer-Movement - The Prayer-Circles in 1902--The Renewed Preaching of the Cross. AFTER the tragedy of Calvary, and the glorious Resurrection and Ascension of Him Who is now alive for evermore, the Ascended Lord sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, and received of the Father the "promise of the Holy Ghost" for His redeemed ones as the fruit of His Cross and Passion. He then poured Him forth upon the company of men and women gathered together with one accord in the upper room in Jerusalem--the city where He was crucified. Giving them commandment "through the Holy Ghost," almost His last words to them before He ascended had been "I send forth the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high." Returning from Mount Olivet to Jerusalem they set themselves to obey, and with one accord continued stedfastly in prayer until at last the day dawned, and the Holy Ghost came as the "rushing of a mighty breath." The word used to describe His advent is significant. The breath of the Spirit is spoken of by the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus when He told him that men dead in sin must have a new birth--a birth from above which would come by the breathing of the Spirit of Life upon them, so that they are begotten of God. And "the Spirit breatheth where He listeth! Men could hear and see the effects as with the wind, but not know "whence it cometh and whither it goeth." Later on we read that on the first Easter Day the Risen Lord stood in the midst of His disciples, and, showing them His hands and His side scarred with the marks of Calvary, breathed on them, saying "Receive ye," or, as it is literally, "Take ye the Holy Ghost." We cannot doubt that the disciples received the Holy Ghost when the Risen Lord breathed upon them, but their immediate after-life shows that it was not the energising for service and clothing with Divine power, which the Lord so expressly bade them tarry for ere they attempted witnessing for Him. The breathing upon them of the Holy Ghost on the first Easter Day seems to have been the "earnest," or preparation for the Pentecostal fullness of the Divine Spirit, and they would have sorely failed to enter into His greater purposes for them had they said "But we received the Holy Ghost on the day of His resurrection!" and not waited at Jerusalem until they were "baptised in the Holy Ghost," or clothed with Him, as the Lord had promised. But they obeyed and tarried, possibly scarce knowing what the outcome would be, until suddenly there came from heaven a "rushing mighty breath." The breath of God which gives the new birth to every believer, now came forth with such force and volume that it filled the very atmosphere of the house where they were sitting. The believers were now, so to speak, submerged in the Holy Ghost, as well as indwelt by Him. In this intensely surcharged atmosphere the Divine Spirit became manifest-- apparently to sight as well as hearing--and there appeared unto them tongues like as of fire "distributing themselves," and resting upon each one present, until each--no matter what the temperament, education, training, position, sex, or age might be--" began to speak" as the Spirit gave them utterance. The city of Jerusalem knew nothing of the little company quietly meeting and praying in the upper room! But now they could not be hid. Hearing the sound of voices the multitude came together, and saw the Spirit-filled company so manifestly under the control of some power which lifted them out of themselves that some said "They are filled with new wine," whilst all were amazed and marvelled, saying, "Are not all these which speak Galileans? "--untaught, uncultured people from the province of Galilee. The world had been going on its way, ignorant of all that God was silently working in the spiritual realm to bring about the counsels of the ages. But now! "What meaneth this? " cries the gathering multitude. Ah, momentous things had happened in the unseen realm, and all that had been wrought by the death of the God-Man at Calvary must now be made manifest to the world that crucified Him! The Third Person of the Godhead, the Eternal Spirit of the Father, comes forth to bear witness to the Crucified and Risen Lord, and clothe human beings with Divine authority as His messengers. In answer to the charge of being filled with wine Peter rose to speak--the very man who just a fortnight before had denied his Lord in that same city. Speaking under the constraint of the Divine Spirit, he said, "This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel:- "And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . . . on My servants, and on My handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy." Let us mark the words, for they vitally concern the people of God to-day. "This is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel," said the Apostle. Not "this is the entire fulfilment of the prophecy." It is written " I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh," and this speaks of a larger circle than one hundred and twenty men and women. Yea, a larger circle than even the three thousand and five thousand souls, and "multitudes" more of men and women so quickly "added to the Lord." The words undoubtedly foretell a wider fulfilment of the prophecy than took place at Pentecost. Joel said "in those days will I pour out My Spirit." The expression "is in the long Hebrew tense, expressing continuance of action, literally an incoming, unfinished, and continuous outpouring.’ It therefore appears that the words ’’ in those days cover the whole dispensation of the Spirit, beginning with the day of Pentecost. The purpose of God was manifestly a beginning in the upper room; and a continuing upon wider and wider circles as the overflowing stream of life reached the "uttermost parts of the earth "; but alas, alas, the Church, instead of abiding in a Pentecostal condition, drifted further and further away from it. Nevertheless the Word of God standeth sure. The Church shall be brought back to her Pentecost when she knows her need and turns to the Lord. In the prophecy of Joel we see foreshadowed under the figure of "rain" the work of the Holy Ghost. Joel speaks of the Lord’s response to the cry of His people, when He would cause to come down for them the "former rain " and the "latter rain", then AFTERWARD should come the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, and a time of such manifestly supernatural workings of the Spirit, that whosoever would simply "call" on the name of the Lord should be delivered. The "former rain" was always given in Palestine to cause the seed sown to germinate and grow into maturity. The "latter rain" was looked for as essential to the plumping out of the grain for its ripening and fitting for harvest. How clear the forecast of the purposes of God toward His people in the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We need not now attempt to trace the Divine movements in the world preceding the first Pentecost. Were we to do so, we should find them strikingly parallel with those in recent years, when the condition of the professing Christian Church has become similar to the Jewish Church at the close of the dispensation before the Messiah appeared. It will be sufficient for us to emphasise that Joel’s prophecy clearly sets forth the preparation of the people of God by a seeking unto God in prayer. We read that they are brought by His providential dealings to a consciousness of their need, and are summoned to leave all their interests, and with one accord to seek His face; then would come the Lord’s response in overflow of personal blessing, and the pouring out of His Spirit in such measure that the world should be touched, and sinners call upon the Lord. The first Pentecost at Jerusalem exactly fulfilled this forecast. Bereft of the One Who had been with them in bodily presence as Teacher and Guide; faced with His command to go forth and disciple all nations; conscious of their powerlessness to fulfil this commission, and of their lack of position, culture, knowledge, and all the resources which would command the attention of the world to their message, the little company of disciples gathered with one accord to pray until they were equipped with power from on high. PRAYER preceded the first Pentecost, and PRAYER must precede the wider outpouring of the Spirit in the last days, therefore the true members of Christ all over the world must be drawn by the Spirit within them into one accord in asking God to pour forth His Spirit according to His word. The extent of the one will govern the extent of the other, for prayer prepares the channels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and flow out through into the world. The question therefore arises as to whether there has been in recent years any indication of the special preparation of the Church for the wider fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy. If we find this to be so, our faith will be strengthened, and our vision cleared, to see that the Revival in Wales may be the beginning of the "latter rain" which shall prepare the Church of God for the Lord’s appearing, and draw into the kingdom all who willeth to be saved. To obtain a wide vision, let us in heart and mind now ascend into the secret place of the Most High, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, and look out with Him upon the world, and watch the movings of His Spirit among His people. We may only find the veil lifted here and there, and obtain but glimpses into His workings, but these will suffice to give insight into His preparations over the earth for the fulfilment of His purposes toward men. We will go in thought back to the year 1898 or 1899, and glancing into an Institute in America see gathered there three to four hundred children of God, meeting every Saturday night to pray for a "world-wide revival." In this Institute we find men and women from every clime seeking equipment for the preaching of the Gospel. Their hearts yearn over their own lands, and "world-wide" must be the blessing which they seek. After a time a few began to stay in prayer late at night, and ceased not until the early hours of the Sabbath morning. Among them was one who was their Leader. Conscious that they who pray must be ready to be instrumental in answering their own prayers, he offers himself to God for any special service in the bringing about of the prayed-for Revival. Rapidly we cross in vision to another far-away land, and in Australia find a band of ministers and laymen who have met for eleven whole years every Saturday afternoon, pleading with God for a "big revival." In the wondrous chain of the Divine workings, we next see a messenger called out from the heart of the praying company in America, to be one of the instruments in Australia, of God answering these prayers--the very one who had laid himself at the feet of the Lord of the harvest, ready for all His commands. In 1901 we look into the great city of Melbourne, and see fifty missioners holding services in fifty different centres of the city, whilst 40,000 praying souls meet in two thousand homes for "home" prayer meetings, encircling the city with prayer. Many meet for half nights of prayer, and Melbourne is moved from end to end by the mighty movings of the Spirit of God. We come again in swift thought back to Great Britain, and look in at the huge meetings of five thousand Christians gathered at Keswick in July, 1902. Hark! The story of the "home prayer circles" around Melbourne is being told. Hearts of workers are burdened and sad. Weary of organisation and effort, no fresh "Prayer Union" would appeal to them, but quickly the spark from the fire in Australia falls into many hearts. "Home prayer circles! " The "twos and threes" of those who are truly burdened for "world-wide revival!" Ah, this is the call of God! If a city may be thus girdled with prayer, why not the world? Quickly are the names of those who are drawn of God to pray sent in from all parts of the earth, until thousands of praying hearts were circling the globe with praye:r. It is God’s prayer union gathered and guided by Him, with no organization, no membership fee, no staff, but just the few who register the names as a labour of love for souls. And the prayer was now for the "outpouring of the Spirit !" In other words, a Pentecost to the Church of God. Just one month earlier, in far-away India the Divine Spirit laid the same burden upon the servants of God, and guided them--without any conscious connection with the prayer-movement in other lands --to form a prayer-circle of those who would unite to plead for the outpoured Spirit upon that dark and needy land. Manifestly the Spirit of God was simultaneously moving the people of God in various parts of the world to pray for the same thing, and creating the cry for that which He was preparing to do. Later we shall see how the year 1902, when the circles of prayer were formed, stands out as the time when world-wide the praying people of God---- including, we doubt not, many prayer-groups, and praying hearts, not visibly linked with the world wide circles--united in one accord to ask for the promised Pentecost. It is significant also that in this year of 1902 a pamphlet entitled "A Revival Call to the Churches" was issued, and obtained a wide circulation, and another pamphlet called "Back to Pentecost," issued the same year, showed how God was leading the thoughts of His people, and preparing them for His purposes of grace. Can we discern any immediate effects of the world-girdling prayer? Within a year there began to be signs of awakening in various quarters, and the "Voice of the Lord" was "upon the waters," but not yet any movement of the Spirit which could be said to bear to the eyes of the world the characteristics of Pentecost. As in the days of Anna and Simeon, there were many hidden souls in the secret of His counsels. One such was present at Keswick at the time of the call to prayer. She had offered herself to Him some two years before this for the special service of intercession, and the story of His dealings is best told in her own words:- "I had read words to this effect, ’If even one life could be fully surrendered to God to use as He wanted for prayer, most wonderful results would follow--and He needs such an one.’ Then I knelt down, and very humbly told Him if He would take me and use me for prayer, I would be willing. When I said fully from my heart, ’Yes, Lord,’ it seemed as if a hand was placed on me pressing me lower and lower, until I had no life left in me--and I wept. For some months I was used for prayer in small things, but one day about six months later all was utter darkness. As usual I went to Him, but the darkness continued for about a week. Then one morning, about ten o’clock, the agony became terrible, and I cried, ’Lord, what is it?’ He answered, ’Come with Me, and I will show you the sin in this place.’ We seemed to go into all the worst parts of the district, and I saw sin as never before. I cried out for the people. The prayer was, ’0 Lord, send a Revival into this place.’ Then came perfect peace until the next morning at the same time, when the Lord called me again, and took me further afield. The same thing happened for a whole week until I was agonizing for a ’ World-wide Revival,’ as He took me into places where the Gospel had never been heard. Then all this ceased. From this time I was watching for the Revival, and wondering how the Lord would send it. When we heard of any special one being used, I went to the Lord and said, ’Is this Thine instrument, Lord?’ and He answered, ’ Only one, child. Again I went about another much-used soul, and the same answer came, with this addition, ’I have something more than this.’ At Keswick in 1902--the first I had ever attended--’Prayer Circles’ were announced for a ’World-wide Revival.’ Then I went to the Lord and cried, ’Lord, why must they pray for what Thou hast already promised?’ Then He said, ’This Revival is an accomplished fact in My Kingdom,’ and I said, ’Why does it not come, Lord, without these Prayer Circles? He replied, ’I am ready, but My children are not. Before it comes they must preach the word of the Cross--the message of Calvary.’ "I am ready, but My children are not," shows that the world-wide circles of prayer were mainly necessary for the purpose of creating desire among the people of God, and preparing the channels for the coming "rain." "They must preach the Cross," tells us also that God Himself cannot send "Revival" until the Gospel of Calvary is proclaimed. But now with one accord the cry has ascended to heaven. The Christ upon His Throne is ready to bless. The blood of the Son of God which has been "trodden under foot," and counted "a common thing," shall be borne witness to from heaven. Whither shall we now turn our eyes to see His workings. Can we perceive a marked renewal of the preaching of the Cross? Yea, verily. Early in 1903 the records in the papers showed on every side that the messengers of God were being led by Him to proclaim afresh the message of Calvary. At annual meetings, opening services, and special conferences, the key-note again and again was the "Need for direct preaching of the Cross," whilst a well-known religious paper remarked that there were "welcome signs of reversal to the old Gospel of Calvary." In the light of all this it is significant to find that at the Keswick Convention of 1903, when the windows of heaven were opened, and the Holy Spirit swept as an overflowing stream over the huge gatherings of five thousand men and women--many of them come from distant parts of the earth to seek the power of the Holy Ghost--He unveiled to them in fresh and vivid power the Cross of Calvary, for almost every servant of God entrusted with His messages proclaimed with one accord the "Word of the Cross" as the power of God to save from the bondage as well as the guilt of sin, and "crucified with Christ" as the secret of deliverance was the theme on every hand.* In 1902 the Holy Ghost had drawn His people to pray for a World-wide Revival, and in 1903 the Eternal Spirit broke forth upon the people of God gathered from the ends of the earth, and leads them back to CALVARY. Moreover, in this same year of 1903, in far-away India the Spirit of God unveiled to one of His honoured servants the Cross of Calvary in new and vivid power, revealing to him that for forty years He had been preparing him for the work of sending forth the "Word of the Cross to every tongue and tribe and nation," in millions of booklets containing the full-orbed message of Calvary. Yes, truly prayer must prepare God’s people for the moving forth of the Spirit in Pentecostal power, and when the Holy Spirit comes forth He bears witness to Calvary, as in the days of the first Pentecost in Jerusalem. "0! ANFON DI YR YSBRYD GLA N." Oh! send Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, In Jesu’s blessed name, Oh! let Thy Spirit now descend In tongues of sacred flame! According to Thy promise, Lord, Shed freely from above The Holy Spirit in His strength To manifest Thy love. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== Chapter 2. The Principality of Wales--The Prophet of the Revival --His Last Message to Wales In 1903--The First Llandrindod Convention in August, 1903. "The sound of abundance of rain." 1 Kings 18:41. BUT where in these days can be found the conditions necessary for the mighty working of God? It must be, and can only be, where the Atonement of Christ is proclaimed, and the Scriptures accepted sincerely as the Word of the living God. We look towards the little Principality of Wales, and find these conditions there. Speaking generally the pulpit has been true to the Evangelical faith in all its essentials, and the gospel of the grace of God has been faithfully preached to the people. The nation has clung, as a whole, to the faith of their fathers--the exception being the few who have been touched by the spirit of criticism and unbelief so prevalent in other lands. True the people may have been living upon the traditions of the past, yet there has not been departure from the "faith once for all delivered to the saints." Wales has also had special advantages in its Sunday schools, where people of all ages gathered to learn the Word of God, and earnest efforts were directed to make the teaching effectual by systematic study and Scripture examinations. Then, again, we find the congregational festivals for singing placing the words of hymns full of the message of Calvary into the people’s memories. Groups of churches would practice the same selection of hymns through the winter, and then a day would be set apart for a festival under the conductor-ship of a leading musical teacher. The late Joseph Parry, Mus. Doc., said, in conducting one of these festivals not long before he died, that the coming revival would be a singing one! With the Gospel of Calvary in their minds, and the hymns about Calvary in their memories, the nation needed but the breath of God to quicken their traditional faith into living power. The All-Wise God looks forth upon the world, and finds here in this little country the conditions necessary for the breaking forth of His Spirit in Pentecostal power. Let us see whether there are traces of the "prayer movement" in the Principality. We do not know whether the story of the world-girdling prayer circles reached many in Wales, but we find the Holy Spirit creating in individuals, and groups of twos and threes, the very same cry He was cal1ing forth all over the world. In 1901 the Lord drew near to one of His servants in the ministry, and gave him such a revelation of His glory that he cried, like Isaiah, "Woe is me," and entered on a life in God unknown before. Then, in a quiet spot on the banks of a Welsh river, burdened over the spiritual condition of the country, he spent hours in prayer, pleading with God with many tears that He would come forth in power and work in the land. Again, in a quiet town in the western part of Wales, we hear of two and three women meeting together for prayer during several years, pleading for "Revival" among the women of the town. We go to the Rhondda Valley, where afterwards the Spirit of God swept with great power, and hear of some who for years had been pleading for a Revival which should "sweep over the whole world." We do not wonder that such souls are taken in to the secrets of God, the Holy Spirit saying to one of them just three days before the valley was moved by the mighty tide of life, " Get thee up . . . there is the sound of abundance of rain." We find in Monmouthshire the hand of the Lord upon two sisters, one an invalid, who, during 1903-1904, were burdened over the prevalence of sin, and the increase of crime in the county, one sister saying, tearfully, "I cannot sleep day nor night because my dear Lord is despised and set at naught." Another child of God--a retiring, timid lady-- bemoaning the deadness of the churches, said, "I shall die unless God exerts His power, and sends a Revival!" We hear of three ministers of the Gospel meeting together in May, 1903, for prayer and conference, drawn together by a sense of need; utterly dissatisfied with their own Christian experience, and distressed at the condition of their churches, with worldliness and apathy among their officers and members. Once again we see it is a group of three! They decided to form a "prayer circle," and fixed 10 o’clock each morning as the time to pray for each other and their churches. This prayer-group we shall refer to again, but just here it throws light upon the Spirit drawing forth prayer in Wales in unconscious accord with the world-wide circles of prayer. The Spirit of God was manifestly brooding over the land, and doubtless there are many names recorded in heaven of others burdened with a similar consciousness of need, who were drawn out in Spirit-taught prayer, both in the ordinary prayer-meetings of the Churches, and Young People’s Societies, as well as alone, with God. In the momentous year of 1902--the prayer-movement year, we may call it--as we look toward Wales we see also a figure standing out like Moses on Pisgah’s mount, beholding the land of far distances. One who has since been called the "prophet of the Revival." The late Dean Howell, of St. David’s, or "Llawdden,"--to use his bardic name. A dignitary of the Church of England, like Solomon, he had "largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore!" so that he was beloved of all sections of the people as a saintly man of God, a patriot, preacher-orator, and bard. In the closing month of 1902, in his far-away home on the extreme western point of the Principality, at the age of 83, " Llawdden" looks out upon his beloved land. Conscious of standing on the brink of eternity, with earth-born things fading from his gaze, and the light of heaven shining upon him, he sends out a message to his countrymen, since realised to be wondrously prophetic of the Revival. The Dean first gave a vivid sketch of the spiritual dearth in the land, and then in powerful language emphasised he only remedy to be a spiritual awakening. He appealed to all to "create a circle of implorers" who would cry to God in the words of Isaiah, "Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down." Then beseeching his readers to consecrate themselves to make a revival the chief end of their desire, he closed with the following memorable words:-- "Take notice, if it were known that this was my last message to my fellow-countrymen throughout the length and breadth of Wales before being summoned to judgment, and the light of eternity already breaking over me, and it is this--the chief need of my country, and my dear nation at present is a SPIRITUAL REVIVAL THROUGH A SPECIAL OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY GHOST." The message was issued in a Welsh Magazine in January, 1903, and caused a deep impression throughout the Principality. It proved indeed to be his last message, for shortly after its issue the aged Dean passed to his heavenly reward. "A spiritual revival through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost" was just what God was leading His people all over the world to pray for, and even then beginning to send upon the Principality of Wales. But before we watch the rising of the tide we must again return to the "Prayer Circle," Keswick, of 1902. At Keswick that same year were found two Welsh ministers who told how thirteen Welsh people, gathered in 1896 at the Keswick Convention, met together one afternoon for a prayer meeting for Wales, asking God Himself to give to Wales a similar Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life. For six years this petition lay before the Lord, until in the seventh year--which in the Scriptures always speaks of God’s fulness of time--the Lord’s time to answer had come. Again without using any of the usual "machinery" the Spirit of God immediately began to move toward the arrangement of a Conference for Wales, by a series of steps of such remarkable guidance, and wonderful coincidences, that so far as anything can be said to be wrought of God, with the least touch of human hand, so far can it be said that God Himself arranged, and brought to fruition, the Convention which became one of the channels for the rivers of life to Wales. When in September, 1902, the aged Dean was asked whether, in his judgment, the time was ripe for such a Conference for Wales, he stood, and with his hands raised, and his eyes lifted heavenward, he said, "I am an old man on the edge of eternity, and I say that if such a Conference could take place, God-given and not man-made, it would be an incalculable blessing to Wales." From this time on, with much prayer and wise counsels, he entered into all the detailed arrangements for the Conference, giving his very last strength and labours to the furthering of what he believed would tend to bring about the "spiritual high tide" which he, at this very time, urged upon his countrymen as " the chief need of Wales." Meanwhile the Spirit of God was working in the Principality. We have referred to the group of three ministers who banded together for prayer in May, 1903. They were conscious that the first step to blessing for their churches was to get right with God themselves. They agreed to pray daily, but they could not see clearly the way of the better life. In their perplexity they decided to write to a well-known London minister, begging him, if possible, to find time to meet a company of ministers in Glamorganshire to give them spiritual counsel and help. He replied that he could not come just then, but told them of the coming Conference, when he would gladly give them a private interview. At the very same time--the spring of 1903--in a district in Glamorganshire, four young men, only 18 years of age, were found on a mountain-side holding a prayer-meeting, and pleading with God for a revival in their church, which was in a cold and formal state, converts being few and far between. It transpired that these young men had held their prayer-meeting on the mountain every night for a month past! When this prayer-circle became known, the majority of the church viewed the proceedings with suspicion, and some ignored or mocked the "enthusiasm" of the lads. But they continued to pray on the mountain-side for two whole months, and, to the astonishment of the church, people joined them, and prayed with them, who never visited any place of worship! Some twelve or fourteen were now praying fervently for a revival, until at length the church members were touched, and all became moved with a spirit of prayer and passion for souls. The meetings attended only by four at first now increased to scores, and all testified to the power of God in a special manner. By this movement among the young people the Pastor himself was drawn to the searching of his own heart and life, asking himself whether he was fully surrendered to Christ, and had received the Holy Ghost. Finally he entered a new plane of spiritual experience and knowledge of the power of God. There are many other indications of the river of God beginning to rise in the early months of 1903, and unmistakable signs of God working in preparation for some mighty movement of the Spirit. At this crucial point, by the providence of God, came the long-prayed-for Conference, which was held at Llandrindod Wells in August, 1903. The gatherings were strikingly representative, numbers of clergy and ministers from all parts of the Principality being present, together with some forty of the ministers and evangelists of the "Forward Movement" of the Presbyterian Church of Wales.* So noticeable was the ministerial attendance that a well-known missioner involuntarily remarked, " Wales may be the cradle of the evangelists for the coming Revival!" There was no set programme for the meetings. The messages of the Lord’s messengers bore directly upon the experimental aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer. The putting away of all known sin, deliverance through identification with Christ in His death, and the definite reception of the Holy Ghost as an absolute necessity for all in the service of God, was emphasised, and carried home to hearts by the power of God in such intensity, that on the last two days it was manifest to all that the Spirit of God had come down in the midst. And what of the group of three who had sought the help of the London minister? One wrote: "Six of us went! [to the Conference.] But the history of that week can never be written--some believed, some doubted, some rebelled! But in a few days each one entered the promised land. We have met once a month ever since, coming from long distances, and we spend a quiet day with God. Our meetings have been indescribable, and we have had a number of Pentecosts." Many of the ministers and workers returned to their various spheres of labours with new visions and new hopes. As one said, "a new world" had opened to them--and they could not but lead others in! Local conventions began to be held in various places, and the ministers themselves became channels of blessing to their fellow ministers. One Pastor writes that later in 1903, he came in contact with one of these, and saw at once that he had a spiritual experience which he himself had not, but which he had for months been seeking. It was not long before he, too, received the fullness of the Holy Ghost. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== Chapter 3. The Life-Stream at New Quay in February, 1904 -- The Second Convention at Llandrindod, August, 1904 -- A Midnight Prayer-Meeting -- The Rivers Rising in the Autumn "Waters issued out from under the threshold." -- Ezekiel 47:1. ON the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem the Spirit of God came upon all the company gathered in the upper room, but when the multitude came together it was Peter whom He chose to interpret to the people what had happened, but Peter could not have reaped the three thousand souls without the co-service of the one hundred and nineteen who, with him, had been filled with the Holy Ghost. It has been said of the Awakening in Wales that it is the "Acts of the Apostles up-to-date." And we cannot but think that this is so, not only in its manifestations, but in the way in which the Pentecost has come upon the land. The movement is Divine and Heaven-born--and so was Pentecost. Yet in Jerusalem the Spirit of God did not come first upon the multitudes, but upon the company in the upper room, and through them into the world in exact fulfilment of the Lord’s words, "I will send Him unto you. And He will convict the world." (John 16:7-8). The law of the Holy Spirit’s working has not changed, and we should doubtless find, were we able to see all as known to God, that He has had His "120" in Wales, prepared by Him to be channels for the outflowing Spirit in this great awakening. It is important for the children of God in other countries to realise this, so that they may yield themselves to Him, that through them He may send rivers of life to " all nations" in this day of His power. Let us look again from the Mount of God, and watch the way that the life-streams began to break out in divers places. We will turn our eyes first to Cardiganshire, to a little township called New Quay, lying on the fringe of Cardigan Bay, and fifteen miles from a railway station. Here in this out-of-the-way place the Lord had quietly been preparing instruments for the coming Pentecost. With one of the strange coincidences which makes partnership with the Holy Ghost in service more romantic than any earthly romance, the All-seeing Lord ordained that one of the mightiest rivers should have its rise in the native place, and childhood’s church, of one of the ministers who asked of God at Keswick blessing for his native land! In the momentous year of 1902 a minister in New Quay--whose great grandfather was one of the first band of preachers organised by Howell Harris--had been aroused to spiritual need by the words of a friend from India, and of another who told him he feared he was "backsliding," as he noticed the absence of pathos in his voice when preaching! Aroused to a sense of need for greater blessing in his ministry, he sought this through Bible Study and books on prayer, until at last he entered into a fuller life in reading Dr. Andrew Murray’s book, "With Christ in the School of Prayer." The conviction grew upon him that the Spirit of God alone must save the church and the world. Meeting another minister in November, 1903, they exchanged confidences over the burden on their hearts about the churches, and their need of more abundant life. Neither of these brethren had attended the Llandrindod Conference, but after prayer they determined to recommend to the Presbytery that a Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life be held. The Missioners chosen were three, who received, to use the words of one, "fresh inspiration at Llandrindod." In the choice of these messengers God again showed Himself far above the ways of men. The whole district of South Cardiganshire is essentially Welsh, scarcely more than one English chapel being within a radius of twenty to thirty miles, yet one speaker was a minister who rarely preached in anything but English, the other was one who never preached in Welsh, and the third--the wife of one--a lady who had never spoken in public, excepting once at the " Forward Movement" meetings following the Conference at Liandrindod! The Convention was for delegates, and there was only one public meeting, but at this meeting, through the words of the handmaid of the Lord, the heart of a young girl was touched, the consequences of which she, or others, little dreamed of at the time. Meanwhile the Pastor of the church had been moved of God in the same November (1903) to commence a Young People’s Meeting in order to counteract the worldly spirit growing among them. One Sunday evening in January, 1904, the pastor preached from the text "This is the victory that overcometh the world." He was strangely drawn out to describe the world as he saw it then depicted before his spiritual vision. To his private house that evening the afore-mentioned young girl wended her way. Shy and retiring, she knew not how to tell him the burden on her soul. She walked up and down outside the house for half-an-hour, and then, gaining courage to enter, said, "Oh, how can I tell you! I cannot live like this. I saw the ’world’ in your sermon to-night. I am under its feet. Help me." After some conversation the Pastor found that she thought she was saved, but she was afraid to yield entirely to the Saviour, and own Him as Lord. "He may ask me things difficult," she said, and she would not that night commit herself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. On the following Sunday morning, in February, 1904, the Spirit of God bade the Pastor introduce some new feature into the Young People’s Meeting held after the morning service, and then it came to him to ask for testimony, definite testimony, as to what the Lord had done for their own souls. One or two rose to speak, but it was not testimony. It was just then that the same young girl-- shy, nervous, intelligent--stood up in tears, and with clasped hands simply said with deep pathos, "Oh, I love Jesus Christ with all my heart." Instantly the Spirit of God appears to have fallen upon the gathering, and all were deluged with tears. It was the beginning of the visible manifestation of the Spirit breaking out in life-streams which afterwards would touch thousands of souls. As at Pentecost, the blessing was soon noised abroad. Doors began to open on every hand, and the young people, led by their minister, conducted meetings throughout the south of the county, the Lord working with them in manifest power. But as yet the world knew little of what was going on. In August, 1904, the second Convention at Llandrindod took place, when the testimony meeting revealed how deep a work had been wrought in 1903. A minister, writing to the "Goleuad "--a Welsh paper--said that at the 1904 Conference many saw a door of hope for revival in Wales in the near future." Referring to the testimony meeting he said:-- "It was a luxury to hear ministers and laymen giving expression to the change that had taken place in their ministry and in their own personal lives since the Convention of 1903. Reference was made to a more intense consecration, to habits set aside, to a fuller dependence on the power of the Holy Ghost, and the many souls born in consequence thereof. Some testified that the Bible was a new book to them; others that prayer was easier and more powerful than it used to be . . . . .It is manifest that better days are about to dawn, and blessed are those believers who are willing now to consecrate themselves as worthy mediums for the Holy Ghost in the next revival." The Spirit of God broke forth again in glorious power that momentous week in 1904, and none will ever forget the closing morning meeting, when overcome by the revelation of the fullness of redemption purchased for the sinner by Jesus Christ our Lord, with hands raised and bowed heads, the audience sang again, and again, and again, "Crown Him Lord of all." Neither will the message that night on ’’ Exuberance of life in Jesus Christ ’’ ever be forgotten. Truly God was leading His people into open vision of Himself, and preparing them for the exuberant life which He has since shown in object-lesson before the eyes of the world. All through 1903 and 1904 the underground currents were quietly deepening and sometimes breaking out to the surface, until the time drew near when the flood-gates opened and the Spirit of God broke out upon the land as a "tidal-wave" sweeping all things before it, or, to use another figure, as a "forest fire" consuming all things it touched. We have seen the beginning of the life-streams in New Quay in February, 1904. Let us follow to their churches some of the ministers who entered into the Spirit-filled life in August, 1903. They tell of a midnight prayer-meeting at the 1904 Conference, when they all consecrated themselves afresh to God for His use, and definitely asked the Lord to raise up some one to usher in the Revival! A month later two of their churches were in the midst of a mighty awakening, when scores were converted! One returned to his people, and urged upon them the fullness of the Spirit for every believer. This soon aroused attention, and the subject became talked about by the colliers at work. Some opposed, but some yielded, and several young men surrendered to be possessed by the Holy Ghost. At the end of September prayer-meetings began to be held on every week-night, until the schoolroom was filled, and they had to adjourn to the chapel, where again they gathered every night for three weeks longer. The prayer-meetings were then intermingled with testimony meetings, and afterwards special services were held conducted by one of the ministers who had entered the Spirit-filled life. At these fifty found the Saviour, and large numbers of young people received in actual experience their "Pentecost." By the end of the year one hundred and twenty souls were added to the Lord. Another minister who entered the Spirit-filled life in 1903 returned to his church fervently praying for an outpouring of the Spirit, and slowly signs began of better things approaching. People in the church who had taken offence with each other were reconciled. Unity prepared the way of the Lord, and then on November 20, 1904, the Spirit of God broke out. The Pastor had been preaching at a mission station in the morning, but passing the mother-church on his way home, he entered, and found the service still on. Something had occurred! There was not a dry eye in the place! The people were shedding tears and smiling at the same time. One of the elders, in a broken voice, said that they had experienced a most wonderful meeting. The Holy Spirit had come in such mighty power that they decided to dispense with Sunday school and sermons and spend the day in prayer and pra1se. "Under normal conditions it would be necessary to give due notice of re-arrangements of this kind, and to have them sanctioned by a church meeting," writes the Pastor, " but now the Holy Spirit took possession heeding not our arrangements, and no one had the courage or the desire to protest!" From this time meetings were held every night, and some of the young people became possessed by the Spirit to such a remarkable degree that the "Acts of the Apostles became more intelligible" to all. Many were led into full surrender to Christ as King, and gave soul-stirring testimonies. Those who had hitherto taken but a passive interest in the work of the church sprang forward, and became bold witnesses for Christ. Open-air meetings were organised when even young women raised their voices in testimony, and those who had been too diffident to take part in public service, now did not hesitate to speak even to drunkards coming out of public-houses, and kneel down and pray for them in the open streets. Another minister returned to his church bearing witness to the Spirit-filled life, and signs of blessing began in September, 1903, as a deep thirst for better things slowly grew among the members. In July, 1904, the Pastor commenced a special meeting after the ordinary evening service, particularly for those who desired to live the Spirit- filled life. The Holy Spirit came upon that meeting in such manifest power that all present were overwhelmed, and remarkable testimonies were afterwards given by many. On a later Sunday evening, the Spirit of God broke forth again in the ordinary service. Strong men were broken down, and said afterwards that they felt as if they must shout to relieve their pent-up feelings. Several young men gave themselves to Christ in this service. Sunday after Sunday the place was filled by the Holy Ghost, and several conversions took place. At the close of one service held in October all who desired to consecrate themselves to the Lord, and go out and seek the lost, were asked to meet in the schoolroom, and here the "Revival" began. Souls were saved night after night for weeks succeeding. "But," writes the Pastor, "although we had completed ten weeks of prayer meetings, and many souls were gathered in, I still felt the church as a whole had not received her Pentecost. Early in December, 1904, in a memorable prayer meeting several crossed the line, and entered the promised land. Some men were so literally filled with the Spirit that others could have said ’They are drunk with new wine.’ A great passion for souls took possession of many hearts from this time, and in one week seventy souls were gathered in. Many made public confession of sins, and consecrated themselves to Christ. After 11 o’clock one Saturday night ten men yielded to the Saviour, and over one hundred and fifty confessed Christ ere 1904 closed. The whole movement without doubt had its origin in my own awakening. After I surrendered all conscious sin and yielded entirely to Christ, a new power was immediately felt in my ministry. Now I have a NEW church, with a large number of men and women who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and are used to win souls," ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 ======================================================================== Chapter 4. New Quay in September, 1904 -- The Blaenanerch Convention -- The Spirit-Baptism of Evan Roberts -- Loughor in November, 1904 -- The Tidal Wave and Its Results "The waters were risen, waters to swim in." Ezekiel 47:5. We now go back to Cardiganshire to watch the outcome of the blessing given at New Quay in February, 1904. In September, 1904, the Rev. Seth Joshua, the Connexional Evangelist of the "Forward Movement," visited New Quay for a Mission, and found the Holy Spirit working in such a remarkable way that he at once said he felt it betokened a great Revival. The Presence of the Spirit in the meetings was like the "wind" moving upon the people. The singing, prayers, testimonies, and exhortations were all full of vital breath. The meetings would be closed two or three times, but others would cry for mercy or break out in joyful thanksgiving. Strong men and women wept under the power of a young girl’s prayer. Many of the young people had manifestly received a baptism of power. The love among the believers was intense, and the tenderness of prayer for others irresistible. From New Quay the Evangelist went to Newcastle Emlyn, wherein there was a Preparatory School for students for the ministry. At the services conducted by Mr. Joshua some students manifestly received the power of the Holy Ghost, among whom was Sydney Evans, the fellow-student and friend of the one whom God had been preparing as a special instrument for the Pentecost of blessing now close at hand. In the same Preparatory School was Evan Roberts, a young collier student of twenty-six years of age, preparing to enter the ministry. For eleven years he had prayed for a "Revival," and for thirteen years he had prayed for the fullness of the Spirit. Just a word dropped by a deacon in a church-meeting thirteen years before, caused him to determine to know the Holy Ghost. "Be faithful," said the deacon. "What if the Spirit descended, and you were absent!" So through all weathers and difficulties, refusing to be tempted by the boys and the boats on the river near his home, the lad wended his way to prayer meeting, and other chapel services, year after year. Evan Roberts came from a typical Welsh home, and is the son of godly parents. At twelve years old he became his father’s right hand in the mine, and shortly afterwards commenced regular work underground in the colliery. He was never without his Bible, which he studied in the intervals of work, and so the time went by, until one night in the spring of 1904 God seems to have drawn near to him in a very special way. He says that as he prayed by his bedside at night, he was taken up into a great expanse--without space or time--into communion with God. This was manifestly a crisis in his spiritual life, for hitherto, he says, God was to him " a far-away God," and he was afraid of Him. But after this the Lord awakened him night after night, a little after one o’clock, and took him up into Divine fellowship for about four hours. He would sleep until nine o’clock, when again he would be rapt in communion with God until about noon in the day. Three months this sacred fellowship lasted, and then came the time--September, 1904--for him to go to the Preparatory School at Newcastle Emlyn. In the providential leadings of God just at this time a Convention was being held at Blaenanerch, some eight miles from Newcastle Emlyn, the messengers with the Loid’s message being the same three who had been sent to New Quay at the close of 1903. The Rev. Seth Joshua had now commenced his Mission, and on the Thursday morning took a party of about twenty young people, including a group from New Quay, Evan Roberts, and Sydney Evans, to Blaenanerch to attend the meetings. The Lord wrought in the brake on that early morning drive as they sung, "It is coming--It is coming--The power of the Holy Ghost--I receive it--I receive it--The power of the Holy Ghost" Singing and praising, they reached Blaenanerch in time for the seven o’clock service which was being conducted by one of the Missioners. Evan Roberts was already deeply moved, but he quite broke down when at the close Mr. Joshua led in prayer, and used the words "Plyg ni, 0 Arglwydd "--" Bend us, O Lord." The soul in travail heard no words but these. "This is what you need," whispered the Spirit of God. "Bend me, 0 Lord," he cried, but even yet the fire had not fallen. At the nine o’clock meeting the Spirit of God led one and the other to pray, and then Mr. Roberts says:-- "I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me, and the tears freely flowed. I cried, ’Bend me! Bend me! Bend us!’ What bent me was God commending His love, and I not seeing anything in it to commend." The Holy Ghost had come and melted his whole being by a revelation of the love of God at CALVARY, for "God commendeth His own love to us in that--Christ died for us." The young man returned to Newcastle Emlyn and prayed God to give him the seal of six others set on fire of God, and--the six were given. Then the Holy Spirit bade him return to his own people, and speak to them, but he did not obey, although he grew more and more troubled and ill at ease. One Sunday in chapel he could not fix his mind on the service, for always before him--as in a vision--he saw the schoolroom in his own village, and all the young people and his old companions sitting in rows whilst he addressed them. He tells how he shook his head impatiently, and sought to drive all this away, but God would give him no rest; back and back it came whilst the Holy Spirit whispered clearer and clearer, "Go and speak to these people." At last the pressure grew stronger, until he could no longer resist, and he said he would go. Instantly the glory of the Lord so filled the chapel that he could not "see for the glory of that light." After this the young man went to an aged minister to ask him whether this was of God or the devil, when he replied that the devil was not given to sending people to work like this--he must obey the heavenly vision. And to Loughor the young student went in obedience to the voice of God. What God wrought through him we shall see later on. We will first pause a moment to see how God answers prayer. In the brake that morning on the way to Blaenanerch, Mr. Joshua told how it had been laid upon him four years before, to ask the Lord definitely to take a lad from the coal-mine or from the field, even as He took Elisha, to revive His work in Wales. He prayed God to raise an instrument whereby human pride might be humbled--not one from Cambridge, lest it would minister to their pride, nor one from Oxford University lest it would feed the intellectualism of the Church. Not once had this prayer been mentioned until this morning, and it was then revealed, little knowing that the very instrument chosen of God was listening to the words. Let us recall, too, the midnight prayer meeting at Llandrindod just two months before, when the Lord was asked to raise some special instrument to usher in the Revival. Yes, God answers prayer. To Loughor, his native place, early in November, 1904, Evan Roberts went. He says that he consulted the Pastor of his church, who told him that he might try and see what he could do, but he would find the ground stony and the task hard! The young people came together, and they all sat before him as he had been shown by God. At first they did not seem touched, but presently the Spirit of God began to work, and six came out for Christ. Then the "Pentecost" began. Soul after soul came forward, and the most extraordinary results followed. The whole community was shaken. Meetings lasted until four in the morning, and at six the people would be awakened by the sounds of the crowds going to the early morning prayer meeting. The work went on until, a local minister said, the entire population had been transformed into a praying multitude. Men and women of whom he had despaired had voluntarily come to Christ. The lives of hundreds of colliers and tinplate workers were transformed. The men went straight to chapel from the mills, and the public-houses were practically deserted. On November 10th the first public reference to these remarkable scenes was made in a Welsh secular paper, which, from this time, to the wonderment of all, devoted columns to the reporting of the work, and did much in the providence of God to noise abroad that which God was doing among His people. Other secular papers did the same, and all men marvelled at the sovereign power of God in thus moving the secular Press to report the work of God! From Loughor, the Revivalist, as the young student began to be called, went on to Trecynon and other places, manifestly carried on the crest of a mighty wave of the Spirit, which swept like a cleansing tide along the mining valleys of Glamorganshire. Everywhere the people thronged in multitudes to hear this Spirit-baptized young student! At Loughor he spoke, it is said, with impassioned oratory, but once the overflowing stream had broken out the Spirit of God appeared to put aside "preaching" and use the voice of testimony. "YE slew, hanging Him on a tree, Him did God exalt," and " we are witnesses," was the burden of the message of the Spirit-possessed souls in the days of Pentecost. And this was the Holy Spirit’s message through His people, as He bore co-witness by "signs and wonders" wrought amongst the thronging multitudes. Under the constraint of an unseen power the chapels were filled with eager people at all hours of the day, and the services took their own course under the control of the Holy Ghost, presiding as the "executive power of the Godhead." Prayers, testimonies, and singing broke out in seeming disorder, yet acknowledged by all to be the most harmonious order. The Revivalist would enter during the meeting, sometimes unknown to those present until he rose with some word to the people. The burden of his message would be, "Obey the Holy Ghost," and when one in the meeting would break out into prayer whilst he was speaking, he would calmly "give place," and show to others his acknowledgement of the presidency of One greater than he. At some point perhaps Mr. Roberts would "test" the meeting, and put to it the four definite steps necessary to salvation, which, he said, the Holy Spirit had given to him to urge upon the people. (1)The past must be made clear by sin being confessed to God, and every wrong to man put right. (2) Every doubtful thing in the life must be put away. (3) Prompt and implicit obedience to the Holy Ghost. (4) Public confession of Christ. Forgiveness of others as an essential to receiving the forgiveness of God was often emphasised, as well as the distinction between the Holy Spirit’s work in conversion, and in baptising the believer with the Holy Ghost. In truth, the Revivalist was giving the full Gospel as preached at Pentecost, and like Peter’s message, it received the co-witness of the Holy Ghost, and produced Pentecostal results. "Repent "--change your mind toward God, and put away wrong to your neighbour. "Remission" of sins will then be given you, and ye shall "Receive" the Holy Ghost if ye will obey Him, and publicly bear witness to Christ. Indescribable scenes took place at the meetings. Sometimes a very torrent of prayer, and then of song, would sweep over the audience, and hundreds of souls would rise to declare their surrender to God, the congregation bursting out into joyous thanksgiving in hymns of gladness. But the Revivalist’s special burden always was the "Church." "Bend the Church, and save the world," was his cry." The word "bend" in Welsh conveying the meaning of submission to God, and the taking away of resistance to His will. And his one aim seemed to be first to get the Christians right with God so that the Spirit might break out in converting power upon the unsaved. And CALVARY was the power both for sinner and saved. The Revivalist would break down in heart-anguished sobbing when he touched the theme. "You would not be cold if you had come here by Calvary," he would say. "Thanks, thanks for Calvary," was the burden of many prayers. The hymns rang with Calvary, the one most often sung was "Pen Calfaria "--the Mount of Calvary--an exultant song of triumph telling of Christ’s victory over death and hell at the Cross. Another hymn sung with melting power was "Dyma Gariad "--" Here is love vast as the ocean." The people sang without books, for these hymns had been in their memories from childhood, but now quickened and used by the Spirit they rang out as never before. Many of the "sweet singers of Wales" were drawn by the Spirit of God into His service, and often would be heard a sweet warbling voice like a nightingale’s trill breaking out into a hymn whilst the people were bowed in prayer. A "Singing Revival" it truly became. Souls were sung to Christ, and exulted over in song when won. The spirit of gladness and praise filled all hearts, as thousands rejoiced in a new-found assurance of salvation. The Spirit of God did His own work of convicting, and many were the evidences of His power working through hymn and testimony. A young man would return his prize medal and diploma because he had gained it unfairly. A grocer would return money picked up in his shop, and kept although knowing the one who dropped it. Long-standing debts were paid. Stolen goods returned. Prize - fighters, gamblers, publicans, rabbit-coursers, and others of the class rarely touched by ordinary means came to Christ, and quickly the world knew the results. Magistrates were presented with white gloves in several places because there were "no cases." Public-houses were forsaken. Rowdiness was changed to soberness. Oaths ceased to be heard, so that, it was said, in the collieries the horses could not understand the language of their drivers. The reading of light literature was exchanged for Bible reading, and shops were cleared of their stocks of Bibles and Testaments. Prayer-meetings were held in collieries underground, in trains and trains and all kinds of places. All the world bore testimony to these practical evidences of the power of God. "Seeing the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." "A notable miracle hath been wrought . . and we cannot deny it," said many an one previously sceptical of the practical power of the Christian faith. Managers of works bore witness that the amount of work turned out by the men since the "Revival" had been more than they had known for years, and Magistrates did not hesitate to make known their approval of the ethical fruits of the awakening. Far and wide the influences spread, affecting all classes. Miners’ Associations decided to hold their conferences no longer on licensed premises. Political meetings had to be postponed, and Members of Parliament were found taking part in "Revival meetings." Football teams were disbanded because the men had been converted, and had other attractions now. From one district a Theatrical Company felt it necessary to depart, as there was no hope of audiences, for all the "world" was praying. With one accord the converts put aside the "drink," and the temperance workers saw the Spirit of God accomplish in three months what they had laboured to do for forty years! At the conclusion of a service dozens of young men would be seen marching to the front to sign the pledge. The mighty tidal wave swept hither and thither-- men knew not how or why. The Spirit of God found His own channels; and districts unvisited by Mr. Evan Roberts had extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Lists of converts were sent to the newspapers, giving a record of professed conversions of over 70,000 names by December, 1904--just two months only since the life-streams broke out at Loughor, the number reaching over 85,000 by the end of March, 1905! Many of the young people were thrust out by the Lord to share in the service--Mr. Sydney Evans, Mr. Dan Roberts and many others, leading Revival meetings with the manifest blessing of God. Visitors from all parts of Britain and the Continent began to flock to Wales to see the "great sight" of God breaking forth in supernatural power upon the sons of men. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 02.05. CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== Chapter 5. The Overflowing Streams Through Divers Channels--How the Holy Spirit Wrought in Many Centres--The General Effect on the Churches "Every thing shall live whithersoever the river cometh."-- Ezekiel 47:9. THE glimpses we have had into the preparatory work of the Spirit explains why the river of God appeared to break out in so many districts at the same time in November, 1904. Taking a bird’s-eye view of South Wales, we might go to centre after centre, and watch the rising tide. In Carmarthen we find the Spirit of God at work in preparation for months beforehand, some of the ministers of the town having entered the Spirit-filled life in 1903, one afterwards being one of the missioners at the New Quay Convention, and in many others in the months that followed, as well as at Blaenanerch in September, 1904. A drawing together of the Free Churches in unity was the first preparation of the Spirit, until early in November He began to manifest His presence in supernatural power. A Convention for the deepening of the spiritual life had been convened by the united churches, but on the Sabbath evening preceding the Convention, in three places of worship in the town the Spirit of God broke out, strong men weeping, and young and old praying and praising in a most unheard of fashion. On the Monday night in one church about eighty adults were studying Luke iv. in a Bible Class, when suddenly there grew upon the whole company a vision of Christ unique in His Person and claims. All fell to praying and praising God unaware to themselves, crying with joy and praying, as one said, "as if our souls would escape from our bodies." The Convention was held the same week, and another the week after, in Welsh only, for the benefit of the country churches, when delegates came in large numbers, and here indeed the flood-gates of heaven were opened. Between the meetings that second week, it was said that in every class-room and available corner of the chapel grounds, groups of women, young people, ministers or elderly men were seen in prayer, many sobbing and pleading with God in utter oblivion of all that was around. That night the whole congregation marched in procession to the market square for a jubilant open-air service of praise. In Morriston we hear of the minister of one church, consisting of over five hundred members, deeply burdened over his people--so burdened that he had sent in his resignation, and determined to seek a secular calling. There had been trouble among the deacons, and a meeting was called to deal with the offending officers. But at this stage the Pastor came across John McNeil’s (of Australia) book on "The Spirit-filled life." It was a message from God to him, and revealed his need. Just then he heard of the Revival flame bursting out at Mountain Ash, and he went across to one of the meetings. At the close of the service, alone in a back street, he surrendered fully to God, and on the following Sunday told his people what had happened to him. The Spirit of God at once broke out. The Pastor’s resignation was not accepted. The deacons had no need to be dealt with. The overflowing stream reached many souls until, on the last Sunday of 1904, one hundred and thirty-eight were received into church fellowship, one hundred and eighty-five converts being registered in five weeks. In another district, not far from Loughor, the Vicar of the parish tells of an indefinable influence at work for some time before November, which very quickly rose into full tide when the Spirit of God broke forth in the land. He writes that at the opening services of the parish church on November 14 there was not a single dry eye among the congregation, and yet no Revival services had been held. Two laymen in this church seem to be men filled with the Spirit, having great power in prayer and utterance. About seventy have been led to the Saviour. After-meetings are held, when quite boys and girls, twelve years old and upwards, pray or sing, and a marvellous change is seen in the lives of the people. In Swansea and district we hear of church after church, both Church of England and Nonconformist, where the Spirit of God broke out in rivers of life. In some cases unexpectedly, and in others after long and faithful preaching of the Gospel of Calvary, and the fulness of the Spirit for every believer as promised by the Lord. In the Neath district we find the Holy Spirit moving in a large mission hall holding two thousand people. The Pastor received the "anointing" some thirteen years ago, and hence was ready for the tide when it came. Hearing of the blessing at Loughor, early in November, a fortnight’s prayer-meetings were at once held asking God to send a Pentecost upon the work. During the fortnight of prayer the Spirit of God dealt with the church members, and then, at the Sunday evening service, the blessing broke out. At the close of his address, ere the Pastor could even ask for decisions, men and women rose from the crowded congregation amidst intense stillness and no excitement, and pressed into the enquiry rooms until they were filled, and one hundred and nineteen souls had found the Lord. Thirty-eight souls were given the next night, and the reaping went on until over a thousand converts were gathered in, amongst whom were many men and women who never went to a place of worship; many who had been to prison; drunkards, prize-fighters, gamblers, and one clog dancer who had won gold medals in his calling. Women quite drunk would stagger into the meetings, and be soundly converted whilst standing in the hall. How truly the work was of God was seen in many cases. One publican offered a convert a fortnight’s free "drink" if he would break away, but he answered "No, I have had enough of it, for it kept me in Swansea jail." Another man passing a public-house saw the landlady come out and hold up a pint of beer, saying, "Come along," but the convert held up his Bible and replied, "No, we’re going with this now. This is the key to heaven, and that to hell!" Other churches in this town have also much to tell of the Lord’s grace and blessing. In the Bridgend district we find again the Spirit of God at work many months before the spiritual high-tide came upon the land. Several of the ministers received the power of the Holy Ghost in August, 1903. One was the Pastor of a prominent church, the worldly reputation of which was an almost insuperable obstacle to aggressive Christian work. When he entered the Spirit-filled life his church immediately felt the change. Some members were attracted, whilst many declared the standard of life to be too high. At last in 1904 there commenced remarkable "demonstrations of the Spirit," and the Spirit of God faced the Pastor with the painful duty of dealing personally with the officers of the church. Among the deacons was an able solicitor, a man well-known in his profession, and prominent in the political world, whose whole life (afterwards acknowledged by himself) was an utterly worldly one. A private interview was arranged, when the Lord stood with the faithful Pastor, and spoke through him in such power that the deacon was broken down, and came as a penitent to the foot of the Cross. Not many days after he called together his fellow-deacons, and told them he had found Christ, and was a new man. The same testimony was given to the Bible Class, and afterwards to the public congregation, and each time he spoke of the mercy of the Lord, and the music which filled his heart, his hearers were deeply moved. His fellow-deacons at once consecrated themselves to the Lord, and the effect upon the church was as the "breaking down of an obstructing dam up among the sources of power." A flood-tide of the Spirit broke out among the congregation, and a fervent piety and passion for souls took the place of the former deadness. Not only was the church blessed, but the conversion of such a soul--like Saul of Tarsus-- produced great effect in the district. He publicly confessed that the change meant to him the whole outlook of life transformed, affecting his home and his business, and in the latter sphere his numerous publican clients were requested to find another advocate for their interests. It was not long after this that the church had its "Pentecost." On a sabbath morning the Pastor had read the second chapter of Acts when a woman rose and said, "Let me seal that with my testimony," and then she told how the Lord had come to her in the night, and told her He had given her a mission to speak for Him. The husband sat by her side sobbing, as the woman spoke with her face lit up, for the first time in public. Testimonies followed until the whole church was moved. At night the Spirit of God so wrought among the people that in different parts of the building many were falling on their knees crying out, whilst rough men of the town rose from every side, and accepted Christ. This Pentecost Sunday was followed by a steady work of the Spirit among Church members and the unsaved. Scores of enquirers poured in, week by week, drawn by the Spirit of God, many of them characters long ago pronounced as "hopeless," and it has been an affecting sight to see the solicitor and leading politician pleading with rough and fallen men and women, as a brother, and a fellow sinner, God using him mightily in winning souls to Christ. No less than one hundred and fifty converts have been gathered in to this church, giving every token of a deep inward change of heart. In another district, the river of life broke out some time in the middle of November. Preparatory work was done in July last by the visit of one of the ministers who knew the Indwelling Spirit. Many members of the church then entered the Spirit-filled life, and were prepared to understand the work of the Spirit when He came in Pentecostal power. A marvellous prayer-meeting one Saturday night in November preceded the opening of the flood-gates of heaven, and it was not long before two hundred and sixty converts were added to the church. Added to the blessing among the unsaved, many of the Christians who had opposed the message of the Spirit-filled life in July, now publicly confessed that they had been wrong, and some gave remarkable testimonies of the Holy Spirit’s working in their lives. In Dowlais the river of life had commenced to flow some time back in the summer of 1904 through the visit of some to New Quay. In one Dowlais church, the Pastor writes that for months past the "visits paid" to the church by the Holy Spirit were "wondrously powerful and significant." At several distinct periods the congregation without ~ any apparent reason would simultaneously burst into tears. Often had the Pastor himself sought with tears at the throne of grace a greater influx of power in his own life. At the close of the month of August, 1904, three ministers who knew the Spirit-filled life conducted services in the church, when many received the filling of the Spirit after a definite surrender to Christ, and God at once began to use them powerfully. The Pastor writes that his own life became a radically changed one, the spiritual 7 sphere becoming to him transfigured and very real. The river of life flowed on from that time in August, and conversions took place at every meeting until, by the close of 1904, one hundred and seventy had been added to the Lord, and believers were continually being brought into full surrender to Christ, and the knowledge of the Indwelling Holy Ghost. Passing on to Monmouthshire the Pastor of one church writes that after his return from the 1904 Llandrindod Conference not a prayer meeting, church meeting, or any other service took place without the message concerning the whole-hearted reception of the Spirit being urged upon his people, until in October two ministers in the experience of the Spirit-filled life came to conduct special services, when the whole church was transformed, the entire diaconate receiving blessing. Seventy-four converts were also gathered in, and in the afternoon meetings for Christians, three women who came from another Church, entered into the fulness of blessing, receiving a baptism of love for souls. These became channels of the life-streams in their own church, where two hundred converts were quickly won to Christ. In another district we find special services of the same class, when everyone who attended the afternoon meetings surrendered fully to Christ, and received the Holy Ghost, whilst souls were brought to Christ at every meeting. These services were held at the very time that the Spirit of God broke out at Loughor. In Cardiff, with one of the romantic coincidences so frequently experienced by souls led of the Spirit, we find in October, 1904, a great Mission conducted by the very one called out from the prayer-company in Chicago for the service of God in "world-wide revival," and there is evidence that he was used of God especially to ministers and workers in his messages concerning the Spirit-filled life. Thus was the Lord through many channels preparing His people. When the high tide came upon the land later on, we find in Cardiff a most unique work of God in one centre, a large chapel being filled night after night with people of all classes, and some of the very hopeless outcasts of the town brought by the power of God into newness of life. Agnostics have given testimony to faith in Jesus Christ, and drunkards have been delivered from their bonds. Midnight meetings have been held revealing the horrors of sin, and the power of Christ to save. Other churches in the town have also been deeply moved by God, whilst at Penarth we find another centre of blessing, over six hundred converts being added to one church, drunkards, thieves, gamblers, and others had been rescued, and are now among the best workers in the service of Christ. The Spirit broke out in November when no special evangelist had visited the Church, which had been praying for Revival for about two years. The Pastor tells how God prepared him by reading books on the Spirit-filled life, which life he entered upon at the aforesaid Mission in Cardiff in October. These instances--and they are but instances of the way that the Spirit of God was working in places far distant from each other--show that He was moving in different parts of Wales at the same time, and the life-streams which had been quietly rising appear to have silently joined their currents in November, 1904, and swept in "high tide" over the land. We find all sections of the Church affected by it, for the Holy Ghost is no respecter of denominations any more than persons, and He freely wrought in every place where He was welcomed when He began to work, and was given room. We have summarized briefly some of the effects upon the masses and upon the world, in watching the course of the mighty river of God which swept from Loughor through the mining districts of South Wales. Let us now look out upon the whole of South Wales, and view the broad effects of the Pentecost upon the people of God. What has the spiritual high-tide accomplished? It not only swept down the mining valleys as a torrent, cleansing and healing as it went, but it silently enveloped the machinery of the churches, and lifted them, so to speak, into a new spiritual sphere. The traditional bonds of years were broken. Prejudices of the past vanished. Not only in the meetings held by Revivalists, but in ordinary services, the Spirit of God--hitherto often considered but an influence--was honoured as the Third Person of the Trinity, and given His place of presidency over the church. Pastors allowed the services to take any form that might arise from the movement of the Spirit. Anyone might rise to speak or lead in prayer without fear, and sermons were put aside when the need arose. In the overflowing tide denominational barriers between the people of God were submerged, as when the sea sweeps in upon the shore, and swallows up in its glorious fulness all the pools of sea-water separated far from each other on the sand. Wondrous scenes were witnessed that must have caused the heavenly spheres to ring with the joy of the angels. Churches on unbrotherly terms for many years were reconciled, and united meetings held, in one case the two ministers shaking hands before the people. In some districts--would God we could say all--clergy and their Free Church brethren freely met together in the worship of God. Families were re-united; long-severed friends reconciled; children were restored to parents; offended church members re-took their places among the people of the Lord. And in place after place the "Ministers’ fraternal meeting" became fraternal in very truth, for hearts flowed together in true fellowship in the presence of the Lord. With the spirit of unity and love, came also the spirit of sacrifice. Churches hitherto divided on the question unanimously decided to put away all danger to the weaker brethren in the using of fermented wine at the table of the Lord. In other churches large numbers of old members signed the pledge for the sake of the weaker ones rescued from the drink-fiend, and in another church we read of members vacating their own pews in the body of the building, and retiring to the gallery that the area might be used for the aggressive work of gathering in the souls. We find, also, a wondrous spirit of liberty, which strikingly bears the marks of Pentecost, for in the surcharged atmosphere in the upper room in Jerusalem, all began to speak! The young people, hitherto shy before their elders, have had their tongues loosed, to speak or pray without fear of rebuke. It is now no uncommon thing to see a young girl of eighteen speaking under the evident control of the Holy Ghost, whilst in the big pew sit ministers and elders, ofttimes with tears coursing down their faces. The servants and handmaidens are prophesying, as foretold by Joel. Again we find that the prophesying takes the form of witnessing--the special mark of Pentecost. In Wales for many years it has been considered too sacred a thing to speak of the inner dealings of God, yet suddenly we see all changed, and sermons put aside for testimony, and public confession of what the Lord has done for the soul. Another remarkable change is the attitude to the prayer-meeting! Hitherto shunted, as one said, for any social event, and none but elders, when called upon, solemnly took part! But now social events must stand aside for the prayer-meetings, which are more attractive than all else! The spirit of prayer, too, is given in a very travail for souls, and narrow bounds are swept away, as prayer is made for "all nations." We have referred elsewhere to the way that the Holy Spirit made Calvary the centre and source of blessing, and there are many traces of a remarkable revelation of the Cross to the "eyes of the heart"-- Ephes. i. 18. An evangelist tells how he was praying with others in a certain house one day, when the Lord revealed himself to the servant-girl in a "clear vision of the Cross with herself at the base," and her "experience and power in the service which followed, was most touching." In a meeting too, at Carmarthen, a worker rose and asked why it was she saw the Cross of Calvary before her vision night and day. There are other Pentecostal marks discernible in places where the Spirit of God has worked in mighty power, in "signs and wonders" being wrought among the people. "Signs and wonders" in miracles of physical deliverance for souls wrecked by the demon of strong drink. One convert who had been a gambler and drunkard, with his bodily frame shattered by his life, gave testimony that since the day of his conversion he had been perfectly restored to his normal health. Another, who had not been sober one "week-end" for thirty-five years, said he could not now smell alcoholic liquor without sickness--the revulsion was so great. In this day of His power we find others, too, proving the healing power of God. A minister tells how he was taken ill in the midst of the work, but he appealed to the Lord, and found himself instantly healed! He did not hesitate to bear witness to this in a meeting, when quickly many others sprang to their feet, and said what the Lord had done for them in the same way, one being a minister’s wife who entered the Spirit-filled life but a few months before. At one place, too, in a meeting the power of the Spirit was so intense, that the Missioners could not pray for deliverance for souls manifestly held in bondage by the evil one, but were constrained irresistibly to "command" the adversary to release his captives, and numbers were thus set free by the power of God. If we speak of the converts swept in by the spiritual high-tide, we might describe them in the very words of Scripture! They who have "received the word" have "continued stedfastly" in "fellowship" and in prayers --great numbers being baptized and received to the table of the Lord. All I that "believe " now continue " with one accord" in the various church meetings, and are filled with "gladness" and "singleness of heart," for they have lost the desire for the things of the world which they have come out of, and long to fully serve the Lord! They are "praising God" with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," and are "having favour with all the people." And the Lord is "adding’ to them day by day" others who also are "being saved." But it must be remembered these converts are but babes, many utterly untaught, although born into the kingdom in this day of Pentecostal power. It remains for the Pastors to lead them on into the fulness of the life in the Spirit so that they become established in the knowledge of God, and the Church of God in Wales be in deed and truth after the pattern of Pentecost. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 02.06. CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== Chapter 6. The Life Streams in North Wales--Some Traces at Ponkey in June, 1904--The Tidal Wave at Rhos, November, 1904--The Healing of the Breach at Bethesda. Northward . . behold there ran out waters."-- Ezekiel 47:2. We have watched the rivers of living water breaking out in many directions in South Wales; let us now turn our eyes to North Wales, and see how the Divine Spirit has been working in the northern part of the Principality. We will look into the district of Rhos, which has been as mightily moved as any part of Glamorganshire. We find that some signs of an awakening occurred as far back as June, 1904, at anniversary services in a church at Ponkey. One of the special preachers two months before had been to South Wales, and had come in contact with two of the ministers who entered into the Spirit-filled life in August, 1903, and returned to his northern home with his heart deeply moved, and fully persuaded that the experimental knowledge of the fulness of the Holy Ghost would usher in a "new era in the history of the Welsh ministry." The following Sunday will long be remembered in the Church as their "Day of Pentecost." At the Sabbath morning service the Pastor asked for testimony instead of preaching his usual sermon, and a big sturdy man in the congregation rose and asked the minister if he would baptize him there and then on his profession of faith in Christ, and would he do it without doubting? The whole congregation was moved, and, to the music of his mother’s prayer, the young man was baptized, shouting, "Praise God for the privilege of following Jesus before the Day of Pentecost is passed." Another from the crowd followed this one, and an after-meeting was held, when a young man who was the "black sheep" of his family was seen on his knees in tears; whilst two young men in the choir, old friends of his, offered up praise and prayer, mingled with joyous tears. His father, who was present, shouted for joy, and thanked God that the Gospel had done what father and mother had failed to do! The whole congregation were sobbing aloud. At night the service was so extraordinary that the people lost all consciousness of time and place, the minister "lost his sermon," and relying upon the Spirit, was used in a remarkable manner. From this time on, prayer meetings were held every night during July, and the church was ready for the tidal wave which was to burst over the land in November. In November, 1904, some churches at Rhos invited a South Wales minister to conduct special services for them--one who entered the Spirit-filled life in August 1903! In giving the account of the extraordinary movement in Rhos, the correspondent of a Liverpool paper says:- "If I had been asked a month ago whether a revival was probable in Wales I should have answered No. It seemed to me that the Higher Criticism had wrecked the ordinary machinery of a revival, and that until theology had been reshaped . . . nothing could be done to disturb the prevailing apathy, but oddly enough the Revivalist [Rev. R. B. Jones] is one who, according to his own story, was at one time deeply interested in the Higher Criticism, and preached the ’new theology.’ He felt, however, emptiness and coldness in his sermons. Attendance at a Convention held in Liandrindod led to a crisis in his life. He felt himself to be a new man, and since then the writings of the higher critics have lost their attraction for him.’’ The services at Rhos began on the very day that the Spirit of God broke out at Loughor through the ministry of Mr. Evan Roberts! They were held in the largest church, the united churches giving up their ordinary services for the time. The first week’s meetings were devoted to dealing with the professing Christians, leading them to the removal of hindrances in the life, full surrender to Christ, and the reception of the Holy Ghost. At the close of the week Christian workers stood confessing their powerlessness, others their lack of assurance of salvation, and seventy professing Christians rose and walked to the vestry, in token of their full surrender to Christ. After this the flood-gates of heaven were opened, and the Spirit was poured out mightily. The congregations grew and grew until places of worship became unable to accommodate them. Thousands were eager to take part in the meetings. The "revival" had come! Four weeks after the Missioner had left, a Wrexham paper said that "the whole district was in the grip of an extraordinary spiritual force which showed no sign of relaxing its hold! " The meetings were carried on by the people themselves, although the ministers were present. From ten in the morning until six in the evening some meetings went on. From the lips of the humblest and lowliest poured forth passionate appeals in prayer which quickened the whole being. Men and women continually rose, often more than one at a time, to pray with a fervour which was inspiring. In the street, in the train, in the car, even in the public-houses, this strange power upon the town was, in hushed and reverential tones, the theme of conversation. In the evenings there were great processions, joined in by all classes, marching through the town singing hymns, and occasionally stopping for prayer. The place was visited by great numbers of visitors, and prayer meetings held three times a day were attended by crowds, with souls coming forward to Christ at every meeting. A minister writes at the end of March, 1905, that the general result has been that the churches are on a far higher level and in a spiritual atmosphere. He says that prize-fighters and the biggest drunkards of the place are among the converts, and many of the now most useful church workers have been lifted from the very depths of degradation; also that large bands of workers are now filled with the Saviour’ s passion for souls. The Vicar of Rhos has thrown himself heart and soul into the work, and the Welsh church at Rhos has been the scene of a unique Revival prayer meeting. Every Free Church minister of the district was present, and the building was full to overflowing. The Vicar said he had attended many meetings, but never felt such a thrill of emotion as he did on this occasion; the walls and hedges of disunion had been broken down; they were now fully united and knew no distinction! The Baptist minister opened with prayer, and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister closed the service. At Bangor the Spirit of God broke out in November, 1904, in one of the lowest and poorest parts of the city. Theological students have been at work here, led by a young Baptist student named Morgan Jones, who had been in the South Wales district, where the revival was at its height. In the afternoon the ministerial students from the Baptist and Congregational Colleges met together for prayer, and had wondrous times, and then at night proceeded to Kyffin Square--the "Whitechapel" of the Cathedral City. The Spirit of God has so wrought in this spot, in a little schoolhouse, that it is said that all the poor--very poor--inhabitants will be saved in a short time, and the character of the locality changed. The work of the Spirit in this poor centre has moved the churches of the town, and the people who "sat in darkness" have become the light to lighten the professing people of God. In February, 1905, special services were held in Bangor by another of the South Wales ministers knowing the Spirit-filled life, when large numbers of professing Christians were brought to full surrender, and found for the first time full assurance of salvation. The Missioner found many of the theological students and others at the University manifestly filled with the Spirit of God. A memorable service was a consecration meeting held after the close of one of the public meetings, commencing about 10.30 and lasting until 2.30 a.m. About eighty believers were present, and the Spirit of God "fell" on everyone with overwhelming power. It is at Bangor University College that we hear of a prayer-meeting in the "smoke-room," which arose through the humming of the familiar Welsh tune "Aberystwyth." The students present broke out into fervent singing, and all fell on their knees. Others came whistling or shouting to the room, opened the door, and saw the sight, and fled, or knelt among their kneeling comrades. In Carnarvonshire, the movement of the Spirit appears to have been first manifested at Bethesda, the scene of the historical Peurhyn strike which produced social, domestic, and religious disunion. "The records of the police-courts showed how families were divided, life-long friendships were shattered, and so bitter was the feeling generated that in a large number of cases men would not worship together. Scenes sometimes occurred on the most solemn occasions, and those qualified to judge unanimously believed peace could not be restored during the present generation. But a week’s "Revival" services held by a Wesleyan minister (Rev, Hugh Hughes) were greatly used of God. Old friends have been reconciled. Members of churches have returned to pray by the side of those who had driven them forth. Women who had summoned each other go together to the daily prayer-meeting where five hundred women gather every afternoon. Members of the same family who have not spoken to each other for two years now meet happily together. The meetings last practically from 2.30 in the afternoon until midnight. Visitors from other districts attend and carry back the blessing." (S.W. Daily News) At Nantile Vale, in the south of the county, prayer-meetings were held, started voluntarily by the young people. Villages followed the example, so that practically by the middle of December the whole county might be said to be one great prayer-meeting. The Isle of Anglesey was visited in January, 1905, by Rev. R. B. Jones, who conducted meetings at Holyhead, again dealing first with the Christians, and then through the believers brought into harmony with God, seeing the Spirit of God falling in converting power upon the unsaved. The Holy Spirit wrought mightily, and the services became a veritable Pentecost. A deacon confessed he had now received the baptism of the Spirit, which he had sought for ten years. About forty went to the vestry surrendering fully to Christ, and receiving the Holy Ghost. Many were quite prostrated by the intense presence of the Lord. At the close of the week, on the Sabbath morning, every single soul confessed a complete consecration to the Risen Lord, and some unsaved found the Saviour. The closing testimony meeting showed that the entire church had been lifted into a new atmosphere, and many had realised their "Pentecost." God had wrought marvellously in one week, and the church was a "new" church. The Pastor witnessed before his own people that he had entered into the experience of Galatians 2:20, that the life of Christ might be manifested through him. At Llanerchymedd the Missioner held only three days’ meetings of the united churches. Again he dealt with the Christians, his message being "The Holiness of God." On the first evening sixty-seven souls were brought to Christ, and on the second night remarkable scenes took place. The Missioner, looking from the pulpit, saw a college student full length on the floor of the "big pew." Suddenly the young man arose, and putting his hand in his pocket, he took out his pipe, and publicly handed it to the Missioner. Another student was on his knees groaning aloud and crying "Oh God, give me strength; shall I have strength to do it?" Finally he, too, arose, and took out his pipe and his pouch from his pocket and threw them on to the pulpit desk. Others followed, until the whole of the desk was covered with pipes and pouches of tobacco, yet the Missioner had said no word about these things, but simply proclaimed the Holiness of God which demanded a holy life on the part of those He owned. Whilst these scenes were occurring the news was noised abroad, and people outside flocked in from their homes, and even the public-houses, until right up to 12.45 at night souls poured in to give themselves to God, no less than one hundred and eleven converts being gathered in at this one meeting. At a consecration meeting on the Saturday morning two hundred came forward for definite surrender and the reception of the Holy Ghost, after being taught what it meant. Again the Spirit of God descended in power, for whilst they were on their knees in full surrender, the Spirit "fell" upon them, and all broke out in audible prayer at the same time. At Amlwch three days’ united meetings were held, the message again being Isaiah vi., and the people were manifestly convicted by the Holy Ghost. When the messenger came to the "live coal from off the altar "--the cleansing fire from the place where the blood was shed, CALVARY--suddenly, without one word of explanation, the Spirit so unveiled the truth that the majority of the large congregation of twelve hundred people simultaneously sprang to their feet shouting "Dioich Iddo!" (" Thanks be to Him "), whilst the glory of the Lord so shone upon the pulpit that the Missioner fled to the vestry completely overcome. At Cefnrnawr, near Rhos, the united churches held services in September, 1904, but it does not appear that the Spirit of God broke out in any torrential power until February, 1905, when a South Wales Minister visited the place. On the second night of the February services, the power of the Spirit became so intense that the Missioner was scarcely able to speak at times. Once the whole congregation burst out into singing, and then for a whole hour many gave testimony for the first time in their lives. The climax was reached on the Friday of that week, when sixty to eighty gave themselves wholly to Christ, making a complete surrender, and definitely accepting the Holy Ghost. The Colleges of Wales have also been greatly moved. At Bala College, Professor Edwards says, that if ever he saw the subduing, melting, abasing, elevating effects of Divine power, he saw them now among his students. Space forbids our attempting to record the movement in other parts of North Wales. We hear of three weeks’ prayer-meetings in Merionethshire in the middle of December, the people uniting in prayer all over the villages and valleys of the county, until, at the Christmas season, a young man came home for his holidays from Glamorganshire--a changed man, praying for his old friends, and telling of the Lord’s mighty working, until scarcely an unconverted "hearer" remained all through the valleys. Other messengers of God have been used by Him, some from South Wales, and others called out and equipped by Him for service in their own districts. We hear of a farmer’s wife at Egryn, and a young quarryman, as well as numbers of university students. Rev. Elvet Lewis says: "I am more than ever convinced that the ’half will never be told.’ It is a continual surprise even to those who know the land and the people intimately. There may be a few remote places still untouched, but I have failed to hear of one." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 02.07. CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== Chapter 7. The Message to the Church--The Object Lesson in Wales--The Place of Calvary in the Awakening He that believeth [into] Me . . out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water. John 7:38, old Syriac. As we review the story given in the preceding pages the Pentecostal character of the Awakening in Wales is unmistakably clear, and we are encouraged to believe that the wider fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy is at hand. Undoubtedly we are in a new era of the world’s history, when we may expect supernatural workings of God such as have not been known since the days of the primitive Church. Dr. Cynddylan Jones points out that the question "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" is in the forefront to-day! It is a question loudly ringing out to the Church of God through the Awakening in Wales, with tremendous consequences to the world dependent upon its being truly faced by the people of God. It is the call to the Church, at the close of the dispensation, to arise and receive the Pentecostal clothing of the Spirit which is her birthright, and her need for effectual witness to Christ in the world. What God has done for Wales is an object lesson of what He is prepared to do for His people in every land, if they will seek His face, and obey the conditions for His Pentecostal working. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in exactly the same outward form as in Wales, nor sweep in seventy thousand converts in two months everywhere; but undoubtedly if true members of Christ in every nation, including missionaries among the heathen--be they few or many--were each to receive what God means by a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, "signs and wonders" would follow in diversities of workings, according to the circumstances and conditions of the various lands. It has been truly said that the world cannot be "revived," for it is dead! A "world-wide revival" therefore means the quickening of the people of God into abundance of life. Were this to come about in every land the ’’overflowing stream of the breath of God would quickly "sift all nations" (Isaiah 30:28), and make its own channels everywhere. But let us turn to Wales for light upon the laws which govern the Spirit’s working so that the children of God may intelligently know how to co-operate with Him for the fulfilment of His purposes. The object-lesson that stands out the clearest, and speaks the loudest, to the Church of God, is the fact that the Spirit of God moved upon the unsaved in converting power as soon as the Christians in a particular church, or specific meeting, were in harmony with God. The instances we have given emphasise this lesson. We see how in one church after two weeks’ prayer, when the Spirit dealt secretly with the professing Christians (as they afterwards testified), and as soon as all were right with God, the Spirit fell upon the public service, and large numbers of unsaved spontaneously arose and pressed in to the enquiry room, without any invitation! In another church we see that the Spirit of God could not work until the Pastor obeyed Him, and personally dealt with the hindrance among his officers, although it meant to him anguish of heart and many tears to obey. We find also in the crowded meetings in various places how the Revivalist was given by the Spirit of God sensitive knowledge of the hindrances to His working. How strange the "block," and cold the service, until the (1) curious spirit, (2) unreal spirit, (3) contentious, or unforgiving, spirit was removed, and how quickly these departed when confession was made, or prayer poured out to God, and how mightily the Holy Spirit would at once fall upon the people, and souls yield to Christ. Again, in the work in North Wales we see how whole districts were stirred after the Christians were brought into full surrender to God, and, entering the Spirit-filled life, were knit in perfect unity and fellowship with each other. "Bend the Church and save the world" is truly the message for today. In past years God has been using great leaders; special instruments, called out and led into close fellowship with Him to receive His messages for the people, as He used Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and others; but it was not so at Pentecost. Then for the first time God brought a company of people so into union with Himself, and each other, that He could speak through, and flow out of, a number of souls as one. And on the Day of Pentecost the Lord’s ideal--" that they may all be one; even as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee "--began to be fulfilled, and shown to the world. At Pentecost the Spirit of God broke out upon the multitude, through a united company of people, all prepared by prolonged prayer--and nothing unites like prayer--and yielded wholly to Him. The object-lesson in Wales shows that God works in the world when His people are right with Him. In brief, the members of Christ must be brought by the Spirit into full union with the Risen Head, and with each other--" in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body "--so that the Spirit of life may pour out into the world. In the darkest, loneliest, furthest corners of the earth, the most isolated child of God may share in the world-wide blessing, as the life-currents from Him who is Life eternal circulate freely throughout the Body of Christ, and overflow in exuberance of life on to the world lying in the shadow of death. "Church of God, awake!" is now the call at the close of the dispensation. Oh, may all be given anointed eyes to see the vision! The secret is open before the people of God. The Spirit flows out upon the world as the people of God are brought into harmony with Him. And the work in Wales shows us that He does not wait for the Church as a whole thus to fall into line, but He will break out through single congregations, or specific gatherings, as they are brought into one accord with Him. In preparation for the rushing mighty breath upon the land, He dealt, as we have seen, with Pastors and people, lifting whole congregations into a spiritual sphere, and bringing large numbers of church members of all ages into the Spirit-filled life. May God go on to work deeply until, in this day of His power, the whole Church of God in Wales bears the marks of Pentecost, and the overflowing stream of the life of God flow on and on throughout the world, wheresoever it can find channels; channels of individual souls asking for the baptism of fire, and refusing to account the earnest of the Spirit which they have received in Easter Day blessing, as the clothing from on high given at Pentecost; and channels of churches, or groups of believers, seeking with one accord the outpoured Spirit as given to the company in the upper room in Jerusalem. Again we learn in Wales from this same object lesson the meaning of atmosphere--a surcharged atmosphere. How mightily the Spirit works when the atmosphere is clear; how easy to speak and to pray when the Spirit fills the atmosphere! And this also is Pentecost, for in the upper room that day the rushing mighty breath filled the house, together with the believers, who were then environed by the Spirit, as well as indwelt by Him. It is this characteristic of the clothing, or environing, or covering, of the Spirit, which distinguishes the Pentecostal experience from the Easter Day blessing of "receiving the Holy Ghost." In other words, the Spirit upon for service, as the Spirit within for life. Souls thus environed in God carry with them, so to speak, their own "atmosphere," and quickly know an atmosphere wherein the Spirit is hindered or grieved. We have thought much of changed people, but how little have we understood the power of a changed atmosphere wherein the Holy Ghost may freely work. "There was no result in individual blessing, but a changed atmosphere" may be said after a Convention--yet this is the supreme thing after all, for in the cleansed and cleared atmosphere the Holy Ghost is able to work out His fullest purposes in souls. Again, as we look to Wales, we see the place the Holy Ghost gives to Calvary, and we may be perfectly sure that no overflowing stream of life will come where the people of God are not in agreement with Him in His estimation of the death of His Son. As we recall the conditions preceding the first Pentecost, we cannot forget that CALVARY WAS A TERRIBLE FACT to each one of the little company in the upper room. There is no Pentecost without a preceding Calvary. The fire that touched Isaiah came from off the altar--Calvary. The fire that fell in answer to Elijah’s cry came on the sacrifice on the altar--Calvary! "To-day there is one hill more effectually in sight than Snowdon--a hill ’without a city wall ’--and as that hill comes more and more into sight crowned with its redeeming Cross, at times what bursts of song, at times what hush of awe." "What seems to me to lie at the heart is the unveiling of the Cross." "Unchanging Love as it shone and shines from the throbbing mysteries of the Cross." "The Cross stood unveiled and thousands looked, and men and women smitten with the grief and triumph of Calvary rise . . . writes one about the work in Wales. Yea, the Church is "bent" by the revelation of Calvary, and the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal power bears witness to the Cross. Nought but the supernatural working of God could have broken men at the feet of the Lord in the very city where He was crucified as an apparent criminal! And to-day, whilst men were discussing theories of the atonement, the supernatural witness from heaven was no less needed, and, blessed be God, has now been given. The world has seen before its eyes that the preaching of the Cross is in very truth the dynamic of the Gospel, and is the energy of God to actually and really save men from the bonds of sin. And what is of still greater consequence, the Church of God has been rallied, as by a voice from heaven, to the banner of the Cross. "We have been critics of the Bible when we should have been devotees. We have preached Christ as an ideal of sacrifice, but have left out His atonement for sin," said a well-known minister at a Conference in London; "Now, thank God, there is a return to the Book, and to Calvary;" and another said, "The Revival has brought us back to the Cross of Christ.’ We see, too, in Wales, the attractive power and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel to meet the needs of men. No "means of attraction" are necessary when the Holy Ghost fills and presides over the Church. If these things are so, some will say, "This awakening in Wales should shake the world!" Yea, and it will shake the world within the limitations we see following the first Pentecost. If we carefully read the story in the Scriptures we find first 3,000, then 5,000, then "multitudes of men and women" added to the first few who met in the upper room. The Spirit-filled company grew, and the Holy Spirit presided over them in such intense reality that any sin was at once dealt with, so that "great fear" came upon the Church, and the people, as they realised the holiness of the God in their midst. The witnessing Church filled Jerusalem with the sound of their message, but by no means did all Jerusalem receive it! Many were unwilling to yield, and unprepared to let God have His way and upset their traditions. The "tidal wave" broke out in Jerusalem, and at once swept in all who would yield, but it must flow on to the world outside. That it could not do so without Spirit-filled souls is shown in that, at this point, the Lord had to permit a persecution to scatter His "channels" far and wide, and as they went the rivers flowed on to the nations. This is a pattern for us as we look at Wales to-day. The Spirit of God has swept through the Principality, and gathered many into the Kingdom--yet by no means has all Wales yielded to the Lord! The day of visitation will end, and the mighty tide pass on, as it passed in a comparatively short time from Jerusalem, leaving behind, as it did then, members of the Church to give their witness, and continue the work of the Lord. In closing, we cannot too earnestly urge upon the people of God the solemnity of this present visitation--we cannot hear about it, or come in contact with it, without effect upon our spiritual lives. God has shown to His people that He can work the same as at Pentecost in an unbelieving age. Will His people heed the lesson? Or will they turn away, and say, "Oh, yes, in Wales, but not here! Let me ask my reader personally, "Have you received your Pentecost?" Is it true of you that out of the depths of your life God is pouring torrents of living water? If you answer, "I have sought, but no change has come," I would ask "Is Calvary real to you?" Calvary in its full-orbed meaning of Christ crucified for you, and you crucified with Christ! Again we would repeat, there is no Pentecost in spiritual experience without a preceding Calvary. We have not known our Pentecost because we have not known the full meaning of Calvary. We parted with our sins as the Spirit unveiled the Christ dying for us, but we have kept ourselves, and hence made no room for the Holy Ghost. We may "repent"; confess Christ, and seek to obey the Holy Ghost; yea, ask in faith, and believe we receive; but if we leave out the crucial condition of the Cross--which is the meaning of Peter’s words "be baptized" as interpreted in their spiritual significance by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH"--we may know some measure of the Holy Ghost in possession of the life, but not the torrential power of Pentecost which the Lord foreshadowed when He said, "Out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water," (Old Syriac rendering). And how may this be? Jesus stood and cried saying--" He that believeth into Me--out of--shall flow rivers . ." "At that day--the Day of Pentecost--ye shall know . . ye in Me and I in you." "Oh soul, yield thyself wholly to Me in a faith that will not keep back aught from Me, and the Eternal Spirit shall plant thee into My death," so shall I become thy life, and out of the depths--the deep springs of thy inner life--shall flow rivers, rivers, ankle deep; knee deep; loin deep; yea, even "waters to swim in," which shall bear thee, and submerge thee, as they sweep on and on and on, and "everything shall live whither the river cometh." "And He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and the Lamb." (Rev. xxii. i). The hidden springs of the Awakening in Wales lie deep in the heart of God, thence breaking out to a dying world through the Cross of Calvary. 0 wondrous Cross! "On the Mount of Crucjfixion Fountains opened deep and wide; Through the floodgates of God’s mercy Flowed a vast and gracious tide; Grace and love, like mighty rivers, Poured incessant from above, And heaven’s peace and perfect justice Kissed a guilty world in love." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 03.00. THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSSS ======================================================================== THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS BY JESSIE PENN-LEWIS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 03.00A. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================== THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS TABLE OF CONTENTS BY JESSIE PENN-LEWIS 1. THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS 2. THE CHANGED CENTRE THROUGH THE CROSS 3. THE CHANGED OUTLOOK THROUGH THE CROSS 4. THE PATHWAY OF THE CROSS 5. THE LIFE-SIDE OF THE CROSS 6. THE CROSS AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 7. THE CROSS AND POWER FOR SERVICE . 8. THE CROSS AND THE TONGUE 9. THE CROSS AND REVIVAL 10. THE CROSS AS A PROCLAMATION Note: All quotations from St. Paul’s Epistles are taken from Conybeare and Howson’s Epistles of St. Paul. Notes of Addresses on the Finished Work of Christ at Calvary; incorporating "The Logos of the Cross". "The Greek word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18, is Logos . . ." [not] ’preaching’ but "the subject-matter of preaching; with the very essence of that which was to be preached; with that ’Lagos’ of the Cross which constituted its rationale, its Divine reason, a reason which ... he declares to be ’the wisdom of God’ . . . "This ’Logos of the Cross’ is conceived by Paul to be the key which unlocks the riddle of the universe, solves all mysteries, and reconciles all things. Henry C. Mabie ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 03.01. THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS CHAPTER I Let us turn first to Romans 4:25, to the declared fact of the atoning death of Christ. I was struck in looking lately at Dr. Forsyth’s book on "The Cruciality of the Cross", in which he says, "a true grasp of the Atonement meets the age in its need of a centre, of an authority, or a creative force, a guiding line and a final goal. IT MEETS OUR LACK OF A FIXED POINT". This is exactly the case. We need a ’fixed point’, which acts as a centre and a goal, and that ’point’ in the history of the world-back to the ages before it, and forward to the ages following it-is the Cross of Calvary. It is the central pivot of the dealing of God with the universe in every aspect. It is because we Christians get away from the ’fixed point’ of the Cross, that we wander into all kinds of cul-de-sac places, where we lose the balance and right perspective of truth. At this, opening meeting we will gather around this fixed point-the Cross of Christ-so that we may get to know more of the Christ of the Cross. From this the Holy Spirit will enable us to open out other aspects of truth in their relationship to the Cross. Let us begin at Romans 4:25 (Conybeare’s translation), which reads thus, "Our Lord Jesus; Who was given up to death for our transgressions, and raised again to life for our justification". Throughout the epistles of Paul we find this repeated again and again. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ was a substitutionary and a propitiatory sacrifice. The Cross is therefore central for justification, and central for the forgiveness of sins, and the justification of the sinner. Again read Romans 5:6-8, "While we were yet helpless [in our sins], Christ at the appointed time died for sinners. Now hardly for a righteous man will any be found to die [although some perchance would endure death for the good], but God gives proof of His own love to us, because, while we were yet sinners, Christ DIED FOR us". Then in Romans 5:9, "Much more, now that we have been justified in His blood, ( i.e., By participation in His blood; that is, being made partakers of His death. ) shall we be saved through Him from the wrath of God. For if, when we were His enemies, we were reconciled to God by the DEATH of His Son, much more being already reconciled, shall we be saved, by SHARING IN HIS LIFE". The words are so plain and obvious in their meaning, that to an open mind, it is clear that Christ died for us; we are "justified in His blood"; when we were enemies we were "reconciled to God by the death of His Son", and, being reconciled, we are saved by "sharing in His life". These are declared basic facts, showing that Christ’s death on Calvary was a death for sinners, and a reconciliation with God of sinners in a state of enmity against Him; and a salvation for those sinners through the impartation of a ’share’ of the life which Christ, as their Substitute, obtained for them out of His death. Now let us pass on to see the Cross as the centre, or ’fixed point’, for VICTORY OVER SIN, OVER THE WORLD, OVER THE FLESH, AND OVER THE DEVIL. For a clear unveiling of the Cross as the ’fixed point’ for the Christian’s victory over sin, we turn to Romans 6:1-23. It is the basic chapter in the whole of the New Testament, where the deep meaning of the death at Calvary is set forth, in language which is extraordinary in its simplicity and clearness, and marvellous in its comprehensive explanation of the gospel. No wonder that the "god of this world" has influenced so many to relegate Romans 6:1-23 to the theologians, so as to keep believers from understanding its simple truth, because the deceiver knows it to be the CRUCIAL MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL from the experimental standpoint. God-ward, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was the atonement, and the propitiation for sin, but in Romans 6:1-23 we are shown the Cross in its manward aspect-in its dealing with the sinner. Here is the practical, deep and vital message to the sinner, showing him the way of deliverance from the power of sin, from the world, the flesh and the devil. Here in the Romans 6:1-23 message of Calvary, Paul laid the foundation deep and, strong. Here lies the bed-rock depth of the Cross, as the ’fixed point’ for the personal life of the believer, personal equipment, and personal victory in every aspect of need. Let us read the passage slowly and carefully: Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we persist in sin that the gift of grace may be more abundant? God forbid! WE WHO HAVE DIED TO SIN." Here is the Cross in its aspect of the death of the sinner with the Saviour. It is clear from this that Christ’s Cross was the sinner’s cross, not, of course, in the matter of atonement God-ward, but in the taking of the old creation life to the Cross, that the believer should be delivered from the power of sin; and that, not by conquering it, but by dying to it. Here is the key to victory. The deepest things are the simplest. The real trouble about understanding the sixth of Romans is not a theological, but a moral one. When we sincerely want deliverance from the power of sin, it is within our reach. It lies just here for the simple soul who will take the statements as a fact. For the sake of a lost world, let us have no ’moral’ hindrances to our knowing the reality of the Cross. If men and women would be utterly willing for the deepest work of the Cross to be wrought in or applied to them, there would be a trembling of the powers of hell, a shaking of the kingdom of darkness. The pivotal secret of God’s plan for the redemption of a lost world lies in the meaning of Romans 6:1-23. The central fact of the Cross being the sinner’s cross, as well as the Saviour’s. Moreover, this Romans 6:1-23 meaning of the Cross must be recognized as the root foundation of the Christian life, just as the ’root’ is necessary to the life of the tree. A tree cannot part with its root, but must strike it deeper into the ground, so that all external growth may have strong support in the earth, and strong life-force for its maintenance. " We who have died to sin," how can we any longer live under the mastery of sin? Or "have you forgotten that all of us ... were baptized into fellowship with His death?" writes the Apostle. ’All of us’-not the few who wish to be advanced souls, but young converts also! If every convert to Christ was ’born again’ through the gospel message of this chapter, and they knew its power in experience at the very beginning of their Christian lives, there would be less backsliding, and need of careful nursing lest they fell away, for a new life would be imparted to them in stronger power, and Christ as the Living One would be known as a real Saviour. I saw this in Finland some years ago, when the daughter of a professor sat in the front row of the Conference meetings. I was speaking, by translation into Finnish and Swedish, on the corn of wheat falling into the ground to die. There were delegates from all parts of Finland there. The occasion was such that I sought to make the most of my rare opportunity, and so I opened out all that I knew of the deeper meaning of the Cross. Someone said, "Will you speak to that girl, she is unconverted". I said, "No, not today, I will wait!" At the end of the third day, the people were passing out, when the girl came along, and flung her arms around my neck, and burst into tears. I said, "What is it, dear? Have you come to Christ?" "Yes, I have." "Thank God! What did you see that led you to Him?" And she replied, "The corn of wheat falling into the ground to die". She was born again through the revelation of the Spirit of God, that "when Christ went to Calvary, He took the sinner too". The result was that this soul became more ’full-grown’ in three months, than the majority of Christians we meet today. When she was only three months old as a Christian, she was able to translate into Swedish (and to make arrangements for the publishing of) the whole of the book, The Cross of Calvary, and to do it intelligently and fully. This shows us what sort of converts they had in Pentecostal days. They were ’born’ in Paul’s time on the truths of Romans 6:1-23. Let us read the passage again: "We who have died to sin ... or have you forgotten that all of us, when we were baptized into fellowship with Christ Jesus, were baptized into fellowship with His death? With Him therefore we were buried by the baptism wherein we shared His death; that even as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we likewise might walk in newness of life". Now listen carefully to the next words-"For if we have been grafted into the likeness of His death, so shall we also share His resurrection". Note the repetition of the words about the Cross, making it the ’fixed point’ of the message. " We who died"-Calvary! "His death"-Calvary! "Shared His death"-Calvary! "Grafted. into ... His death"-Calvary! And again in Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:8, "Crucified with Christ"-Calvary! "Shared the death of Christ" -Calvary! How clear it is. The Cross of Christ is the sinner’s Cross. And why? Because the whole Adam life of nature is absolutely fallen. It cannot be improved. It is fallen and poisoned by the serpent in root and branch. The whole scheme of redemption lies in the fact that God must begin again, so to speak, and make a new creation. Through the Cross He plans to bring to an end the old Adam life of the fallen race, and build again a new creation in the midst of its ruins. There is not even a ’divine spark’ in the fallen man which He can fan into life as the basis for the new. This fact is vital for the understanding of God’s plan of redemption through His Son’s death upon a Cross. The devil opposes the doctrine of the Fall, because he knows that if men believe there was no ’Fall’, they have no sense of need of the Cross. The two hang together. We must therefore be brought by the Holy Spirit to the place where we realize that we have nothing in us that can be ’improved’, and be willing to come to that Cross, and to say "when He went to Calvary, He took the sinner too". Oh defeated child of God, take the simple fact of faith in His words, that you died with Christ upon His Cross; that you were baptized ’into His death’-put right into Him, and buried out of sight-and there leave yourself, reckoning that you have died unto sin, and as far as you are concerned, have finished with it. Then reckon upon union with Him in resurrection, i.e., that you have in Him a new life. If we would put it briefly, we might say that when you take the attitude, or place of death, God undertakes to put into you all that He wants out of you. What a gospel for the people! Let us give it to them. It is truly a gospel of glad tidings-the Cross the place of victory over sin as well as the place of reconciliation with God. The Cross as the ’fixed point’ for VICTORY OVER THE WORLD. In every one of the epistles of Paul we find that he refers to the finished work of Christ at Calvary, in one aspect or another. Everything he says in all his letters revolves around the centre of the Cross. In Galatians especially, are so many references to the Cross in its basal relationship to vital aspects of the Christian life, that the epistle might be called the Epistle of the Cross. In Galatians 6:14 we get the strongest passage about the believer’s death to the world. The Apostle writes about himself, but what was true for Paul is true for us. In this instance Paul saw the ’world’ in the proselytizing methods of the Judaistic believers, and their desire to escape the persecution of the Jews "which Christ bore upon the Cross". "But as for me," says the Apostle, "far be it from me to boast, save only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The believer’s death with Christ upon His Cross therefore means a being crucified to the world in all its aspects. Not to be a miserable, joyless person, but one filled with the joy and glory of another world. It is not the ’cross’ that makes us miserable, but the absence of it. It is a delivering Cross-a Cross that liberates you to have the very foretaste of heaven in you, as already sharers of the power of the age to come. Let each one of us put in our claim for deliverance from the world, so that, as Christians, we do not pander to it, dress like it, act like it, and behave like it. If this message of Calvary was taught and believed, it would end the question of amusements in the church. Note also that to experience this, it must be a real fellowship with Christ in His death. And those who have proved it know that this application of the Cross does actually cut you off from the ’world’, there is a ’gulf’ between you and the world, and you can see the people of the world on the other side. Thus looking at the world from the Cross, you can go to the world of mankind, ’sent’ as Christ was sent, to reveal the heart of God, with His compassion of love and His Spirit of Sacrifice. In going to souls, too, from your place in Christ, you will find yourself alongside of their need, for your own ’needs’ have been fully met in your union with the Risen Lord. Glory to God for the Cross that severs us from the world, and the world-spirit, and makes a way for us into another world where all is peace and joy and love. In Galatians, also, we find Paul showing us the Cross as the CENTRE OF DELIVERANCE FROM THE RULE OF THE ’FLESH’. "They who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Galatians 5:24). Those who apprehend this meaning of death with Christ, have proved that it is practically possible for them to walk at liberty with no ’desires of the flesh’ having mastery over them. In Galatians 5:16, we read of the conflict there is bound to be between ’flesh’ and ’spirit’. Each are essentially opposed the one to the other. When the spirit dominates, the desires of the flesh are in abeyance. Galatians 5:24 reveals the secret of this dominance of the spirit, as possible through the Cross. The ’flesh’ is not to be only kept dormant, but ’crucified’. This is necessary even concerning the lawful questions of food and drink. If the children of God knew this, there would be an end of dishonour to the Lord’s Name, in their bondage to ’fads’ and ’fancies’, and grumbles over the material things concerning the body. Alas, the ’flesh’ is pandered to among God’s children in a way that often spoils their testimony for Christ. Victory in this respect is also essential in the aggressive warfare against the powers of darkness, for if the believer is under bondage to a single thing-either lawful or unlawful to them as children of God they are powerless. "They who are Christ’s have crucified the Flesh, with its passions and its lusts," i.e., desires. This deals with ’habits’ and desires of the physical nature of.every kind. Smoking is surely one, and the terrible slavery to opiates and alcohol. It is true that whilst the ’flesh’ is to be crucified in an ethical sense, we do ’walk in the flesh’ in a physical and lawful sense, but even ’physically’ or ’lawfully’, the ’flesh’ is not to ’walk’ over us, in any one particular.( See 2 Corinthians 10:3; and 1 Corinthians 6:12. ) Then lastly: THE CROSS AS THE CENTRE OF VICTORY OVER SATAN. The passage in the epistles which shows this clearly is Colossians 2:14-15 - "He forgave us all our transgressions, and blotted out the Writing against us ... having taken it out of our way, and nailed it to the Cross. And He disarmed the Principalities and the Powers, and put them to open shame, leading them captive in the triumph of Christ." These words take us back to the triumphant statement of our Lord in John 12:31-33, where He said on the eve of the Cross, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die". And again in John 16:8-11 , He said "When He [the Spirit of truth] is come He ... will convict (R.V.) the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ... of judgment because the prince of this world is [hath been] judged". So the Holy Spirit has not only to deal with the soul God-ward, convicting it of the sin of not believing God; or man-ward-convincing him that Christ is his righteousness in the Father’s Presence, but He has to CONVINCE him of the conquest of his foe at Calvary. This fact is not hidden under ambiguous language in the Word of God. In John 12:31. the Lord states plainly what would occur at the Cross, and in John 16:11 ,He emphasizes and repeats His statement. THE DEVIL AND ALL HIS HIERARCHIC POWERS WERE DISARMED AT THE PLACE CALLED CALVARY. In the face of all that Satan is doing in the world, and his (apparent) increased power, only the conviction of the Holy Spirit as to Christ’s victory at Calvary can keep us in heart rest, and enable us to triumph, and to endure. Moreover, if you believe in Christ’s victory over Satan, you will find more and more how essential it is that you know the Cross to crucify the old Adam-life, so that joined in spirit to the Victorious Christ, you are lifted above, and enabled to triumph over the foe, and prove that, as far as you are concerned, the prince of this world has been cast out. He is conquered. According to His own words Christ did put him, and all his powers, to an ’open shame’, just when, in the eyes of the world, they apparently triumphed over Him. I have only briefly touched upon these three aspects of the Cross, to show that it is central in all these things. It is vital and central in connection with justification by faith; vital and central in connection with our victory over sin; vital and central in relation to our personal lives and our external habits; vital and central in connection with victory over our foe. Believers who know these aspects of the Cross find themselves standing on the solid foundation of the finished work of Christ, so that all hell cannot shake or overthrow them. However varied their experiences may be, the foundation of God standeth sure. They are on the rock-ground of His finished work at Calvary, comprising not only a complete atonement Godward, but victory and deliverance from the world, the flesh and the devil. Even though subjectively it may not be wrought out in their experience in all its fulness, they rely upon all its completeness as theirs, when they lay hold of any specific aspect in the hour of need. Their faith is in what Christ has done, not their experience of it. They know that the "Word of the Cross ... is the dunamis of God". The full ’logos’ of the Cross-not man’s thought of the Cross, nor even the preaching of it, but the’Word’ of the Cross itself the "Cross" and all that it involved for Christ and for the sinner; the Logos of the Cross as expressing God’s inward thought as to the way in which He could deliver fallen man from the results of the Fall, and defeat his foe, who, fallen from high estate before him, was the cause of his fall. The fallen Archangel was defeated, and the fallen Adam crucified at Calvary. This "Logos of the Cross", says Dr. Mabie, is "conceived by Paul to be the key which unlocks the riddle of the universe, solves all mysteries, and reconciles all things", and "to Paul it was given to preach that solvent". The world needs to-day to know this ’solvent’ of all its mysteries. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 03.02. THE CHANGED CENTRE THROUGH THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE CHANGED CENTRE THROUGH THE CROSS CHAPTER 2 If One died for all, then all died [in Him]" 2 Corinthians 5:15 As we read 2 Corinthians 5:13-18, we cannot fail to see how deeply, in this passage, the Cross is the very centre of the life of the Apostle. We are familiar with the fourteenth verse, which reads, "For the love of Christ constrains me, because I thus have judged, that if one died for all, then all died [in Him], and that He died for all, that the living might live no longer to themselves but to Him. . . ." These words taken alone unmistakably teach the identification of the believer with Christ in His death, and his emergence into a life where he lives wholly and entirely unto Christ, and not self. But if the words are read in connection with the context, preceding and succeeding 2 Corinthians 5:14, the veil is lifted in a remarkable way, showing that 2 Corinthians 5:14 is the very centre of a striking passage, revealing the circumstances and conditions which brought forth from Paul his reference to the Cross. Let me try to picture the situation behind the words of the Apostle. His critics at Corinth were charging him with exalting himself, and being ’beside himself’ with vanity, but be replies, "If I exalt myself it is for God’s cause: if I humble myself, it is for your sakes". (2 Corinthians 5:13, Conybeare and Howson footnote.) "For the love of Christ constrains me," and then he points to the Cross as the reason why he could say this about himself. He knew that it was not ’self exaltation’ or vanity manifested in his zeal and intense abandonment to God, because of his identity with Christ in death. ’Self’ was no longer the dominant centre of his being, ’self’ was no longer the focal base from which he acted, either in ’exaltation’ or ’humility’. How expressive, in the light of this, are the words of the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:16. "We therefore"-here the pronoun, says Conybeare, is emphatic. "We therefore view no man carnally," i.e., as you have viewed me. You call me vain and mad in my zeal, but that is a carnal view-the view of the flesh. I know that I have died with Christ, and that I am no longer living unto myself. It is the love of Christ dwelling in me which constrains me"whosoever then, is IN CHRIST, is a new creation; his old being has passed away ... all comes out of God . . ." (Conybeare, and Gk. original). "You are calling me mad, and saying this, that and the other about me, but I know it is not ’I’ which is dominating me, for I have seen the ’I’ on the Cross. I have judged the true meaning of Christ’s death. I see that if ’One’ died for all, then ’all died’, so that those who are thus ’IN Christ’ become ’new creations’. Their centre is changed. They have a new centre-Christ-all is new and all comes out of (Greek ek) God, as the central spring of their lives. It is thus that the ’love of Christ’ is constraining me, bursting out of me like a torrent from the central spring of His life, and not the mere zeal and enthusiasm which you carnally judge to be the power at work in me ...... How in line this is with God’s way of revealing the meaning of the Cross to His children. The inner knowledge of the Cross can never be grasped by the intellect. The death of Christ at Calvary was something so awesome and terribly real, that only they who enter experimentally into that death can get even a glimpse into it. The message of the Cross can never be merely a ’doctrine’, for it was something more than a ’doctrine’ to Christ, and, as we see in the life of the Apostle of the Cross, to Paul. God’s way of revealing truth is to work it into a man’s experience-wrought out in the life, ere it can penetrate the intellect. We shall only get Paul’s knowledge of the Cross as we get Paul’s experience, i.e., we must be brought to the same experimental point from which he spoke, if we are to understand his message. A Change of Centre Now it is the change of centre, which Paul describes in this passage in Corinthians, which I want to dwell upon for a while. We have spoken of the Cross and death to sin, as shown in Romans 6:1-23; the Cross and death to the world as in Galatians 6:1-18; and sometimes of the ’grain of wheat’ death-life depicted in John 12:24, but we may get light about all these aspects of the Cross, and experience a measure of deliverance through the truth, and yet not know deep, deep down in our innermost being, this change of the ’I’ centre which the Apostle speaks about in 2 Corinthians 5:14. To put it in other words, there is something needing dealing with deeper than ’sin’ or the ’world’. It is the selfhood-the ’ego’-the ’I’. Has the Cross penetrated there? "I," said Paul, "henceforth view no man carnally." When the ’I’ centre is dealt with, the outlook is entirely changed. Even the ’view’ of ’Christ’ can be ’carnal’ that is, from the viewpoint of the self-centre instead of the ’new creation’ viewpoint which comes ’out of God’. It is this bed-rock basis of the inner life which we must get down to and examine in the light of the Cross. No other way can the Lord set free in us His rivers of living water, nor can we be brought into the place of authority over the powers of darkness, for the selfhood is poisoned at its source by the fallen nature of the first Adam. Before passing on to further elucidate this from the Scriptures, let me read you a passage from the Appendix to "The Spirit of Christ", by Dr. Andrew Murray, in which he gives an extract from the writings of Dr. Dorner. He says: ...The character of Christ’s substitution is not repressive of personality, but productive ... He is not content with the existence in Himself of the fulness of the spiritual life, into which His people are absorbed by faith ... Christ’s redeeming purpose is directed to the creation, by the Holy Spirit whom He sends, of new personalities in whom Christ gains a settled, established being.... As a new divine principle, the Holy Spirit creates, though not substantially, new faculties, a new volition, knowledge, feeling, a new selfconsciousness. In brief, He creates a new person, dissolving the old union-point of the faculties, and creating a pure union of the same. The new personality is formed in inner resemblance to the Second Adam, on the same family type, so to speak.... Through the Holy Spirit the believer has the consciousness of himself as a new man, and the power and living impulse of a new, holy life ... mere passivity and receptiveness are transformed into spontaneity, and productiveness. . . ." Dr. Andrew Murray comments on this: "This thought that the Spirit of God, as the Spirit of the Divine personality, becomes the life principle of our personality, is one of extreme solemnity, and of infinite fruitfulness. The Spirit not only dwells in me as a localiy, or within me, alongside and around that inmost Ego in which I am conscious of myself, but, within that ’I’ becomes the new and Divine life principle of the new personality. The same spirit that was and is in Christ, His inmost Self, becomes my inmost self. What new meaning it gives to the word ’He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ with Him! And what force to the question, ’Know ye not that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ The Holy Spirit is within me as a Personal power, with a will and a purpose of His own. As I yield up my personality to His I shall not lose it, but find it renewed and strengthened to its highest capacity ...... Here we have clearly set forth the change of ’centre’ which Paul so acutely realized through the light he had had on the Cross. Three times he affirms this basic ’new creation’ as his experience. "I live; yet not I. (Galatians 2:20). "I command;yet not 1, but the Lord. .." ( 1 Corinthians 7:10) "I laboured ... ;yet not 1. . ." (1 Corinthians 15:10). In the Church at Corinth, in Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:12, we have a glimpse of a contrast to this. "Every one of you saith ’I’ . . . ’I’ of Paul, ’I’ of Apollos. . . ." But Paul did not say ’I’ in the sense of ’I’ being the originating and moving spring of his words and actions. ’I’---yes, it is ’I’ still, but a new ’I’---a new personality. A new ’ego’ as Dr. Dorner says-not "Christ and I" , with ’I’ at the centre, and Christ , so to speak, by His Spirit alongside of the ’I’. But a ’creation’ by the Holy Spirit of a new ’I’, because of the old ’I’ nailed to the Cross with Christ (Galatians 2:20). This is something wholly beyond our power to grasp mentally. The ’new creation’ work must be done by the Creator as much as in the first creation in Eden. Let us not be self-deceived, and imagine that "not I but Christ" is but a motto, a choice, a purpose. It is that, but far, far more. The Holy Spirit will do His part if we see our need and set ourselves for His deepest work of grace in us. Here we need to go back to the most vital passage on the meaning of the Cross which is to be found in the New Testament. It is part of the great doctrinal Epistle to the Romans, wherein the Apostle lays down the foundation truths for the Christian Church, upon which the whole superstructure of the Christian life alone can be built. Passing over the first necessary unfolding of the death of Christ as Propitiation for sin, God-ward (Romans 3:25), and then as Substitutionary for the sinner (Romans 5:6-10), we come to the very bedrock focal point of the sinner’s death in the death of his Substitute, in Romans 6:1-23. It is the spiritual fact which lay at the base of Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20. "1 have been crucified with Christ, yet I live, no longer I but Christ lives in me. . ." (Eng. Gk. N.T.). Familiar as we are with the words, and to some extent with the truths of Romans 6:1-23, let us take one word only in the chapter, strip it of the context, and through this word see how deep and real the basic central fact of ’I’ crucified is meant to be. It is the word ’ DEAD’ in Romans 6:2 (A.V.). The R.V. renders it ’died’, so as to bring out the aorist tense which is so strongly embodied in it. The Greek word is ’apothnesko’. The Greek Lexicon says of this word that it has a prefix "rendering the verb more vivid and intense, and representing the action of the simple verb as consummated and finished". It also gives as the meaning of the word, "to die out, to expire, to become quite dead".* * These gleanings from the Greek are taken from Bullinger’s critical Lexicon and concordance to the English and Greek New Testament. The same word is used again in Romans 6:7. "He that is dead (apothnesko) is freed from sin," and Romans 6:8, "If we be dead with Christ". Now it is obvious that if Paul used such language of the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, he meant something more than a ’likeness’ or a figure. Let us for a moment picture the Apostle dictating these words to the Romans. We know from other parts of his Epistles, how magnificently he would break out with bursts of truth flooding his spirit and mind, as with the very light of heaven. And it was always ’truth’ revealed by the Spirit in response to need. Here we have Paul dictating his letter. Dealing with the question of ’grace’ overflowing beyond the deepest depth of the outbreak of sin in the human race, an objection made by Judaising disputants against his doctrine, occurs to him, with the result that there bursts out of his spirit the most wonderful unveiling of the Cross. These Jews "argued that if the sin of man called forth so glorious an exhibition of the grace of God", then the "more men sinned, the more God was glorified".t But, says, the Apostle, the Cross deals not only with the sin, but with the sinner. Then he bursts out, in vivid and intense language: "How shall we that are DEAD to sin live any longer therein? " That is, in Christ’s death we have DIED TO SIN, as an act consummated and finished, and he that is thus ’dead’ is freed from [slavery to] sin (Romans 6:7) Again let us note that this same word, apothnesko, DEAD, is used in 2 Corinthians 5:14, Galatians 2:19; Galatians 2:21, Colossians 2:20, as well as in Colossians 3:3, "For ye are DEAD. . . ." But let us be careful here. It does not speak at all in these passages of the experimental outworking of the Cross, but of a position-a central basic position of identification with the death of Christ-which has to be recognized and ’reckoned’ upon by the believer ere the Holy Ghost can do His part of the work. The point I want to press is that all Paul’s Epistles, with their marvellous unfoldings of the life of Christ for the Church, had at their base Paul’s own personal experience of the ’I’--the ’self ’-crucified, and that we must get to the same basic position as the Apostle himself, "I have been crucified with Christ". "I live, yet not I . ." if we also are to enter into all that the ’heavenly life’ means experimentally. The Experimental Outworking Now having laid the foundation of the need of a new centre, of a new creation, a new ’ego’, so to speak, let us look at a few other passages showing that on the basis of having ’died out’ to sin, as shown in Romans 6:2, the Apostle uses other words to describe the experimental outworking of the Cross. In Romans 8:13, he writes, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body......’ The margin of the A.V. says, "make to die the doings of the body". The Greek word used is thanatoo. The Greek Lexicon says of this, "to take away the vital principle, the aspect being the lifelessness of that from which the life has been taken away". Here is the work of the Holy Spirit with which the believer has to co-operate. On the faith basis of ’dead’ (Romans 6:2), the believer must now ’make to die’ the ’deeds’ of the body, i.e., yield to the Cross all the activity of the fallen nature, and as he does so, that activity will cease, for the ’Cross’ deals with the fallen life which energizes the ’deeds’ incited by it. There is yet another word used by Paul in the same connection. This is nekroo, in Colossians 3:5, in reference to the members of the body. The A.V. says ’mortify’, the R.V. margin says ’make dead’, the Lexicon note is "to make a dead body or a corpse, the aspect being toward the corpse and the deed by which it became such", i.e., the ’members’ of the ’body’ must be brought in all their actions into harmony with the central fact of ’death with Christ’. The ’members’ are to be made ’dead’, in that they are no longer to be energized by the fallen life of Adam, but brought under the power of the Cross. They are thereby made ’dead to sin’ and alive unto God for His service (Romans 6:13) The Perpetual Death-life And yet there is more. These words ’apothnesko’ (to die out of sin), ’thanatoo’ (to bring the deeds of the body under the power of that death), ’nekroo’ (to deprive the members of the body of the activity of the old life), do not cover the whole ground. 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 gives another word, showing that there will be no point in our life on earth where the need for the application of the Cross will cease. 2 Corinthians 4:10 reads in the A.V., "always bearing out in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus". The word dying is nekrosis-a ’putting to death’. The Lexicon says it is "expressive of the action being incomplete and in progress". In 2 Corinthians 4:11 the word ’death’ is ’thanatos’. The deep work of God at the centre is but the beginning of all that has to be wrought out in us by the Holy Spirit. How clearly the Greek words used bring out the position basis of having ’died out’ in Christ’s death, and the progressive ’putting to death’ perpetually which must of necessity be done day by day. "In my body I bear about continually the dying of Jesus," writes the Apostle, but again the verbal exactitude of the Greek is shown in the use of the word ’thanatos’ (death) in 2 Corinthians 4:11. The Lexicon says that this describes the cessation of life of any kind, i,e., The ’putting to death’ of 2 Corinthians 4:10 to which the believer is always handed over by the Holy Spirit, is for the purpose of bringing about the cessation of the activity of the old life of nature-and this is not once for all, but continuously. So it just means that from centre to circumference, the identification of the believer with Christ in His death, is a necessiy for the growth of the new life at the centre into full maturity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 03.03. THE CHANGED OUTLOOK THROUGH THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE CHANGED OUTLOOK THROUGH THE CROSS- 2 Corinthians 5:14-16 CHAPTER 3 LET us turn back a moment to 2 Corinthians 5:14-16 (Conybeare): "The love of Christ constrains me, because I have thus judged, that if One died for all, then all died [in Him] ... I therefore, from henceforth, view no man carnally; yea, though once my view of Christ was carnal, yet now it is no longer carnal". Here we have the outcome of the changed centre in a wholly new point of view, i.e., when the ’I’ is crucified there is a changed outlook! We view no man from the ordinary standpoint of the flesh, we have exchanged the earthly vision for the vision of God. The Corinthians had charged the Apostle with being ’mad’ in his zeal for God, but he replies showing how the centre-spring made all the difference. Now turn to the Gospel to see that this was the very kind of life lived by Christ when He walked on earth as man. Let us read first the Lord’s words in John 5:19; John 5:30. "Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do. . . ." "I can of Mine own self do nothing ...... This is the position and privilege which the Cross is purposed to bring us into. Not only identification with Christ in His death, as a judicial fact, but a practical life where the ’I’ is kept in the place of death, so that there results such a union with the Risen Lord, that moment by moment we rely upon Him as our new centre, our source of action-even of speech, as He depended upon His Father, saying, in our measure, as He did, "I can do nothing of myself ". When Christ is thus the centre spring of a believer’s life, as he is taught of the Spirit he draws upon Him even for words. What a revolution this would make in our conversation and our general tenor of speech. The ’old creation’ life is very profuse. But as Christ becomes our centre., and the ’I’ is yielded to the Cross, the whole life is brought into light to be placed under His control. Then it is possible that you will become slow of speech, for the knife of the Cross deals with the profuse and diffuse language of nature-what we may describe as ’unnecessary talk’ and the clamour of earth dies away! You will be willing then to sit in silence when you have nothing to say, and what is more,you can be still amidst the clamour of tongues, and be content that you cannot join in the soulish streams of earth. In the Church of Christ there is a vast amount of infant talk. May the Lord bring us to the Cross to have the prattle of the ’I’ cut down. What shall be done about our speech? Shall we consent to be like John the Baptist, and say "I am a voice"? May the Lord deal with our words. "Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, for more than these is of the evil one." The evil one is at work in the old creation life, and he knows how to fan up and inflame floods of speech. But the Lord says ’yes’ or ’no’ is enough, if we are relying upon Him to enable us to speak according to His will. Shall we go out of this Conference a more God-controlled people in our words and actions? Shall we choose not to ’talk’ except as He gives the words, and consent to have the diffuseness of nature’s speech taken away? How much better to have the few words, given in reliance upon God, than to have a flood of empty speech. We need in our Conferences more time to get alone with God, for there is danger in all Conferences of an outpouring of words which almost cloud the light, so that we have scarce time to find Him and hear His voice. Are we willing to be brought to that place where we cannot ’do anything’ without our God? Where we cannot do anything of ourselves? To lose our ’natural’ ability, in the sense of using it apart from God? Oh the danger of those who speak on platforms. There is a great difference between handling the sacred Word of God, and the Holy Ghost handling it through us, and yet we acknowledge that unless God unveils the Word, our speaking is in vain. The Lord take from us the power to do anything without Him. "The Son can do nothing of Himself.’’ Let us lay down at the Cross our natural abilities, and be willing to really feel these words are true. Then we should be freed from all pomposity and ostentation in our work, and we should become simply dependent and helpless, actually relying upon the Living Christ every minute. It was Jeremiah who said, "Lord, I cannot speak, I am a child"! In His great grace, the Lord Jesus Christ was a child with His Father in all things. As He moved among men He said, "I speak not of Myself,’’ and He was listening to, and relying upon His Father for judging all things, and all men around Him, all the time. (See John 5:30.) We sorely need that discriminating power. We may know it if we press on to realize that Christ will live in us. To this end let us put aside everything which feeds and strengthens the ’I’. Because of sin in the mind and will, it is an impossible thing for the natural man to have a judgment without a self bias. But "My judgment is just" said the Lord, because He was ’judging’ in reliance upon His Father. The cry among the people today is for ’justice’. They crave for righteous judgment. Any man who sees that you have no self-bias in your judgment will trust you. "My judgment is just." Now let us turn to John 7:17 "If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself. . . ." In the light of the theme we are considering, these words are wonderful. See John 7:18 : "He that speaketh of himself (i.e., from himself) seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him". This is not only a statement of the Lord’s attitude, but it embodies a principle of which, in the believer the self-centre taken to the Cross is the key. We know that the Lord Christ spoke the words of God, but He says the attitude of no self-bias is necessary for the reception of those words! i.e., if any one wills to do the will of God without any bias or flinching, then he will prove for himself the Divine origin of the Master’s words. Any self-originated action has always the ’own’ as its objective, although it may not appear so. What comes from the ’own’ seeks the ’own’, and what comes from God seeks God’s will always, and only at all times. The self-centre taken to the Cross for the displacement of the ’I’ as the originating spring of actions in word or deed, is the principle upon which alone God can reveal Himself and make known His truth to men. In this way, as the Word of God is revealed to us, we can stand unshaken and immovable on that Word as in very deed the Word of God. Again in John 8:28 we read, "When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I AM, and that I do nothing of myself, but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." Now the question for us is, shall God bring us individually to the bedrock fact of the ’I’ crucified for Christ to be the new centre of our being? Shall He reach the very core, so that ’I’ shall be recognized by us as displaced and crucified, for the Holy Spirit to re-create and produce a new personality, after the pattern of the Man Christ Jesus? Shall we ask Him to do it? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 03.04. THE PATHWAY OF THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE PATHWAY OF THE CROSS CHAPTER 4 "Except a grain of wheat fall..." John 12:24 NOW we come to the out-working of the Cross subjectively as a law of life out of death for fruit-bearing. We must be brought into a real fellowship with Christ in His death. There is an experimental knowledge of the Cross. The Spirit of God applies the death of Christ to us, and then the life-power of the resurrection. He begins at the centre, and works out to the circumference. In the pathway of fellowship with His death we learn first, the liberation of the spirit, and then find how it works out to the soul realm-that is in relation to the intellect, the emotions, the dispositions-and then how it works out to the sphere of the body. But I must point out that although this may be the sequence of God’s working He does not always work in this order. Sometimes believers begin at one of the later stages, and then have to be taken back to learn the first elements of truth. Much depends upon their environment, and the knowledge of those who help at the beginning of their Christian life. Moreover, with some the Lord cannot work very quickly. He fits His dealings to the limitation of the soul, and has all kinds of methods, and ways of working (1 Corinthians 12:6). Let us not ask Him to put us all in one mould of experience. Now turn to John 12:24, where we read "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit". Then the Lord applied the meaning of this saying of His to the individual disciple, and set forth at the same time) a law in the spiritual realm analogous to the law of nature. He said, "He that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me . . ." (John 12:25-26). This is clearly not the same aspect of the Cross as death to sin. There is no gradual deliverance from sin, no gradual process of death to sin or deliverance from the world, or the flesh. The Spirit of God does not say "a little bit to-day", and a "little bit tomorrow", but to all sin and all workings of the flesh, as soon as you become aware of either-’drop it!’ Romans 6:1-23 therefore bids you ’reckon’ yourself ’dead’ to sin, but John 12:24 speaks of a gradual and progressive law of death in respect to fruitfulness. It speaks, not of parting with that which is wrong, but that which is lawful-that which we have by nature--life. "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life," said Satan to Jehovah about job (Job 2:4). It is this ’life’ which the Lord calls those who follow Him to lay down for His sake, and in fulfilment of the law of death for fruitfulness, i.e., the ’life’ we have by nature has to go into ’death’, to enable the ’life’ of God in us to bring forth fruit. In John 12:25 this is clearly seen in the Greek original, for the two words rendered into English, ’life,’ are not the same in the Greek. One Greek word means the lower form of life, the life of nature-that which we share in common with the animals. The other is the eternal life-the life we have from God in the new birth wherein we are made partakers of the Divine nature. The passage could be read thus: "He that loveth his (psuche--natural) life shall lose it (i.e., the fruit of it in eternity), and he that hateth his (natural) life in the world shall keep it (i.e., save it from eternal loss) unto life (zoe, eternal life)." The Lord’s children are, to a great extent, mostly concerned with the question of victory over sin, and it is necessary that they should be, but when they know the way of victory over sin, they forget that there is another and deeper phase of the Cross beyond that. It is then a question-not of sin, but of the life by which they live and act. As one has said, the life of nature has no ’carrying’ power in the spiritual sphere. It has no power of fruitfulness in the spiritual realm. That is why some believers toil so much, and get so little fruit. They know victory over sin, but the life of nature is their animating power in service and in the ordinary use of their faculties, e.g., the intellect is animated by the life of nature, as well as the affections and the emotions! It need not be anything sinful in the use of the intellect, or affections, but their very ’virtues’ are from the life of nature, and not from the life of God within them. The life of nature as the animating power in the believer, instead of the life of God, means powerlessness in the spiritual conflict, for a spiritual foe cannot be fought by the ’natural’ man, with natural weapons. Therefore, in so far as we walk in the life of nature, to that extent we are powerless in the warfare with the powers of darkness. They are supernatural, and can only be met by spiritual power. Even though we may, up to the extent of our consciousness, have victory over known sin, we deeply need to learn the way to ’hate’, or reject the life of nature, as the Lord Christ Himself poured out His sinless soul at Calvary. "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me," said the Lord as He spoke of the spiritual law of life out of death, and the way to lay down the life of nature for the fruitful manifestation of the life of God. At Calvary He committed His spirit to God, but poured out His soul unto death-even the death of the Cross. So the Spirit of God leads us in a path where we, too , pour out our soul-life unto death, in fellowship with the Lord at Calvary. This is the meaning of God taking you in hand, and leading you through experiences where you lose all conscious life in the senses; for example, all ’conscious’ presence of God in the sense realm. In such a path it appears times as if you had lost all your ’spiritual’ life, and yet you are able to say, "I am trusting God absolutely, without any emotion, without any consciousness. I am walking in bare faith". "I have chosen you that ye should bring forth fruit" said the Lord, so in due time, when victory over sin is known, the Holy Spirit leads the soul on into a path where the natural, emotional life subsides, and, in some measure, the active, troublesome, intellectual life, loses its power of wasteful activity. He does all this in many different ways, with the one who wants to know the fullest life of fruitfulness, and who is willing to follow his Lord, as a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die! Let us think a moment about that picture of the grain, as applied to the believer. The grain may have a beautiful coat, but it is hard. The germ of life is locked up in it. It cannot get out. Locked up in the grain, it produces nothing. The only way to make it fruitful in the production of other grains is to drop it into the dark earth, where it loses its outer shell, its beauty, and even the sunshine, and all that made ’life’ beautiful, as it nestled in its place with its companions in the ear of wheat. It loses all as it becomes detached, and drops down into the earth. After a time if you take it up, you will find nothing of its polished shell, but there will be a tiny bit of life breaking out. If it is left in the ground to give its life entirely, a new life will later on press through the dark earth back into the sunlight, and become an ear of wheat that will ultimately produce fruit, thirty or sixty-fold. The children of God so often shrink from this truth of the Gospel. They want to be ’fruitful’, but they are not willing for the way to be made fruitful. They are unwilling to part with this conscious, or soul-life, in spiritual experience. Let me say, however, that there is a consciousness in the spirit which is permanent. The life of God in the spirit has no variations, but spiritual experiences in the ’soul’ or ’natural’ man, are affected by circumstances, and by all kinds of external things. But as the ’grain of wheat’ falls into the ground to die to all external things, it not only becomes fruitful, but, in the believer the spirit rises into fuller union with God. Then when the inner spirit-life has become steadfast in God, it moves in the orbit of its path with God, like the planets moving in their orbit in the heavens. This changeless life in God (Colossians 3:3) is never fully known until the believer parts with the activities of the soulish life of nature. Again, notice in the grain of wheat path the law of increase in fruitfulness. In the soul-realm the believer wins others one by one-a service for God not to be despised or discounted but where it is the life of God in us able to reproduce itself, because of the pouring out into death of the soul-life, the law of increase is one grain into thirty, and each of the thirty again into thirty more. The increase is by multiplication apart from the activities of the believer. The life of God in us, set free to act through us as the life of nature is buried in death, quickens everything it touches. One of the old writers describes this life as a ’tincture’. Take for instance one drop of ink, or a drop of milk, and it will ’tincture’ a glass of water; e.g., when the divine life is in the spirit, whilst the soul-life is being poured out in death, there is a divine ’tincture’ through the words you speak. Then you may say but a few simple words, but they bear fruit. You may do a most ordinary thing, but your simple act leaves an eternal stamp upon the one to whom you did it. Oh, thus to live that everything we say or do has the ’tincture’ of the life of God in it. That is infinitely more valuable to God and man, and more fruitful for the believer, than the most wonderful ’sense’ experience, which ends in nothing but the believer’s own joy. It makes the ’ordinary’ everyday life full of God. It is so simple that the one who knows it is so occupied with being "faithful in that which is least", that he does not think whether he is ’used’ or not. Such a one does not clamour for ’power’ or for ’more power’, for he has only to see to the ’dying’, i.e., the abiding in the death of Christ, whilst unknown to him the life of God in him is ’tincturing’ all the ’doing’, and bringing forth fruit eternal. "Bringeth forth much fruit!" Silently, unobtrusively, the grain of wheat life works in the world of men-just in the way that God always works. He does not make any noise over what He does, and does not blow a trumpet telling of what He has done, or will do. You ask Him to do something in prayer, but He does not send a message announcing that He is going to do it! It just ’happens’ as it were, and the world knows nothing about it. Oh the beauty of God’s wondrous silent working! Men so like a noise, and a flourish of trumpets. But think of God’s weak children in the world as grains of wheat, producing other God-like souls, and affecting the whole world without a noise, just being what they are, and walking with God, with the tincture of God touching everything. Is not this picture more worthy of God, because so opposite to man’s way, than something spectacular? There is always some danger about the ’wonderful’ in believers, because it is liable to be attached to the person. It is so much better that we look ’ordinary’, even spiritually, and very insignificant in our lack of visible ’power’, whilst God does His silent working through us in grain of wheat fruitfulness, and no glory will ever be attached to us, and our personality called ’wonderful!’ See now where the affections come into this question of the life laid down. It is easier to part with everything than life. "He that loveth his life shall lose it"! That means to say, you will get nothing for eternity out of it. You may have victory over sin already, and be happy. That is all right; but he that "loveth his life"-even though he parts with sin-has not got reproducing power, the power to reach others, and draw them to the life of heaven. He is clinging to the life that cannot multiply and bring forth fruit for eternity. That is the secret of the lack of multiplying power in the churches everywhere. They cling to the ’life’-the soul-life with all its personal desires, and personal hope of gain-that cannot multiply. What then shall we do as we see this? We are responsible beings. We have a choice. God works on our choices. Say "I choose it. I trust Him to do it". It is very simple. "I choose to surrender my own life to have the other!" Then you will "keep it to life eternal". Make this transaction with God, and then do not flinch or turn back from it, as He leads you on in the way He alone can do. But there is more in it than only the choice of the will. We must go back to Calvary. Let me turn you again to Romans 6:1-23 and in Romans 6:5 You will get the same truth in another form, and more clearly showing how this exchange of life takes place at Calvary. In John 12:24 the Lord was speaking primarily of Himself, but the same law is for Christ and for His members. Let us read Romans 6:5, "If we have been grafted into the likeness of His death"Conybeare’s footnote says, "Literally, have become partakers of a vital union [as that of a graft with the tree into which it is grafted]". Here again we find the secret of this grain of wheat life, definitely in connection with the believer’s union with Christ in His death. "We have been grafted." Who does the ’grafting’? We cannot do it ourselves. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. We are to be grafted into the death of Christ. What does the gardener do in his work of grafting? He cuts the bark of the stock, and slips the graft into its place in the cut bark, binds it up, and leaves the bands there for some time. When he removes them, what has happened? Tree and graft have become united into one life. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit has to do for us. We must be grafted into Christ in His death, so that we may live by His life-His Own Risen Life, which He obtained out of death. We must become partakers of a vital union, whereby His life becomes ours, as we lay down the life of nature. You have another similar figure in Romans 6:17. "If some of the branches were broken off, and thou being a wild olive stock, wast grafted in amongst them, and made to share the root and richness of the olive," Paul wrote to the Gentile believers, "Thou wast cut out from that which by nature was the wild olive, and wast grafted against nature into the fruitful olive" (Romans 11:24). This is so true of the believer spiritually. We are grafted into Christ against nature-i.e., our own nature-so that we may share His Risen life, and live a life on earth which is also ’against nature’. We are called to live a life on earth that the old I nature’ is incapable of living, and we do it by being grafted into Christ, so vitally, that we are made to ’share the root and the richness’ which is ours in Him. Now let me emphasize the fact that the being grafted into the death of Christ is not a theory. It does not mean that the believer lives by the life of nature, and calls it ’resurrection life’. There are those who are compelled by utter weakness to prove the reality of a true impartation of the life of God. When your very physical life hangs upon your knowing the reality of all this in God, then you know that God is a living God. If the Word of God were not true, and the resurrection power of Christ not a reality, you would not be alive. This is what it means to some to live ’against nature’, drawing upon the richness of the ’olive’-the Living Christ. Briefly, let us now see how this law of life out of death penetrated Paul’s experience and his writings. If you will ponder over his epistles in this light you will know the inner life of Paul, and understand the meaning of all that he said and did, because you yourself know something of the life which wrought in him. The life of Paul is marvellous, and is possible to every believer who learns its secret. Would to God that out of this Conference God would send some Pauls to labour as he laboured, with an utter recklessness of life. ’Grafted’ into the death of Christ, in very truth, he laid down his life for the brethren. This is within the reach of everyone of us. It matters not whether we be old or young, educated or uneducated. It matters not whether we have had a college training or no training, this life out of death can be wrought into us and lived out by us, and we can be fruitful for God wherever we are. No one will quarrel with such a one, because the life is the testimony. Men do not quarrel with the life of Christ lived in and through us in selfless sacrifice. But it needs opened eyes to see how this life can only come to us in and through the death on Calvary; to see life out of death as the law of the universe; the law inwrought as the basic principle of the universe-the law of vicarious sacrifice. Let us read one of Paul’s remarkable pictures of the grain of wheat life, as given in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 : "This treasure is lodged in a body of fragile clay, that so the surpassing might, which accomplishes the work, should be God’s and not my own. I am hard pressed, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not despairing; persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed. In my body I bear about continually the dying of Jesus, that in my body the life also of Jesus might be shown forth. . . ." Is not this quite plain? Grafted into the death of Jesus, the believer is daily ’given over to death’ that the life of Jesus might be manifested. One of the effects of this ’death’ is, that we lose a certain exterior ’hardness’ which most of us have by nature, as if the clay of the earthen vessel acted as a veil of the true life within. Too often others meet the ’clay’ exterior, and not the life of Jesus within. But as the ’grain of wheat’ shell is broken away, there comes about a simplicity of manner and absence of reserve, which enables the inner life to shine forth and draws others to come to you without fear. Oh how the poor world, and the lonely souls in the church, miss that ’tincture’ of God through His children. There is a barrier, they say, between employer and employed, but there is also a barrier between the Christians and the unsaved, which ought not to be. The persons they want to win they cannot, because of this external ’reserve’ and shell. They want to shake hands cordially, but they do not know how to do it. Oh that we may be so grafted into the death of Jesus that the very life of Jesus, in His heart-love for souls, can be manifested in us and through us-a heart for all the souls you meet, even the people you do business with every day. A heart which will not allow you to ’drive’ and ’push’ them, or ignore their troubles, because you are so concerned with your own. Is it not wonderful that the Christ of Calvary came and first lived the life He wants us to live? "Christ Jesus being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God," yet He stripped Himself of His glory, and "took upon him the form of a slave, being changed into the likeness of man". He came and lived it first, and then through His death, and our death with Him, He desires to live it all out again in us, saying of the poor dark world of men, "Through My children they will understand Me, for there is the same spirit in them as there was in Me". We can see now why Paul was able to say, "I rejoice in the afflictions which I bear for your sake, and I fill up what yet is lacking of the sufferings of Christ ... on behalf of the church" (Colossians 1:24), and again in Php 2:17-18, "Though my blood be poured forth upon the ministration of your faith, I rejoice for myself, and with you all, and do ye likewise rejoice, both for yourselves and with me". Do you ’rejoice’ when others are poured out for you for Christ’s sake? Oh no, you say, I am willing to be spent, but I do not want anyone to be spent for me! Ah, but it takes much grace for some independent characters to allow anyone to be ’spent out’ for them! But Paul said, "Though my blood is poured forth, I rejoice . . . and do ye likewise rejoice". Neither Paul, nor others, must be robbed of their fruit, when they desire to lay down their lives for others. How it pains when those in need are unwilling to have anything done for them. Take heed lest there be ’self’ even in this. Christ, for the joy set before Him endured the Cross. There is a joy in sacrifice for others that is divine. "My joy I give unto you!" ’Joy’ on the eve of Calvary! This is the experimental path. Shall we follow it? You say, Yes? Then, let the Holy Spirit manage you, and your circumstances, and carry it out in His own way. Let me, as I close, just give a word of personal experience. I was quite a babe in the consecrated life when God began to teach me these things. I remember once I was utterly sick with the joy of being used by Him to win one soul. The joy was so great that I said, "Oh Lord, I really cannot bear it"! He said so softly in reply, "How could you bear to be used to win five hundred?" And then He said, "Will you part with all that keen ’joy’ which exhausts you, and just let me have you and use you to others with nothing for yourself?" I saw the wisdom of this, and said, Yes, Lord, and then found that I could go through marvellous scenes of blessing to others, which once would have quite overwhelmed me with ’joy’, without any exhaustion of my fragile frame! The secret of a fruitful life is, in brief, to pour out to others and want nothing for yourself; to leave yourself utterly in the hands of God, and not care what happens to you. I owe also a good deal to the books of Madame Guyon, and the way she showed the path to the life in God. The first time I read her life it deeply moved me. I was at the vicarage at Richmond (Surrey) in Mrs. Evan Hopkins’ room. I was quite a young Christian. I had never heard of Madame Guyon, but in that room I picked up her Life, and asked if I might have it to read. I was just at the height of a glorious experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The glory of the Lord’s conscious presence with me was so unspeakably sweet that it was most difficult to bring the mind to the ordinary affairs of life. But as I read the book, I clearly saw the way of the Cross, and all that it would mean. At first I flung the book away, and said, No! I will not go that path, I shall lose my ’glory’ experience. But the next day I picked it up again, and the Lord whispered so gently, "If you want deep life and unbroken communion with God, this is the way". I thought, Shall I? No! And again I put the book away. The third day I again picked it up. Once more the Lord spoke"If you want fruit, this is the path! I will not take the conscious joylife from you, you may keep it if you like; but it is either that for yourself, or this and fruit. Which will you have?" And then, by His grace, I said "I choose the path of death for fruitfulness", and every bit of conscious experience closed. I walked for a time in such complete darkness-what Guyon describes as the ’darkness’ of faiththat it seemed as if God did not exist. Again by His grace I said "Yes, I have only got what I agreed to", and on I went. I did not know what the outcome of this would be until I went to take some meetings, and then I saw the ’fruit’. It was just as if the people had been soaked in a life tide from heaven! It was not a case of individual blessing-the people were all submerged in a flood-tide of life from God which quickened them, released them, and brought them out into a new life. I did not need to speak personally to them. There seemed nothing to do, but to give the message as God gave it to me, and the Holy Ghost did the rest. From that hour I understood, and knew intelligently, that it was ’dying’ and not ’doing’, that produced spiritual fruit. May God open our eyes to see the path, and to consent to follow Christ in His call to go with Him into the earth to die and thus bring forth fruit that shall remain for eternity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 03.05. THE LIFE-SIDE OF THE CROSS ======================================================================== THE LIFE-SIDE OF THE CROSS CHAPTER 5 "Raised with Him."Colossians 2:12 Dr. MABIE says in one of his books: "in the thought of’ Scripture the reconciling death, and ressurection, have always been taken together. They are inseparable parts of a real Unity-TWIN PARTS OF ONE FACT". This is a very clear statement and true, but in experience, and in teaching, the danger lies in not giving the ’twin parts’ equal balance. This affects the practical results in the life, for you cannot have the ’positive’ life-power without the negative death-application. If there is too much ’negative’, that is death-then there is too little ’positive’ in the practical life. If you overemphasize the ’positive’, the ’life’ of the resurrection-then you do not get sufficient ’negative’ of the death-application to deal with the old-Adam life, which is in the way of the new-creation, and has to be dealt with by the ’death’ making room for the Christ-life. Therefore the two should have equal emphasis, and, so to speak, run together in the Christian life-death and life, Calvary and the resurrection-’twin parts of one fact’. Let me repeat again: In the experience of the believer, it is exactly in proportion to the experimental apprehension, and co-working of the Spirit of God in applying the ’negative’ side of ’death with Christ’, that he gets the actual, experimental, and ’positive’ impartation of the power of the resurrection. The two sides of these truths should evenly run together. It is for lack of seeing this that there are so many one-sided Christians. They are either so ’negative’, by dwelling much on the ’death’ side, that they have no activity of life; or, they are so anxious to avoid the ’negative’-the over-emphasis on ’death’-that they dwell too much upon the ’positive’ side of life, and in experience are in danger of calling the old life of nature, the life of the resurrection. We have need of the balance, so as to obtain a real impartation of the life of God. But it is so ’human’ to go to extremes! It is only as we know the danger, and rely upon God to guard us, that we can be kept spiritually sober, and balanced in truth. When we are conscious of the difficulties of it on account of our human limitations, we are less dogmatic in our statements to others about ourselves and our ’views’. We can always be sure of all that is plainly written in the Word of God, but not always so sure that we personally have the full knowledge of the meaning of His Word. Now let us turn again to Romans 6:1-23 and see in Romans 6:10-11 how it gives not only what we may call the death-side of the Cross, but the key to the life-side of our union with Christ in His resurrection. "He died once, and once only, unto sin; but He lives [for ever] unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but living unto God IN CHRIST JESUS.’’ In the three words "IN Christ Jesus" we have the key to the life of union with the Risen Lord. We have died with Christ on the Cross, so that we may ’live unto God’ in another sphere altogether, ’IN Christ Jesus’. If you look at Romans 6:13 it reads: "Give yourselves to God, as being restored to life from the dead, and your members to His service as instruments. . . ." Now what does it mean to be "in Christ Jesus" on the resurrection side of the Cross? Turn to Romans 7:4; "You ... were made dead to the Law, by [union with] the body of Christ; that you might be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead". In the margin of Schofield’s Bible the word is ’joined’. ’Dead’ is the ,negative’ side of the truth of death; ’joined’ to the Risen Lord is the ’positive’ side of the truth. Twin parts of one fact. Therefore there is no impartation of His Risen life apart from Himself Moreover the ’joining’ is a joining of spirit. ’He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:17)not one soul. Therefore the ’negative’ side of death with Christ means practically a breaking away, or severing, or cutting away, of that which prevents the joining of your spirit to the Risen Christ. The experimental outcome of the Cross is really a releasing of the spirit. It was held, so to speak, in the grip of the soul and of the ’flesh’. It was so entangled in the life of nature that it could not be fully joined to Him Who is a quickening Spirit. But how is the ’cutting away’ done? How does the Spirit of God apply the Cross, and bring about the death-severance whereby the spirit is free to be joined to Christ? This we find in Hebrews 4:12 - "The Word of God liveth and worketh, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. . . ." Here we have a dividing and something that is immaterial and intangible. The ’Word’ therefore is a spiritual weapon, acting like a sword in the spiritual sphere-as a sword cuts in the material realm-and actually ’dividing’ immaterial things. That part of the Word that does this is the Word of the Cross, ’dividing’ soul from spirit, first by giving the believer the distinctions between the two, and secondly, severing the two as the believer yields to the operation of the ’Word of the Cross’ telling of the death with Christ. It also says that the ’Word’ discerns and reveals the thoughts, because "all things are naked and opened in the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do". Notice that it is the Lord Himself using the sword to cut away the old lifeHim, with Whom we have to do. He alone knows how to wield the ’sword of the Spirit’, which will ’cut’ like a knife, so that the spirit is severed or ’disentangled’, as an old writer says, "from the embrace of the soul"! This is all psychologically and experimentally true. In Dr. Andrew Murray’s "Spirit of Christ", he gives in the Appendix a very clear explanation of the dividing of soul and spirit which has to be done in the believer. He explains how man fell from the ’spirit’ dominating his whole being, into the soul, and then again how the soul sank down into the flesh, so that at last God said of man "He is become flesh". He descended from spirit to soul, and from soul to ’flesh’. The spirit of man, says Dr. Murray, is that in us which is capable of knowing God-spirit-consciousness. The soul is the seat of the self-consciousness, and the body the seat of sense consciousness. An understanding of simple Bible psychology is necessary for any apprehension of the full life of victory through the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is more to be dealt with in us than what we call ’sin’, and more than ’sin’ which prevents our full knowledge of God. Now to know in real experience the life side of the Cross, we must know not only death to sin, but the Word of the Cross severing between ’soul’ and ’spirit’, so that the spirit is liberated to be joined to the Risen Lord. Then through the channel of your spirit, "joined to the Lord one spirit", the quickening life of Him Who is a quickening Spirit comes into the ’soul’ in resurrection power. For the ’soul’ is not destroyed, nor is the individuality of the believer destroyed. We do not become automatons, but the ’soul’-the personality-should be animated from the spirit, instead of from the lower realm of the life of nature. We may say the same words, perform the same acts, but with a different source of animating life at the back of them. When the spirit is thus ’one spirit’ with the Risen Lord, it is via the spirit, into the mind, we experience the leadings of the Spirit, and intimate knowledge of the personal Christ. It is through our spirits joined to Him by the Holy Spirit, that we ’know’ Him personally-for the whole purpose of the truth is that we should KNOW Him, as well as the power of His resurrection. Now turn to Colossians 2:6-7 for more light on the meaning of the words, "In Christ Jesus". "As, therefore, you first received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." When we first ’received’ Christ, by a simple act of faith, we were put into Him by the operation of the spirit of God. Christ is in us, and our spirits are joined to Him as the Risen One, but we are also to abide ’In Him’ as a sphere in which we are to walk day by day. As we began, so we are to continue-simply trusting and relying upon Him, and abiding IN Him. The life side of the Cross means to be ’alive’ to God-’In Christ Jesus’ "Having in Him your root," continues the Apostle. You cannot be ’rooted’ in one place to-day, and in another place the next. Therefore see to your roots. "Having in Him your root." "Thou bearest not the root, but the root thee"! "And in Him the foundation whereon you are continually built up, persevering steadfastly in your faith. . . ." This clearly shows the need of our understanding the Cross as the basic position from which we must never be moved. It is into His death that we are to be rooted. We cannot ever pass on into a life where we get past the Cross, or advance to any goal, leaving the Cross behind. To do so is like a ’tree’ refusing to ’root’ itself into the ground. We are to reckon ourselves ’dead indeed unto sin’ and living unto God, but it is ’IN CHRIST JESUS’. ’In Him’ we must be ’rooted’, and ’in Him’ have our ’foundation’, whereon we are continually to be built up; i.e., we must ever be striking our roots deeper into His death. Let us go back just here to John 3:16, and see how the being ’In Christ Jesus’ began at the initial stage of our new life. The words read, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth into Him" should have life. Why the translators of the Bible into English have used the word ’on’ instead of ’into’, I do not know. We do not merely believe ’on’ Christ, but we believe into Him. Newberry says, that the word ’into’ in the original has in it the thought of motion and thus is very suggestive, i.e., as you ’believe into’ Christ, you are taken in by the coaction of the Holy Spirit. And Calvary is the place where this is done. The Lord Christ preached His own Cross at the beginning of His ministry. He told Nicodemus of the necessity of the new birth and told him of His forthcoming death that sinners might have life. He said in John 3:14-15, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth into Him should ... have eternal life". We are put ’into’ Him in His death, and then ’into’ Him in His life, on the resurrection side of the Cross, "having in Him your root"! Therefore "persevere steadfastly in your faith . . ." i.e., when you first received Christ Jesus the Lord, you believed into Him, now stay in Him, be rooted in Him, have your foundation in Him, have all your spirit life built up in Him. Now turn to Colossians 2:9-11. "IN Him dwells all the fulness"! It is as we abide in Him we get the ’fulness’ of the Spirit. You say, "Oh, I want to be filled with the fulness of God"! Yes, but you can only hold, shall we say, a ’teacup’ full! Paul puts it quite another way-"In Him you have your fulness"! You have died with Him, now joined in spirit to Him, abide in Him, and you are in an ocean of life. "In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form, and in Him you have your fulness; for He is the Head of all Principalities and Powers. In Him, also, you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, even the off-casting of the whole body of the flesh." The ’flesh’ cannot be taken ’into Him’. It must be ’cast off’. "For with Him you were buried in your baptism [into death], wherein also you were made partakers of His resurrection, through the faith wrought in you by God, Who raised Him from the dead." Here again are the ’twin parts of one fact’. The severing work of the Cross takes place as we abide in Him; the cutting off of the ’flesh’, even the "off-casting of the whole body of the flesh" takes place as we abide in Him. It is a ’circumcision’ which is done without human hands, for it is wrought by the Holy Ghost as the believer consents, and trusts Him, to carry out in him the full work of the Cross of Christ. It is the Spirit of God who baptizes us into the death of Christ, and gives the believer the power to cast off all the ’body of the flesh’, and to carry this out in detail, so that he may live according to God in the Spirit, Now let us see two or three verses for the practical outworking in the life. "Whosoever, then, is in Christ, is a new creation; his old being has passed away, and behold, all has become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15)- ’In Christ’ nothing is made to depend upon any external thing. ’In Christ Jesus’ nothing avails, nothing is of any use, nothing is of any account, but a new creation. Going into the sphere of Christ, we leave outside the ’old’. Abiding in Him, we may conform to the externalities of religious things, but you do not rely upon them, or place undue emphasis upon them, or ever allow them to become a cause of division between you and other children of God. Thus you will never find a child of God that you cannot get into spirit touch with, for you will always recognize that you have one life in the Lord. Now turn to Ephesians 2:4-6. "God Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sin, called us to share the life of Christ.... And in Christ Jesus, He raised us up with Him from the dead and seated us with Him in the heavens." In Christ is our root and our foundation, from which we must never move, but here we see the outcome of that death position. joined to Him in spirit we are seated with Him in spirit ’in the heavens’. "Crucified with Him," we are called to share His life, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3) Resurrection power is uplifting power. Joined to the Risen One it can lift your spirit up, and keep it ’far above all’ in Christ, however deeply it may have been ’down’ under the bondage of the flesh, or mingled with the life of nature of the soul-we are ’seated with Him in the heavens’ by union with Him Who on His ascension ’sat down’. joined to Him, He holds us as we abide and rest in Him. Now finally as to the ’life-side of the Cross’ in service. Let us turn to Ephesians 6:10. It is to those who are ’in Christ’ as set forth in the early chapters of the Epistle, that the Apostle now opens up spiritual service and warfare. He begins this closing passage, this summing up of the life he had been describing, with the word ’Finally’. "Finally ... let your hearts be strengthened in the Lord, and in the conquering power of His might. . . ." The Lord Christ, Paul said in chapter one, is above the Principalities and the Powers. He is not under them, and the believer is also seated with Him ’far above’. Now, let such a one be strengthened in the Lord, be confident, be sure, know for certain the position of victory, and be strong in the conquering power of His might. Also, in this place of assured victory, "Put on the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11). You know your position, now be established there, and put on the armour of God, "that you may be able to stand". But you were ’seated’ a moment ago! Yes, you cannot ’fight’ external foes if you have a conflict within! You must be ’sitting down’ inside! If you lose your inward peace you are at the mercy of the devil. For conquering warfare the believer must have the inward calm of God, and be strengthened, stablished, rooted in Him. Now ’put on the armour’ that you may be able to stand. And why need we ’stand’? Because of ’the wiles of the devil’. This is all his strategy, wiles, methods, planned to get you out of your victorious position. The wiles that you do not see are the most dangerous. They are planned against you from morning to night. You say that you do not want to be thinking about ’evil spirits’ all the time? But they will he thinking of you. You are only called to think about them to the end that you may be on the alert in perpetual prayer. The knowledge that they are perpetually planning to ensnare you, drives you nearer to God in prayer that their wiles do not succeed. As you do this your eyes will be opened to see their wiles, and you will keep steady and quiet when you discern them at work upsetting things in your home, to draw you out of your place in God. "Stand firm against the wiles of the devil,for the adversaries with whom we wrestle are not flesh and blood." It is strange, in the face of this, how God’s people perpetually see only ’flesh and blood’ as the cause of the conflict, and trouble in their lives. They will not recognize that there are spiritual foes. Or if they see some other cause than the flesh and blood, at the back of circumstantial troubles, they put all down to the ’will of God’. By some means or other, they will ignore the supernatural powers of evil. In the one case they have friction with the ones who injure them, or in the latter they submit, as they think, to the ’will of God’, and become actual victims of the forces of Satan attacking and seeking to injure every child of God. They do not know how to discern between what is really of God, and what is of Satan. The Apostle says, our real adversaries are not flesh and blood. These spiritual foes are in the aerial heavens. They roam in the air around our planet, seeking to do all the evil that they can. It is very manifest just now in Britain-not to speak of other lands. These powers are working upon the people in an intensified form, and arousing the fallen Adam in them. The wave of Spiritism has much to do with it. It is not possible to have thousands of people communicating with demons, under the deception of speaking with their dead relatives, without these demons influencing the atmosphere of the whole country. Our adversaries are not flesh and blood, but they are princes -"The Principalities, and the Powers, and the Sovereigns of this present darkness". We have three hierarchic ranks of Satan’s governmental powers described here. The ’Princes’ set over ’Principalities’, the ’Powers’ of those who are able to use the resources of the air; and the ’Sovereigns’-the kings or rulers, governing ’this present darkness’. Then last and lowest in rank, are the multitudes of ’spirits of evil in the heavens’ who carry out the behests of Satan their chief and the other ’rulers’ of their various spheres. In Daniel 10:1-21 the veil is lifted, and we are told about a ’Prince of Persia’and a’Prince of Grecia’ (Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:20), withstanding the heavenly messengers to Daniel. Is there not a ’Prince of England’ and a ’Prince of France’? In every land do not God’s people wrestle against the ’Princes’ of the Satanic forces? Then what about the ’Powers’ wielding for Satan the forces of the air? What resources they have to carry out their plans! We are only in this century learning about wireless telegraphy, and electricity, but the satanic ’Prince of this World’ knew about them-and other ’powers’ yet unknown to uscenturies ago. This is why ’lies’ spread like poisoned gas, and ’truth’ has to fight its way. This is why the Bolshevik spirit in Russia is able so quickly to reach Wales and England, and to lay hold of men and inspire them with delusions which, if allowed their way, will wreck others and themselves. There are ’waves’ of satanic delusions sent forth by the ’Powers’ in the invisible realm, like a wave of electric currents, invisibly spreading, and drawing people under its power. Then there are the ’Sovereigns’ of the ’darkness’. The Princes lead the fight like generals (Daniel 10:13), the ’Powers’ wield the forces of the air, but the ’Kings’ or rulers govern the darkness. Their work is to plan how to keep people in the dark; to prevent truth and light reaching them-in brief, not only to frustrate the Gospel but to hinder truth and all light that comes from truth, in every way they can. The ’spirits of evil’ are the multitudinous hosts of demons swarming about, and carrying out the personal attacks on individuals, for the fulfilling of the world-plans of their Prince. The standing against the wiles of these, as described in Ephesians 6:11, is the prelude to the aggressive war against them. The believer ’strong in the Lord’, on the defensive against the wiles, is called to the aggressive, and by the wielding of the weapon of Christ’s victory over them at Calvary, these foes can all be dislodged and driven from their strongholds, and the plans of their chiefs be frustrated, and broken up. The Apostle says this plainly, and tell us how. "Wherefore," he writes, "take up with you to the battle the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand (Gr. resist) them in the evil day, and HAVING OVERTHROWN THEM ALL, TO STAND UNSHAKEN". This clearly depicts an aggressive advance, with the sure and certain fact that they can be ’overthrown’, and by the Lord’s children in union with Him. There are ’evil days’, when the ’princes’ and ’powers’ and the ’rulers of the darkness’, come and besiege, say for instance, your church. Do not only stand on the defensive and protect yourself, but looking not at ’flesh and blood’, go up to that battle with the hosts of darkness , strong in the Lordanchored in Him with the eternal calm of God centred in your being-and ,overthrow’ the invisible hosts by the weapon of faith and prayer. Remember God is on the Throne, and when you are centred there in Him, you partake of His strength, ’rooted and fixed in God’. Strong ’in the Lord’, you can safely take the aggressive against principalities and powers, and go up to the battle with confidence, because your ’defensive’ is sure. "Having overthrown them all" writes the Apostle, you can then ’stand unshaken’. So there is a ’battle’-a specific onslaught upon you, or upon the church, described as ’the evil day’-and there is an ’overthrow’ of that specific attack of the enemy, and then a standing back in God in blessed victory. All this is part of the believer’s experience on the ’life-side of the Cross’. He is not only ’joined to the Lord one Spirit’ for sharing in His resurrection life, and for victory over sin and the ’flesh’, but he is joined to Him, to be sent forth by Him to ’overthrow’ the forces of darkness seeking to ’overthrow’ the church of God, and to frustrate or delay the Lord’s appearing. The great need of to-day is that the Lord’s children should apprehend the call to battle, and rise up in His strength to face the foe. It is not enough to simply ’endure’ -crying out "Oh Lord, how long?" The Lord must have those who work with Him to ’overthrow’ in glorious victory all the hosts of Satan, hindering his plans, until as victors they are caught away to meet the Lord. Twos and threes meeting together in prayer, can become strategic centres for the overthrow of Satan’s onslaughts on the people, and the work of God. If they only know how to ’pray’ against the foe! If they only know how to take their stand in God, and wield the weapon of Calvary’s victory! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 03.06. THE CROSS AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== THE CROSS AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT CHAPTER 6 We have died . . . new service of the Spirit" Romans 7:6 T HIS morning when speaking of the life side of the Cross, we were more occupied with the word ’life’ than the word ’Spirit’. On the life, or resurrection side of the Cross, we have seen there is the joining of the spirit to the Spirit of Christ, for "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit". In the early days of my Christian life I thought that everything that took place in my spirit was the action of the Holy Spirit, not understanding clearly all that the Bible says about the human spirit. Let us trace it out. 1. There is a human spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:11 shows this clearly. "Who can know what belongs to man, but the spirit of man which is within him?" i.e., who can know what is going on within us, but the spirit which is within us? "Even so," says the Apostle, "none can know what belongs to God, but the Spirit of God alone." Even as others can only know our inmost thoughts as we choose to reveal them, so we can only know God as His Spirit reveals Him. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might understand those things which have been freely given us by God." We see by this passage that there is a ’spirit of man,’ which knows the man, as the ’Spirit of God’ knows the ’depths of God’. Also that God gives to men who will receive Him, His Spirit, so that by His Spirit they may be enabled to understand the things of God-things which they could not know apart from the teaching of His Spirit. 2. The spirit of man is a distinct entity or organism (1 Corinthians 5:4)"You convene an assembly, and when you, and my spirit with you, are gathered together. . . ." Here is Paul talking about his own spirit being present with the assembled believers in Corinth. Here we have the fact of there being a spirit of man as a distinct entity, or organism. Again in 1 Corinthians 14:14, Paul says, "If I utter prayers in a tongue, my spirit indeed prays, but my understanding bears no fruit". So ’spirit’ and mind, or understanding, are not the same thing! "My spirit prays" says the Apostle, apart entirely from the ’soul’--or understanding. This shows that there is prayer which takes place only in the spirit, without the ’understanding’ of what the prayer is about (see Romans 8:26), and without expression by the voice, or ’feelings’ of the body. So, the Apostle says, "I will pray indeed with my spirit, but I will pray with my understanding also; I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will sing with my understanding also". This prayer in the spirit is not of value to others gathered in a meeting, "For if thou, with thy spirit, offerest praise" only, "how shall the Amen be said" by others who are present? The ’understanding’ prayer is needed in the assembly. 3. The varied characteristics of the spirit. Now look at the varied expressions which are used concerning the spirit. These characteristics may belong to the spirit of man itself, or be brought about in it by the action of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12:11 speaks of a ’fervent’ spirit. Something quite different to ’enthusiasm’ or fervour in the soul. The ’fervent’ spirit is the same in a revival meeting, and in the cold drudgery of daily life. It is this fervency that the world misses in the children of God. People have the counterfeit of it in the things of the world, stirred by the life of nature: surely the children of God should have it from the source of the Spirit of God, setting their spirits on fire. Then it would come out in every detail of life-in action and service, even in handshaking-which can be the warm, heartening, expression of a fervent spirit. We are needing sorely, in a selfish world, an intensity which comes from a true fervency of spirit. In 2 Corinthians 7:13, Paul says that the ’spirit’ of Titus had been ’refreshed’ by seeing the zeal (fervency) of the Corinthian believers in the things of God. Some of you are getting your spirits ’refreshed’ here! Again in Acts 18:5 ,we read that Paul was ’pressed in spirit’ to ’testify to the Jews that Jesus was Christ’. This shows the action of the Holy Spirit in the man’s spirit urging him to a certain course of action. It is when testimony, or preaching, has its source in this pressure of the spirit-not merely the impulse or emotion of the soul that there are eternal results in blessing to those who are prepared by the Holy Spirit to respond to it. Sometimes the pressure in the spirit is so strong that the man can hardly breathe until the ’testimony’ is given. Those who know the active in-working of the Holy Ghost learn to recognize His working in them in this way, and how to discern all that is spurious, or arises from the counterfeit produced by Satan as an ’angel of light’. In reference to this we have in Acts 20:22 a remarkable passage, showing the way Paul was able to read the mind of the Holy Spirit, as made known in his own spirit. He said to the elders at Miletus, "As for me, behold I go to Jerusalem in spirit foredoomed to chains ... in every city the Holy Spirit gives the same testimony that bonds and afflictions abide in me". In his own spirit Paul knew that he was going forward into ’bonds’, and knew this to be the testimony of the Holy Spirit in his spirit. Here is seen clearly the co-action of the Holy Spirit with the human spirit-the spirit of man as the organ, and the Spirit of God working in and through it. This pure spirit working is distinct from the soul (natural), or the life after the flesh, i.e., the emotional of the soul, or the ’feelings’ of the body. In Romans 1:9, again we read "Whom I serve with the worship of my spirit". The Apostle knew the life of the spirit, not only as the organ through which the Holy Spirit moved him in prayer, in fervency, in testimony, but also in service to his Lord. This does not mean that the spirit is not under the man’s control. That it always is so is seen in 1 Corinthians 14:32, where Paul says that the gift of prophecy does not take from the prophets the control of their own spirits. They have not control over the Holy Spirit of course, but the man has control over his own spirit in its co-action with the Spirit of God, for the Holy Spirit does not deprive the redeemed soul of his freedom of action and decision of will to voluntarily work with God. 4. The work to be done in the spirit of man: In Romans 7:6, the Apostle speaks about ’newness of spirit’. "A new spirit will I put within you" was the promise of God to Israel, made through Ezekiel, long before the time of Paul. The new birth therefore, or regeneration, takes place in the spirit. The spirit of man by nature is a fallen spirit. It is ’spirit’, but it is separate from God-in darkness and emptiness. It is consequently open to the spirits of Satan, and able to give place to evil spirits and become their medium of communication with others. But in the new birth the spirit is brought back to God by regeneration, and man is given again power to know God. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, we read "Having these promises (i.e., the indwelling of God, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18) ... let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement, either of flesh or spirit". Here we see that the ’spirit’ can be defiled. There are sins of the spirit. For the indwelling of God it is necessary to have a spirit without guile. "Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile . . .," no duplicity, no mixture. This is enough to show that the spirit needs cleansing. And the believer is to do this, by acknowledging these sins, applying to God to have them dealt with by the Cross, and by putting them away. We are to ’cleanse ourselves’ , not only from the defilement of the flesh, but of the spirit. What may we describe as sins of the spirit? Take, for example, a jealous spirit, an unkind spirit, a crooked spirit. You may trace all these in the Bible. In the Psalms and Proverbs you will find all kinds of things said about the spirit. And alas! when there are sins of the spirit, they invite the evil spirits to become attached to the man’s spirit. For example: when a man has a jealous spirit, an evil spirit of jealousy takes hold of him and dominates him, so that he loses all control of himself. The most mischievous things of life are those that come from the spirit. We prove this perpetually in daily life. You say: If the man’s spirit is all right we can get on! And it is so. Mistakes and blunders of judgment and action can all be put right, but when the spirit is wrong-all is wrong. "Lord, cleanse my heart" you say. But we consist of more than ’hearts’. The heart is the seat of the affections. It is true that out of the heart are the issues of life, and the heart is described as the ’reins’ of man, for he is governed by his affections. But the heart may be right, and the ’spirit’ still needs cleaning from, for example, ’guile’! How few are ’without guile’, i.e., without mixture-without ’suspicion’ of others-without duplicity, saying something they do not mean; pretending something they do not feel. There are people with a suspicious spirit, always watching for, and expecting something wrong. They cannot believe anything good. They have not a spirit ’without guile’! How beautiful it is not to be looking for evil, and to take what others say with purity of spirit! Not thinking always that others have ulterior motives. How quickly conscious a sensitive spirit is of this spirit among God’s people. Oh, that we may put away this thing, and have a spirit ’without guile’. In the light of this you will now see why the ’spirit’ needs to be divided from the soul. This must be emphasized again here. "The Word of God is quick and powerful ... piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." This is the deepest work to be done by the Word of God for the renewal of the believer through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We have already seen that before the Fall, as God created man, the spirit was the dominant power, ruling the soul-the personality of the man-for the expression of the life of God, with the body as the slave. Then we see how man fell so that the flesh ruled instead of the spirit (Genesis 6:3; Genesis 6:6). Then how the Son of God came, and as the Representative Man, took the fallen Adam to the Cross, where in its stead He suffered the penalty of death for sin, and in Him the fallen Adam died. "If One died for all-then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14)Now the work of the Spirit through the Word of God is to apply the Lord Christ’s finished work on the Cross to every man, and reverse the results of the Fall. The spirit of man, joined to the Risen Lord, is to be again the ruling power, governing the ’soul’, controlling the mind, the emotions and dispositions, and then the body the obedient vehicle (Romans 6:13) at the command of God through the new creation’. This is the meaning of the Cross. The precious blood cleanses the heart, the affections, but the Cross deals with the old creation. Someone asks me, Is there not a difference between the ’flesh’ and the ’old man’? The Word of God throws light on this. In some passages we find Paul speaking of the ’flesh’ as purely ’flesh and blood’. "Though living in ’the flesh’, my warfare is not waged according to ’the flesh’ " (2 Corinthians 10:3), he writes. So in this sense we are ’in the flesh’, even when the ’old man’ is crucified. But the Apostle adds that even though we are thus "living in the flesh", we are not to act "according to the flesh", but "according to God in the spirit". "Living in the flesh," in a right sense, is not to be an excuse for yielding to it, or being governed by it in any degree. Now let us look at 1 Thessalonians 5:23, giving a summary of the work to be done in the believer, as the outcome of the finished work of Christ on the Cross. "May the God of Peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul, and body all together be preserved blameless, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Note the order: spirit first, then soul, then body. Note the word ’sanctify’-set you apart altogether for God, and keep you blameless. 5. The working of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of man: A passage in Romans 8:16 very clearly shows this aspect of the spiritual life. "The Spirit bears witness with our own spirit that we are the children of God." This is not the ’understanding’ or the mind. The Holy Spirit gives His witness in our spirits. Look at Ephesians 3:16, "He would grant you strength by the entrance of His Spirit into your inner man". This is, says Moule, "Deep in it, penetrating far into it [the], the regenerate human spirit. . . ." Here is the truth made clear. The Holy Spirit dwells and works in the human spirit. It is His shrine, and His place of abode. He desires to penetrate far into it, so as to produce, shall I say, the fusion of the renerate human spirit with the Spirit of Christ, for the sole object of the working of the Spirit of God in us is to unite us to Christ, and to bring about in us conformity to His likeness. 6. A Bible picture of a ’spiritual’ man: For this we turn again to 1 Corinthians 2:11. The ’spiritual’ man has an acute ,spirit’ sense. He knows the action of his spirit, and by his spirit knows all about himself. It is only when a man becomes really ’spiritual’, with the ’soul’ divided from his spirit (ie.. the mixture of mental and spiritual separated), that this is realized. The majority of people are in a ’fantasy’, as an old writer says, about themselves. The mental perception is unable to penetrate into the depths of ’yourself’ and make you know yourself as you really are. The man’s own spirit, unmixed with the intellect, ’knows’ himself, and he receives the Holy Spirit into his spirit that he may know God (1 Corinthians 2:12). Then the spiritual man, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in his spirit, is given a spirit-faculty which enables him to understand the things of God, and to explain them to others. "These are things whereof we speak, in words not taught by man’s wisdom, but by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual men." The R.V. says "comparing spiritual things with spiritual", and the R.V. margin ’combining’, and ’interpreting’. Conybeare says ’explaining’, and in the R.V. margin of 1 Corinthians 2:15 we have the word ’examining’-the Greek meaning being ’to investigate and decide’. Now if we put all these renderings together, you have a striking description of the spiritual man in his dealing with the ’things of God’ showing, too, that God desires us not only to trust Him, but to understand Him, and that the Holy Spirit is given to us with this object. Practically it means that when the man’s spirit is actually ’joined’ with the Risen Lord, the Holy Spirit gives him a spirit sense, or faculty, whereby he is able to compare, or ’examine’ spiritual things, and ’combine’ spiritual facts with spiritual. As the chemist in his laboratory compares, combines, examines, searches, so the spiritual man deals with spiritual things, combining, comparing, explaining, interpreting, examining; e.g., he ’investigates’ the spiritual causes of spiritual phenomena until he is able to ’decide’ their source! But where are the spiritual men able to do this in this perilous time? Ability to deal with the ’letter’ of the Scriptures there may be, but alas, alas, how few can handle the ’things of the spirit’ so as to be able to interpret these ’things’ to others. I have been feeling lately the responsibility of those who know the Scriptures in the original Greek. Most of the errors among God’s children come from a misuse of faulty translations of the original. And with all the aids to non-Greek readers available to-day, they do not take trouble to search, examine, and investigate what the Godbreathed Word says in the language used by the Holy Ghost. Oh that men who know the original Scriptures took trouble to explain the things of God to those who do not know the Greek language. There are deep wells of life from God, and fathomless depths of the deep things of God, hidden away in ’roots’ of the Greek original Scriptures. Undoubtedly God chose that language as the one in which He could best make known spiritual things to His redeemed ones. But let us be of good courage. The Holy Spirit can teach us. I was once in a company of Convention speakers, when they asked me about some passage in the Word, and I said, "I do not know Greek, but the Holy Ghost does!" I have been amazed to find that when spiritual things have been opened to me truly by Him, they have always proved to be in harmony with the Greek original. This gave me confidence, and greater reliance upon the Holy Spirit to open to me the true meaning of the Word. It also made me careful not to say a certain verse meant this or that, until I was given His light upon it. Then when He truly gave the light, I have never found that those who knew the Greek could contradict what the Holy Ghost had opened. It made me careful also to search the Word of God, and to use every possible help for the understanding of the original. There are many such ’helps’ to-day. If we honestly want to know what God says, and are willing to be delivered from human ’views’ of the Word, He will teach us. The primary condition on our part is to have the work of the Cross wrought in us, even to the ’dividing of soul and spirit’, so that we may have an acute spirit-sense, for you can ,sense’ the meaning of some deep thing of God which you cannot grasp with your intellect. Some call this ’intuition’, but it is more than that, for the intuition of the unregenerate does not open to them the things of God. The ’intuition’ of the spiritual man comes from the human spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It appears then that the ’mind’ and spirit become one, or else it is that the Holy Spirit penetrates the mind, clarifying and illuminating it, so that it loses its earth-born character. Possibly this is what the Apostle meant when he said "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind". The intellect then becomes spiritual. For it is with the mind that we perceive, and with the ’spirit’ that we ’know’, or ’feel’ or sense the things of God. Paul is an example of this. He had one of the most brilliant intellects of his age, and of all later ages. But in the things of God, his intellect had been renewed and inter-penetrated by the Holy Spirit until he ’combined’, ’compared’ and ’interpreted’ the things of God, unknown, and unreachable, by the unregenerate man. When truth thus comes to the teacher, who is taught of God, it is borne witness to in the consciences of those you speak to. It need not be forced upon any one by the speaker, for the Holy Ghost does His own work, and bears witness to His own Word. 7. The laws of the spirit; and how to walk after the spirit: (a) First there is the minding of the things of the Spirit. See Romans 8:5-6, "They who live after the flesh mind fleshly things, but they who live after spirit"-the article is not there in the original-"mind spiritual things; and the fleshly mind is death; but the spiritual mind is life and peace". The secret of walking after the spirit is, briefly, to ’mind’ the spirit, and put spiritual things first. As we do this, it means that you never lose consciousness of what is going on in your spirit. Madame Guyon has a helpful illustration of what it means to abide in Christ. She says when you enter a room you say how pleasant and warm it is, but as you stay in it you have no ’consciousness’ save of ease. But go into the cold outside and you will soon know that you are not ’abiding’ in the room. Walking in the spirit, and minding the spirit, therefore, does not always mean any consciousness in the senses, but a keen intuitive knowledge of God and His will. It is not a life of great spirit phenomena, but of quiet rest in God in the common things of daily life. The believer thus ’minding the spirit’ ceases to be governed by ’circumstances’, and to measure external acts by their external values. Your great and blessed rest lies in simply and quietly doing the will of God, for in the life of union with God, the soul cheerfully, gladly, does the common every-day things, with the same fervency of spirit as he would do what; is called ’the Lord’s work’. (b) Then there is the being obedient to the monitions of the Spirit. "All who are led by God’s Spirit, and they alone, are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). The Spirit of God leads those who are truly sons of God-begotten in the Divine Nature-by various workings in the human spirit, such as impressions, drawings, restrainings, assurance in prayer, and inward witness to an action being in the will of God. All these monitions of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of the believer, are very delicate and subtle, but they can be known and read as the life in the spirit becomes stronger, and less mixed with the emotions and impulses of the soul, or the activities of the mind. This subject in all its ramifications would take too much time to deal with now, but as one example, suppose you are asked to do a certain thing, but you find that in your spirit there is a sense of deadness toward that course. It is then always safe to wait and pray for more light. The inner ’restraint’ generally means God’s ’No’. You go into a meeting where strange and abnormal manifestations are taking place. In your spirit there is a shrinking and a repugnance. It is never safe to go against this, and always safe not to force yourself to accept supernatural things. "As many as are led" writes the Apostle. The Spirit of God does not force, but leads the obedient child of God, so gently, that only when he is quiet and still he is conscious of it. Another very important point in obeying the monitions of the Holy Spirit, is not to act in anything without deliberate volition. If there is in your spirit any ’impression’ or ’drawing’ to this or that, it must never be followed without your having examined it in the light of the Word of God, and come to deliberate intelligent decision that it is of God. (c) There is also a need of knowledge of God, and His ways of working. In Php 1:9, we read, "This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in true knowledge, and in all understanding, teaching you to distinguish good from evil". The Holy Spirit can give us this ’understanding’ so that we may be able to distinguish good from evil in our path. Colossians 1:9-11 again speaks of this as a necessity for walking worthy of God. (d) A very important law of the spirit-life is that of ’expression’. This we find in John 7:37 - "He that believeth into Me ... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He of the Spirit. . . ." Briefly, if there is an influx, there must be an ’outflow’. Many of the Lord’s children are suffering from ’suppressed spirit’. just as you would suffer if you had no physical exercise, so the spirit suffers if it has no ’outflow’ or ’exercise’. The spirit life in us must have expression, or it becomes passive and feeble. When it is in normal activity the life in it ’overflows’ easily-quite a different thing to the talkativeness of the life of nature. We get a gleam into this in what is said of Peter in Acts 4:8. "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them. . . ." There was a fresh influx of the Spirit of God into his spirit, and out in bold testimony. ’Out’ of you shall ’flow rivers of living water’. We shall never have a fuller spiritual life than the extent to which we pour out that life to others. This hindering ’reserve’ which is locking up the spirit in so many, needs breaking down. It produces a conflict in service for God which you need not have. Ask therefore for the fulness of the Spirit in your spirit, and then ,give’, and it shall again be given unto you. (e) Lastly there is the use of the spirit in spiritual conflict: We have already dealt with this as part of the life on the resurrection side of the Cross. The Holy Spirit will teach us the true use of the spirit in conflict, for He alone can show us how to distinguish the things that differ, in the spiritual realm. I will only say that the use of the spirit only, makes the believer very quiet in conflict. The victory is often won by a quiet and simple word. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the spirit strong to stand against opposing powers. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 03.07. THE CROSS AND POWER FOR SERVICE . ======================================================================== THE CROSS AND POWER FOR SERVICE CHAPTER 7 T HERE are so many lines of teaching on the enduement of power for service that numbers of the Lord’s children are perplexed, and, in some cases hindered from receiving what they need, to equip them for effective witnessing to Christ. The trouble lies in the fact that in this, as in many other aspects of truth, the Cross is not given its right place as the central point from which the Holy Spirit works. The consequence is that one-sided truth is given on the subject, coloured generally by the experience of the teacher. The grace and patience of God, however, is seen in the way that He bears witness to all that is ’truth’, in any degree, even when it is given without due regard to other aspects of it. Let us take the Word, and with the Cross as the ’fixed point’ from which we are seeking to view every subject, see what light we can get in the matter. First let me say definitely that there is an ’enduement of power’ for service, which every believer should know for effectiveness in life and service. If we look back into the history of those who have been greatly used by GodMoody, Finney and others-you will find that there was a moment in their lives when God dealt with them and gave them an enduement of power. Then let us look broadly at the fact of ’Pentecost’ from the historical viewpoint. Historically there is only one ’Calvary’, one ’Resurrection Day’, one ’Pentecost’; i.e., Calvary, where Christ died on the Cross; the Resurrection, when He arose from the dead; Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came into the Church. Calvary is not to be repeated, nor the Resurrection, nor Pentecost in its historical meaning. The finished work of Christ on the Cross, His glorious resurrection as the witness of the Father to the completeness of His finished work, had the outcome in the outpoured Spirit at Pentecost. All was final, and pivotal in completeness as carried out by the Son of God, through the Eternal Spirit. But now in the experience of the Church, each one who becomes a member of that Church (i.e., the mystical organism of the Body of Christ), puts in his claim to all that (i) Calvary means for him, (2) all that the Resurrection means for him, and, logically, (3) all that Pentecost means for him. Now carry the analogy further: in appropriating our part in all that ’Calvary’ means, we do not expect the external historical facts to be repeated in us. We put in our claim for all that it means to have our sins borne by Christ, and to be crucified with Christ, but we do not expect an external ’Cross’ with all the accompanying tragic events of Golgotha. Nor do we expect a visible corporeal ’resurrection’ exactly like the Lord coming out of the tombalthough we shall have a resurrection of the body by and by. Why then expect all the historical externalities of Pentecost to take place in us? Is not the present dispensation of the Spirit a spiritual one, during which God is calling out a people for His Name, and building a spiritual temple as far in advance of the visible Temple as the sun above the moon? What then is the spiritual and inside meaning of Calvary, the Resurrection and Pentecost, as they are to be known by the Church of God? If we are not to have the ’externalities’ of these wondrous events carried out in us, where shall we learn their inner application to us? First as explained by the Lord Himself before His death, and second as explained by the Lord Himself after His death, when, as the Risen and Ascended Conqueror, He chose an instrument on earth through whom He could reveal the spiritual meaning of the historical facts of His death, resurrection and ascension. It is in the epistles of Paul that we get the inside meaning of it all. For the glorified Lord chose the Apostle Paul to be the revelator to the Church, as Moses was God’s revelator to Israel. He was chosen to give out to the world Christ’s explanation of Calvary, and Christ’s explanation of the resurrection, and Christ’s explanation of Pentecost, as He foreshadowed it in germ before He died. Therefore all that Calvary is for us, all that the Resurrection means to us, and all that Pentecost means to us, is to be learnt in the Epistles of Paul, and not so much from the historical records of the Acts of the Apostles. Let me emphasize here the importance of our remembering when we read Paul’s epistles, that all his teachings were directly given hint by the Ascended Christ. Say to yourself as you read, This is not Paul’s idea of Calvary, and the Blood, but the glorified Christ in heaven explaining His own Cross, explaining His own resurrection, and what it meant to the Church, and also explaining the coming of the Holy Ghost, and His work in the believer, and in the Church. We must therefore go to the Epistles to learn the true inside meaning of the enduement of power, and as we do so remember to keep always together the triple group of the (i) Cross, the (2) Resurrection, and (3) Pentecost, for the obtaining of the full power of either. Also let us remember the sequence of God’s dealing with us is in this order. Let us pray for the deepest work of the Cross to be applied to us, the fullest power of the resurrection, and the mightiest enduement of the Holy Spirit for service, that is possible for us to know. It is because believers seek for their share of ’Pentecost’ without the deep bedrock work of the Cross, and the Resurrection, first wrought in them, that the devil as an angel of light has broken in upon believers with his counterfeits. If the Cross had been preached and known in all its aspects, the devil would not have been able to deceive, as he is doing, so many children of God. But the majority of Christians look upon the Cross only as a place for the forgiveness of sins, where they get right with God. Then they cry for a ’Pentecostal’ enduement, without first asking for a deep work of the Spirit, in the old Adam life being nailed to the Cross, and rendered inoperative . This is the only safe basic position for asking for an enduement of power. In the face of the spiritual perils of to-day through the outbreak of spiritism, it might mean disaster to many if we were given a floodtide of the Holy Ghost in Revival power, when the bedrock meaning of Calvary is so little known. This may be the reason it is withholden by our Father in heaven. Now let us look at the Lord’s explanation of Pentecost, before He died. This we find summarised in a few sentences in John 14:20- "AT THAT DAY YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM IN my FATHER, AND YE IN ME." ’That day,’ the context tells us, was the Day of Pentecost. His disciples listening to these words had walked the earth with Christ, and had seen Him and known Him as a Man; after His resurrection they would see Him again as a Man, but with a resurrection body. They were to handle Him and see for themselves that He had ’flesh and bones’ as a Man, proving a real physical resurrection. They were to see this Man ascend before their eyes into the heavens, whilst they were left on earth. But a ’Day’ would come when they would know the inside spiritual meaning of it all. At His ascension they knew that He had gone up to God. But there was more. "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me." The Holy Spirit would reveal to them that they were in God also-that the Ascended Lord had taken them with Him in spirit back to God. "Christ died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." Not only reconcile us to God, but in spirit re-unite us with God. The severance caused by the Fall is removed. Through the Cross the fallen Adam is crucified, "For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." When ’that Day’ came, by the Holy Ghost they would know their source of life to be changed. They would understand they had died with Christ, and were translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. We therefore gather from the Lord’s words, that the great inner meaning of Pentecost, is the Holy Spirit making real to you your union with the Ascended Christ. This is in harmony with the order we have already seen-Calvary, Resurrection, Pentecost. You first know your union with the crucified Christ, then your union with the Risen Christ, and then your union with the Ascended Lord in the bosom of the Father, which according to John 14:20 is ’Pentecost’. When the Holy Ghost came, the 120 knew experimentally what Calvary, Resurrection and Pentecost meant. They knew they had died with their Lord, they knew they were joined to Him, and taken with Him unto God. Their entire outlook was changed in the upper room. From the moment the Holy Ghost came they looked out at the world from the Throne of God. They understood the Lord’s words, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you" (John 2:1-25). They had been taken ’back to God’, and were now ’sent’ from God to proclaim His message to the world. This is practically the ’enduement of power’ as foreshadowed by the Lord. It really means that by the influx of the Holy Spirit into your spirit, it has found its centre. You are no longer ’self-centred’, but God-centred. It is when we are thus taken back, in union with the Ascended Lord, to God the Father, that the Spirit of God is able to work out through us all that He wants to do. It is then that it may be said of you, as of Gideon, "The Spirit of the Lord clothed Himself with Gideon, and Gideon blew a trumpet!" It means not only the Holy Spirit in the believer, but the believer IN GOD, and therefore covered or clothed by Him. This is what is promised in Luke 24:49. The disciples were told to wait until the Holy Spirit had come, when they would be ’clothed’ with power from on high-power which would make them know they were with Christ in God. Again the Lord said, "and I in you". The last is the result of the first condition. (I) ’I am in My Father,’ (2) ’ye are in Me’, and (3) ’1 in you’. This means dynamic power. What use to talk of having received a ’power’ that accomplishes nothing? ’Power’-real power-is known by its effects and not by its noise! When the believer is deeply anchored in his divine centre, ’with Christ in God’ he moves in an orbit of His will all the day long, as the planets move in their orbit in the heavens. Nothing is lost, or ineffective, when God is the moving force of your life, as you abide in Him. Centred in God the believer does not have to strain or struggle, but abiding in God he simply moves on with Him, accomplishing hour by hour, and day by day, the carrying out of God’s plan for his life. When he is bidden to do ’big things’, he is not conscious that it is he who does them. There is no sense of ’burden’ under the heaviest burdens. He moves with God, and when he is bidden to act, he acts also with God, for God moves in and with him, therefore God is responsible, for He carries the burden, as the believer carries out His will. ’I IN YOU’ is the outcome of thus being centred with Christ in God. When this is realized, there is relief from self-consciousness. The Holy Spirit clothing the believer makes the indwelling of Christ so real that he forgets himself, and how he acts. He is moving in an eternal element, not only within but around him, which makes him ’at home’ everywhere. Thus he, so to speak, carries his own atmosphere with him. This is what David realized when he said, "If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there!" Even in the midst of those opposed to Christ, we carry our own atmosphere with us. What a contrast this life in God, with its ease and ’naturalness’, and the ’mechanical’, kind of life many Christians are trying to live. They have such a ’process’ for keeping it up, and maintaining ’communion’ and spirituality, that they have no time to think about saving the world! But God would get the whole use of you, and every minute of your time, if you knew the blessed life of being joined to the Living Lord, and hidden with Him in God, so that, centred in God, He holds you, and in Him you live and move and have your being. Now for a moment pass on to Acts 2:1-47 and read it in the light of John 14:20, for, as we have seen, it is the Lord’s foreshadowing of what would occur to the disciples inwardly, when the Holy Ghost came down, and filled the house where they were sitting. God’s children have been so occupied with the externalities of Pentecost in the tongues of fire and the power of utterance, that they have not sufficiently searched for light from other parts of Scripture upon the inward working of God on ’that Day’. The disastrous consequence of this is, that many have sought for the external manifestations which took place at Pentecost, with no knowledge of the deep inner life of union foreshadowed as the inward result of the coming of the Holy Spirit ’at that day’. The disciples knew, as the Spirit of God came, that Christ was GOD in very truth, that the Man they had seen go up into heaven had reached the unseen Father, and was, as He had said, ’in the Father’One with Him. VERY GOD OF VERY GOD. And they knew, as only those taught of the Holy Ghost know, that they were joined to the Ascended Lord, in the union of essence which is only possible to spirit, and they were one with Him in God. ’One in us’ (John 17:21) said the Lord. And they knew, too, that the Risen Christ, mystically, was also in them. To perceive and experience this suddenly, as it is possible so to do, they must have also seen clearly the effect of the Cross as the cause of this. The ’Baptism’ they suddenly received, was a baptism into the death of Christ, for their spirits to be released for (I) the joining with Him in His ascension life in God, and the release of their spirit to be (2) the channel of the outflow of the Holy Ghost. Now let us pass on to the epistles, and see whether they confirm and throw further light upon the meaning of Pentecost, and whether the Ascended Lord through His revelator -Paul-re-affirms, and enlarges upon, His foreshadowing of Pentecost on the eve of His death. We have not time to trace this all out in the Epistles. We can only turn to 1 Corinthians 12:13, where we have, in one verse again, the Risen Lord’s description through Paul, of what took place at Pentecost. With this difference, that in John 14:20, He (I) foreshadows the God-ward side, and in 1 Corinthians 12:13 (2) the outworking of the Spirit, in and through the Church-the mystical Body of Christ-communicating the life and Spirit of its Head. Let us read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 - "As the [natural] body is one ... and as all the members ... are one body, so also is Christ [the mystical Christ made up of Head and members]. For in the communion of one Spirit we were all baptized [Greek, immersed] into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free men, and were all made to drink of the same Spirit." The Speaker’s Commentary says, ’drenched with one Spirit’. The enduement of power at Pentecost is manifestly to be seen here. The context explains the way the Triune God (1 Corinthians 12:4-6), works out through the members of the Body. John 14:20 shows the believers at Pentecost in their union with the Lord taken into God, now we see the work of the Holy Spirit forming all thus united to Christ, into the spiritual organism of the Church. They were ’immersed in spirit’ according to the analogy of John the Baptist baptizing men into the water as the element. (See the promise of Acts 1:5) Immersed in Spirit, all in the upper room drank of the same Spirit, Who thus produced the union foreshadowed in John 14:20. The principal word to emphasize in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is the word ’into’. In John 14:20 Christ said ’Ye in Me’, and in 1 Corinthians 12:13 we find the Holy Ghost doing this work of placing believers into Christ, in essential union, as members of His Body. The emphasis at Pentecost should therefore be, not on the external and incidental manifestations, but on the internal and spiritual meaning of the Coming of the Holy Ghost, leaving to Him the external outworking ’according to His will’ (see 1 Corinthians 12:18). Now let us go back to the Acts of the Apostles to see the results of the Pentecostal enduement, in some special characteristics of their service. Consider first the word ’power’, of Acts 1:5 (and Luke 24:49)- It is in Greek ’dunamis’-the word from which we get our English word ’dynamite’. This Greek word, points out a skilled Greek scholar, means ’inherent power’-not so much power put forth, as power possessed. It means, among other things, ’ability’ and ’capability’. just as if the Lord said to His disciples, "You are now quite incapable, but when the Holy Ghost is come, you shall be made capable of doing what I want you to do". But the idea of the power of Pentecost is quite different to this. It is thought about as something miraculous, accomplishing spectacular miracles through the one who obtains it! And yet it is not so. How ’incapable’ many are, who even testify to a ’baptism of power’. And how ’incapable’ the majority of Christians are in the smallest service for God. Incapable Sunday school teachers. Incapable Bible Class leaders. Incapable workers, or no workers at all. And often it is because these ’incapable’ souls think that a ’Baptism of power’ means miraculous gifts, and not God just making them ’capable’ in the work for Him that lies close to their hand. The ’miraculous gifts’ may be given, but only so far as needed for increased ’capability’. Now using the word ’power’ as being made ’capable’ or ,effective’, for doing the will of God in any aspect of life or service, let us think (i) of the power of effective utterance. Peter was given this so that there were three thousand souls pricked to the heart through his first sermon. What an amount of teaching and preaching exists, even of Gospel truth, that is ineffective and carries no weight! It has, as one has said, no ,carrying power’. It does not go any further than those who hear it. Then see how dependent many preachers and teachers are on their ’Notes’, but look at Peter, and observe how he was made ’capable’ of wielding the Word of God. See how the texts of the Old Testament came to him, and how he ’combined’ spiritual things with spiritual. He could not have I thought out’ of his own mind such a comprehensive panoramic survey of the Scriptures concerning Christ, and put them into such a condensed form. He was given by his immersion in the Spirit, a clarified mind, a quickened memory, and ’made capable’ of being God’s messenger on that wonderful day, i.e., he was not merely a ’mouthpiece’ but an intelligent co-worker with God. Then notice (2) the characteristic of the enduement of power in boldness of testimony. You may have a message of vital truth, but if you are ’timid’ and self-conscious in giving it out, it is not effective. There must be, in giving God’s message, an accent of bold certainty. We are not to be positive over any ’view’ of truth, but about what God says. Our business is to declare the Word of God, not ’views’ of it. You can be ’bold’ over this, for the Holy Spirit will co-witness with your declaration of ’Thus saith the Lord’. And (3) the enduement of power is needed for business. See Acts 6:3. "Look ye out seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, that we may appoint over this business". This can be your own ’business’, as well as the ’business’ of the Church, if your ’business’ is in the will of God for you. We read that David became ’skilful in business’ after he had received the anointing. A business man in London said to me once, "You do not know very much about business, but you do the very things unconsciously that would be accounted the highest wisdom in business"! Yes, the Holy Spirit knows ’business’, and can guide you so that you have no muddle in your business affairs. I was once speaking with a man of business about the opportunities he had in his particular business to do great things for the kingdom of God, but he replied, "That is all right, but I have to get my bread and-butter"! But the Lord will see that you get the ’bread and-butter’, if you seek first the kingdom of God in your earthly affairs. Alas, alas, how the devil is entangling Christian business men today, so as to paralyse them in the work of God, and destroy their influence. Why should we call ’preaching’ a greater thing than ’business’? Does it not depend upon what is the plan of God for you? Then there is (4) the enduement of power as manifested in the ordinary life. "Be filled with the indwelling of the Spirit when you speak to one another . . ." (Ephesians 5:18-19). Here we have effective conversation, so that God uses you in all your daily contact with others. Then we find power given for ’contending for the faith’. Paul increased in strength for ’confounding the Jews’ as he sought to prove to them that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 9:22. See also Acts 7:1-60). Controversy must not be shirked when it is necessary for the maintenance of truth. Truth must never be sacrificed for peace. Stephen and Paul were both endued with power for this work. Then (5) there is the being made capable to meet Satanic powers. This we see in the story of Paul and the sorcerer. When he met this man, and Satan withstood him, Paul steadily resisted him, and rebuked the demon in him, just as he did the girl with the spirit of divination. The Apostle in the latter case did not speak in a moment. He bore with the poor deceived soul, until the influx of the Spirit of God arose in his spirit. If you are centred in God, and walking with Him, you will find, too, that as you come against the power of darkness in some specific way, the Spirit of God will at the right moment rise in you in divine strength to deal with it. Paul knew the moment to turn round upon the demon and say, "I command thee in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her". Notice (6) the ’discernment of spirits’ which Paul had. He discerned the evil spirit in the girl, and in the sorcerer. This is not the ’gift’ of perception, or discernment, but power to tell the difference between ’spirits’. Our time will not allow more, but you can see in 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 the working of the Holy Ghost in the members of the Body of Christ, making one and the other ’capable’ for the carrying out of the will of God. In conclusion, let us go back to the Cross as the basis of all that we have spoken of. Let us turn from the union with Christ in His life, and the enduement of power by immersion in the Holy Spirit, to see once more the place of the Cross in the work of the Spirit, in carrying out all those purposes of God. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we read, "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles. . . . " Jews and Gentiles we read in Ephesians 2:14, had a ’wall of partition’ between them. How could they both become members of Christ’s Mystical Body, and be made to ’drink of one Spirit’? Only through the Cross. Therefore the Cross stands as the basis of John 14:20 and Acts 2:1-47. The Cross lies at the base of the UNITY OF THE BODY, and only so far as the deep work of the Cross is known can the members of the Body be welded together in the drinking of one Spirit. Let us read Ephesians 2:13-17. "Now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who were once far off, have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the wall which parted us; for, in His flesh, He destroyed the ground of our enmity ... that He might create in Himself one new man; and that, By His Cross He might reconcile both, in one body, unto God, having slain their enmity thereby." The place of unity between Christians to-day is clearly the Cross. And this by its destroying all ground of enmity between those for whom Christ died. Between Jew and Gentile the barrier was that of ’ordinances’. But crucified with Christ, the ’Jew’ ceases to be a Jew, the Gentile ceases to be a Gentile. And, shall we say, the ’Baptist’ ceases to be a Baptist, the Wesleyan a Wesleyan, and so on. All these externalities may exist, and be conformed to, but they belong to the external life only, because each regenerate believer is inwardly a member of the Body of Christ, part of a New Creation, which is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, but a ’New Man’ consisting of Christ the Head of His members. It is very important that in practice the children of God understand the two positions: externally the earthly position, with earthly relationships, and inwardly the heavenly position in Christ. Here in this Conference, we are neither Wesleyans nor Baptists nor Church of England, nor Jews, nor Gentiles. We are all one in Christ Jesus. But when, for example, one goes back to his own sphere, he is a Baptist Minister, loyal and faithful to his section of the church. We need to remember the heavenly position, and when to act according to it; and the home or business position, and when to act in harmony with it. e.g., In your heavenly position you may be a leader, in your ’home’ position you may be a ’subordinate’. To-day the Church of God needs to set an example of law-abiding faithfulness. ’Lawlessness’ is abroad. Servants unfit to lead are seeking to be ’masters’, and ’masters’ are failing in leadership also, showing themselves unworthy of the name. The word ’servant’ is being cast aside as something derogatory. It is for the Church to lift it again to its place of dignity. We should be ’kings’ in our heavenly position, and on earth the servants of all. We have not got ideal churches to-day, and so the path is difficult, but let us remember that God is a God of order, and His children must not become a perpetual cause of disturbance in their homes, or their churches. THE CROSS IS THE PLACE OF UNITY, because there the old Adam life in the Jew and the Gentile is crucified, and God created a ’new man’ in Christ Jesus. How the Cross breaks down the old Adam life in its ’wall of partition’, dividing Christian from Christian I once saw in a Conference near Berlin (Germany). Leading Christian workers had gathered from every part of Germany for a three-days Conference. At the first meeting I gave a message, by translation, on the subject of the Cross as set forth in Ephesians 2:1-22. On this occasion I spoke a Sentence,. then quietly waited, and listened whilst the German was given , the pauses rendering the message more effective-until suddenly a sister arose from the audience, and said something in German. I waited. Then she turned, and directed her words to someone at the back, and this person arose and began to shake hands with another person. Then I saw that God was working and taking hold of the meeting. So I sat and watched, and had no further opportunity to speak. The whole of the Conference proceeded to settle up affairs with one another. The weeping and the ’reconciliations’ were most touching. The result was that after an hour or so Of this blessed evidence of the power of the Cross to ’slay’ the ’enmity’ between children of God, the Conference broke up, and away went the workers in the woods around, some of them arm in arm with those they had not spoken to for years. After this we truly had a flood-tide of blessing. The ’fire of the Lord’ fell. We continued on the theme of the Cross from one aspect, and another, until we reached the point where we might safely seek the enduement for service. More than half of those present came forward, and flung themselves down by the platform, asking God that there and then there should come into their spirits the true influx of the Holy Ghost. And He came. In every place that some of these workers went to from that Conference, they had Revival. In village after village, and even in deaconess houses they stayed in for the night, it broke out. God had really come down! This proves that the Holy Ghost needs unity between believers ere He can work, and that this real unity comes through the Cross. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 03.08. THE CROSS AND THE TONGUE ======================================================================== THE CROSS AND THE TONGUE CHAPTER 8 "I tell you even weeping ... (of) enemies of the Cross" Php 3:1-18 THE degree of our real identification with Christ in His death, and the criterion of the stage of our growth into the maturity of the life of the new creation, is in no respect more marked than in relation to the ’sins of the tongue’, especially in regard to those we see to be ’enemies of the Cross’, ignorantly or wilfully. For in no manifestation of the ’flesh’ is its activity more painful and disastrous, than in the language used by even true servants of God concerning those who are either caught in the apostasy of to-day, "denying the Lord that bought them " (2 Peter 2:1), or ensnared in the wiles of Satan in any form. "If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also" (James 3:2, R.V.), writes the Apostle James. The word ’perfect’ in this passage, according to Young’s Analytical Concordance, means ’complete’ a complete man. The same word is used in Ephesians 4:13, and is rendered in the R.V. text, a ’full-grown man’; and again in Colossians 1:28, where it is rendered by Conybeare, ’full-grown in Christ’the word denoting ’grown to the ripeness of maturity’. Again, we find the word in Colossians 4:12, and here it is rendered by Conybeare as meaning "ripeness of understanding, and full assurance of belief". And, lastly, the words occur in Php 3:15, where the Apostle writes: "Let us all, then, who are ’ripe in understanding’, be thus minded . . ." the word ’perfect’ being the antithesis of ’babe’ (Conybeare’s note). According to the Apostle James, then, stumbling not in word is the supreme mark of a ’complete’ spiritual man, completely ’full-grown in Christ’, having come to the ripeness of maturity as a new creature in Christ Jesus, thus having "ripeness of understanding and full assurance of belief"being no longer a child "tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men ... after the wiles of error" (Ephesians 4:14, R.V.), but able to speak the truth in love, in the full assurance of faith, and calm, ripe knowledge of maturity in Christ. The present is a sifting time for all the children of God in every degree in the spiritual life. ’Spiritual’ men now will prove their ’ripeness of maturity’ by their ’stumbling not in word’ during the present distress. Panic and hasty, unloving words cannot be co-existent with the ’full assurance of faith’ and the deep knowledge of God of the truly ’spiritual’ man. The spirit of the man who is ’ripe in understanding’ is shown in the words of Paul immediately following his utterance, "Let us who are ’perfect’ be thus minded". "Many walk," he says, "of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ . . ." (Php 3:18). "Even weeping!" Ah! this is the spirit of the spiritual man! No man who weeps in speaking of the enemies of the Cross will ’stumble in word’, and grieve the Holy Spirit of God by the fruit of his lips. The truth must be spoken-but in love, and with "anguish of heart and many tears" (2 Corinthians 2:4), for those who have gone astray. And let us not forget that the ’truth’ means not what we consider ’truth’ about another, but bearing_ witness to the truth of God, as ,it is written’, and we have proved and known it in our lives. And to ’stumble not in word’ has much to do with our power in prayer, and our abiding in the place where we can have power with God, and prevail with men. If the adversary can draw us out of the hidden place ’with Christ in God’ into the strife of tongues, he will do it. Prayer warriors, let us take heed that we abide in the place where we can ’lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting". We must ’stumble not in word’ if we are to be truly abiding within the veil. And why? The Apostle James shows clearly the reason: "Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?" (James 3:11 ). Can we speak wordsbitter words-one moment, and be a channel for the sweet, pure stream of the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and the Lamb" the next? Let us listen again to James, and hear him tell the reason why the mark of a man truly ’sanctified’ in spirit, soul and body is the ’stumbling not in word’. The "tongue", says the Apostle, "setteth on fire the wheel of nature (or birth, R.V.m.), and is set on fire by hell". The ’wheel of nature’, or life, which came to us from the first Adam in our birth into this world, is always roused or ’fired’ by hell-by the serpent which poisoned the stream of the earth-born life in Eden. And the serpent’s most effectual weapon is the tongue, for ’firing’ the ’wheel of nature’ in ourselves, or others. Hence the wondrous silence manifested by Christ-the Last Adam, as the pattern of the Christ-life for His redeemed, when He was accused by the chief priests and elders. He answered nothing. "Then saith Pilate unto Him, Hearest Thou not how many things they witness against Thee? And He gave him no answer, not even to one word: insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly." Only when appealed to for truth did the Lord Christ speak, and bear witness to the truth (see John 18:37). "Art Thou a King, then?" said Pilate. "Thou sayest it because I am a King" (R.V.m.), replied the Kingly Prisoner. Even so must it be to-day. Silence from witness-bearing is criminal. The trumpet-voices of the leaders of God’s spiritual Israel must give no uncertain sound in the day of battle, but in all ranks of the army of the Lord ’the wheel of nature’ must not be fired by hell, or it will be disaster indeed. The wheel-or movement-of the life of nature which came to us at birth must be kept continually under the power of the Cross of Christ so that the life of the Last Adam may grow in us into ripeness of maturity. The soul who has thus been united to Christ in death knows how to ’always’ bear about the dying of Jesus, and to hide in the Cleft of the Rock away from the strife of tongues, which ’hell’ would use to ’fire’ the old life, were it not kept crucified with Christ. The mark, therefore, of a full-grown spiritual man as ’stumbling not in word’ is now easy to be understood. He has become ’full-grown’ with his body under the complete mastery of the Spirit. The ’deadly poison’ of the serpent transmitted by the tongue to rouse ’the wheel of nature’ must find the believer hidden deep in the death of the Cross, so that he becomes a channel for God to speak through him healing, blessing, life-giving words of love. Let us therefore take heed at this time, and ask for the light of God upon the words of our mouth, lest we lose unwittingly our power within the veil. Let us "take forth the precious from the vile"i.e., distinguish in the light of God what words are from Him, or are of our own mind, so that we may be as His mouth (Jeremiah 15:19) in this day of crisis. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 03.09. THE CROSS AND REVIVAL ======================================================================== THE CROSS AND REVIVAL CHAPTER 9 If we look back at the messages of the preceding meetings we can see why Revival comes into view at this juncture. In the Revival in Wales the outstanding theme was the message of Calvary. It is only when we see the Cross as the centre, and the basis of all the working of the Holy Spirit that Revival becomes possible. Let us now seek to understand some of the laws and perils of Revival even when we know something of the various aspects of the Cross. In dealing with this subject I will embody matter from a manuscript which was intended to form part of the last chapter of ’War on the Saints’, and for some cause it was omitted. It has its origin in lessons learned in the Revival in Wales. First let us define briefly that Revival, in its essence, is the outflow of the Spirit of God through the human spirit. This is in harmony with what Fausset, the well-known evangelical commentator, says about the human spirit. He writes, "The spirit of man is the receptacle of the Holy Spirit, and is the organ in which He dwells, and through which He works". You will see, by this simple definition, how vitally all the truths of the Cross, and the laws of the spiritual life, which we have been considering, affect the question of ’Revival’. Now let us ask, What are the primary conditions for Revival, apart from prayer? First, the negative: the removal of all obstacles to the outflow of the Spirit. This brings in the work of the Cross applied by the Spirit of God. Second, the positive: understanding how to co-operate with the Holy Spirit of God. This brings in the life-side of the Cross, the inflow of the Holy Spirit and the believer learning experimentally how to walk in the spirit. Now as to some of the main ’obstacles’. (i) In the spirit an unbending, unforgiving, grasping spirit. (2) In the life ignorance of what is right and what is wrong, so that things which hinder the Holy Spirit are tolerated. (3) In the service of God-unwillingness to speak of the things of God, and to testify. For dealing with the obstacles is needed- (i) The cleansing of the spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1), by the putting away of unyieldedness; the forgiving of those who have trespassed against us, the surrender of a ’grasping’ spirit by giving up all to God. (2) The seeking of light from God upon ’right’ and ’wrong’ in the life, and the putting things right as the light is given. (3) The surrender to God for obedience to the monitions of the Holy Spirit in the way of speech and testimony. Here comes in the Blood to cleanse all that the light reveals, and the Cross in its delivering power, setting free the believer by his identification with Christ in His death, applied by the Holy Spirit. Now as to the perils of Revival: These again primarily may be briefly defined as, (i) the danger of acting or living by ’feeling’, or the sensuous life, instead of the spirit-life; and (2) the peril arising from the spirits of evil counterfeiting the workings of the Holy Spirit. Alongside of the danger of becoming dominated by ’feelings’ and emotions, the perils of Revival come mainly from the invisible world of spirits. The Counterfeiter is watching to counterfeit, and to insert his workings in the place of God’s workings. The fact became clear again and again in Wales, during the height of the 1905 Revival, that it was possible for God to begin with a pure work of the Holy Spirit, and for the counterfeiting spirits to insert a ’counterfeit’ which the soul ignorantly accepted. In this way the same manifestations appeared, but the source was changed without it being detected. The changing of the source of the supernatural manifestations without the believer’s cognizance is therefore the main peril. A very small inserted ’stream’, or ’tincture’ from the enemy, causes mixture which may not be discerned at first, but which sooner or later produces fruit in confusion and trouble. In view of this danger-the principle danger-if we pray for Revival, we should pray God to prepare intelligent and spiritually equipped children of God to guide and help His people. Believers who know the ways of God, and who know the ways of the enemy, and are really endued by God with the power of discerning spirits, able to tell at once when the source of spiritual phenomena is changed. Such souls can discern when the spirit working in a meeting is changed from pure to counterfeit, and know how to deal with the spurious spirit, and how to bring the gathering back into the pure stream of God again. This occurred in the Revival in Wales many times, and those who watched the leadership of the one who was thus ’discerning’ the spirits at work, marvelled. I recollect once being in a meeting in England where the atmosphere was as pure as crystal. The spirit sense, when it knows God, can sense atmosphere, and where God is in great power there is a sense of the ’terrible crystal’ Ezekiel spoke about. It then seems as if the atmosphere is so transparent that everything in it out of harmony with God seems repulsive and painful. The atmosphere of the meeting referred to was like this, when one who was present rose to pray, and immediately it seemed as if a muddy stream was poured into the meeting, filling the atmosphere with a sense of ’thickness’, and the pure and beautiful clearly crystal sense of the Holy Presence of God was gone. That soul had prayed from the sensuous soulish life, and not from the spirit. Those who have this acute and sensitive consciousness of what is ’spirit’ and what is ’soul’-or sensuous-can detect it in themselves by the sound of the voice, which becomes ’metallic’ or harsh, when the believer draws upon his ’natural’ resources, but when he speaks from the spirit there is an exquisite softness, and purity in the voice, which makes the tone beautiful. Ah yes, everything that comes from the Spirit of God is beautiful. There is nothing repulsive-nothing that you would shrink away from-so beware of forcing yourself to accept, as of God, what your spirit shrinks from as repulsive. So many to-day are being drawn into counterfeits because they do not remember this. Let us have a right conception of God’s presence. Where He is in power you get a foretaste of heaven, and this heavenly presence is felt by your spirit, not your soul, i.e., your physical consciousness. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Alas! that so many to-day should be deceived as to their true spiritual state, by the effort made in many churches to appeal to the sensuous, and the natural love of the beautiful, through beautiful music, and attractive singing, which will count for nothing in eternity. If it is true that "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit", of what avail is all the sensuous worship caused through the soothing, or satiating of soul-desires, with no real knowledge of God or His gospel. Let us see to it ourselves that our worship of God is in spirit, and in truth. As we have seen, the chief peril of Revival is, that when God begins to work in abnormal power, the counterfeiter has his opportunity. It is then that, what a writer in America calls ’the high order spirits’, the religious spirits, that ’hover upon the Alps of the spiritual life’, hover about those who are entering realms of the spirit they have never known before. Not the gross and repulsive spirits, but refined and beautiful spirits, are the ones most to be feared. When Paul said that Satan had transformed himself into an ’angel of light’, he plainly meant that Satan can appear to be light when he himself is all darkness. He can give ’flashes of light’ and ’floods of light’, and fill a room with light. Can you tell when they are from the enemy? All that we have been learning about the Cross will equip us to meet these ’perils’. Therefore if we pray for and desire Revival, we must ask God to enable us to apprehend the truths that will fit us to be of use to Him when it comes. Now lastly, let us summarize some hints on how to conduct meetings to bring about Revival, or during a time of Revival -which means during a time when the Spirit of God is working in great power-for these ’hints’ are adaptable and ’Revival’-true Revivalcannot be worked up by methods. These hints are only to show how to co-work with the Holy Spirit on the right occasion, so as to give Him full liberty to work. We have seen that ’Revival’ is the result of an influx into and an outflow from the human regenerated spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, or the enduement of power, therefore brings into acute consciousness the spirit sense, which, if .we learn to read it correctly, will teach us how to co-work with the Holy Spirit in the conducting of a meeting, not only as He moves through our own spirit, but as He moves in the spirit of others. 1. First as to the leader of the meeting: The leader should be one chosen of God, and equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit. He must therefore be: (i) Baptized with the Spirit, so that he is conscious of the spirit sense referred to, whereby he knows the mind of the Spirit in himself, and is able to discern it in others. (2) The leader, thus open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, should be able to speak at any moment as the need arises free from dependence on notes, or aids to memory. To guide the meeting under the guidance of the Spirit, he needs to be able to speak ’as the Spirit gives utterance, and to know the right moment and the right message. (3) The leader must never let go the reins of the meeting, leading throughout, although he may outwardly appear to be taking no part at all. I may illustrate the importance of this by a concrete example. I was once watching a huge gathering where one who had been greatly used in Revival in another land, was present, and the meeting was given over to him. He spoke just a few words, and then placing his watch upon the desk, he bowed his head in prayer, and deliberately let go the meeting as if he had nothing to do with it. It could be seen that he had taken his hands right off it. That is, he did not continue to inwardly hold it, by watching, and readiness to intervene. The result was startling. The moment he ’let go’, there was a wild outburst from a section of that meeting, which was indescribable. There was a ’hissing’ as if serpents were there, and a wailing noise like the whistling of the wind in the rigging of a ship in a storm. The leader did not attempt to deal with this, and there was no regaining of the control of that gathering-it was practically wrecked. No work of God could be done in that atmosphere. This shows that when God gives charge of a meeting to any one, he is responsible to hold it for God, and to rely upon the Holy Spirit in directly quenching any inroads of the spirits Of Satan. No one could pretend that the outburst I have described was of God. (4) The leader must keenly watch the meeting, seeking, in reliance upon God, discernment when to touch it (outwardly), and when to leave it alone; and when to move with God in song, or prayer, or message. 2. Second, AS TO THE MEETING: a programme of prearranged plan is no hindrance, for it can be used if there is no discernable movement of the Holy Spirit among the people. But the leader must be ready to drop the ’programme’ when the Spirit of God shows him to do so. But the meeting should not be allowed to ’take its own course’ until the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly at work among the people. We saw this to-day in the Prayer Conference. There was a blessed working of the Holy Spirit, and He was in control. The last quarter of an hour, all who prayed, prayed in the spirit. It is a great sign that the Holy Ghost is in control when people are ’condensed’ and to the point, with no garrulousness of the ’flesh’- It is the atmosphere that is the great thing. When God is fully in control you will find that the meeting will need very little guiding by the leader. The intrusion of fleshly activity at any point should at once be dealt with. This can be done by taking the meeting to prayer, or by the leader speaking. The ’flesh’ must never be allowed to take control of a rneeting, even though it may break in for a brief period. The leader should watch how to check it, and eliminate its effects by some Spirit-guided course of action. The leader should also be on guard and keenly ready to discern any breaking out of evil spirits, who are always watching to insert their own stream when there is any movement by God. By the discerning of spirits, which is given with the enduement of power, a leader who knows the life after the Spirit, can detect the first trace of the working of the enemy. He need not tell the people of this, but by prayer, or a message of truth, or silent resistance (in spirit) he can quickly extinguish their workings. 3.. Third, how to get a ’heavy’ meeting into liberty. (i) The ’burdens’ on all present may first be removed by asking for audible prayer, or expression of need. People go to a meeting burdened with their own troubles, and with their spirits crushed or weighted. Burdened in spirit, they are not open to God because they are burdened. The leader begins to speak to them, and think them ’so hard’. But they are not ’hard’-they are burdened. It would probably ’liberate’ the meeting if at first all could be free to express their burdens, either in prayer or by asking for prayer of others. (2) The leader should take time to get the meeting free. When it is free from weight, pressure, heaviness, he will find it easy to give the message. (3) The leader should be in victory himself, so that he is able to lift the meeting, and not be dependent upon the people for his own liberation. Sometimes the speaker himself goes to a meeting burdened, and trusting for inspiration to come to him from the meeting. But that is not God’s way. The speaker should not be dependent upon the response of the people, but be able to change the atmosphere and bring the gathering into liberty, i.e., the meeting should not be used as a ’crutch’ to make up for lack of prayer and preparation, or to liberate the speaker from his own burden. (4) The speaker should give his message even if he is conscious of opposition to the truth he is giving, either in the atmosphere from the powers of darkness, or by the people, and as he does so the Holy Spirit will work, and the meeting will be mastered by the truth, thus forestalling the devil, who will otherwise get a hold upon it. We have been talking about an enduement of power that is effective, and there is a degree of the power of God working through us which would conquer any meeting. The secret of it lies in the ’grain of wheat’ life, for when the believer is deeply immersed in the death of Christ, there is an outflow of the Holy Spirit which, as it were, soaks the meeting, as if it were soaked in an overflow of the river of life flowing from the Throne of God. Something more than the individual getting of blessing. However much we may know of God’s working through us already, there must be possible a stronger, purer force of the divine Spirit in our spirits, if we learn more deeply the conditions of the working of His power. In any case it would always be best for the speaker not to put down .’hard’ meetings to the state of the people, but to look upon such ’hardness’ as a deeper call to the Cross for himself, and to the ’grain of wheat’ experience of fellowship with Christ. (5) All in the meeting should understand they are free to take part, and there should be no tie to time. The meeting should be free to go on until it is evident that the Spirit of God would have its conclusion. This is one of the greatest needs in ’Revival’, but very difficult circumstantially to obtain. Yet so often when the Spirit of God has been at the highest point of working, it has been necessary to close the meeting. Only God can show His servants how this point can be met. May He teach us how to work with Him in Revival power. Note.-The question may be asked whether, in view of the Lord’s Return, we are to pray for, or expect, Revival. There is, undoubtedly, at the present time an awakening of prayer for ’Revival’, for the conviction is growing that the only alternative to ’Revolution’ is ’Revival’or the Lord’s Coming. The history of the French Revolution, and how England was saved from a similar upheaval by the Revival through Wesley, is referred to by many, and it is historically true that again and again when England seemed as much in the dark as Darkest Africa, God intervened in answer to the cry of His people. But "THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH " Whether ’Revival’ will precede that glorious event or follow it, we do not know. The Apostle Peter’s word at Pentecost, that the outpouring then given was only an earnest of the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy for the latter days, is sufficient to show that ’Revival’ is now due, whether it comes before, or as a result of the Lord’s Coming. In either case we can pray for it, and prepare the way for it, whether we shall be in it, or out of it, by being "absent from the body, and present with the Lord". ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 03.10. THE CROSS AS A PROCLAMATION ======================================================================== THE CROSS AS A PROCLAMATION CHAPTER 10 "The word of the Cross is the dunamis of God," said the Apostle Paul. Dr. Mabie points out that the Greek word here is Logos, or Word-not preaching, as in the A.V. It is the same used of Christ Himself in John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God." The Greek Lexicon gives the meaning of Logos as (I) The Word by which the inward thought is expressed, and (2) the inward thought itself. Christ the Son of God in Himself is God’s ’Word’ to the world-His ’Inward thought’ expressed (Hebrews 1:3); and He is God’s inward thought itself clothed in terms of humanity. The ’Logos’ of the Cross is also God’s ’inward thought expressed’ of the only way in which He could save fallen man, and re-create him in the image of Christ. The Logos of the Cross therefore contains in itself the power of God. It is dynamic-and through it the Holy Spirit manifests the energizing ability of God to save. It is not the ’preaching’ of the Cross which is the power, but the Word of the Cross, and it is this ’Word of the Cross’ which is to be proclaimed to a fallen and lost world, as a message from God, announced as a herald ANNOUNCES A PROCLAMATION by an earthly king. This can be traced out in the epistles of Paul. "I proclaimed to you" (1 Thessalonians 2:9) he said, "the message which I bore". Conybeare’s footnote says, "The original word involves the idea of a herald proclaiming a message". Again in Titus 1:3, "He made known His word in due season, in the message (lit. proclamation) committed to my trust by the command of God our Saviour". And Galatians 1:16: "When it pleased Him ... to reveal His Son in me, that I might proclaim His Glad Tidings". A ’proclamation’ requires a ’herald’, so the Apostle writes to Timothy, "The glad tidings, whereunto I was appointed herald" (2 Timothy 1:11). "Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all men, to be testified to in due time. And of this testimony I was appointed herald" (1 Timothy 2:6-7). All these passages show the ’herald’ nature of Paul’s preaching of the Cross. Now as to the terms of the proclamation. It is (I) the ’Word’ Of THE CROSS. "The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks demand philosophy; but we proclaim a Messiah crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks a folly . . ." (1 Corinthians 1:22-23); and (2) the Word of the Cross, with its twin-part of the resurrection. "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, is raised from the dead, according to the Glad Tidings which I proclaim" (2 Timothy 2:8). Here we have the two-fold message of the Cross stated as the terms of the proclamation. (I) A Messiah crucified, and (2) a Messiah raised from the dead. Calvary and the Resurrection. Not one without the other. A real physical death and a real physical resurrection. Then (3) as to the responsibiliy of the ’Herald’ to ’proclaim’ the message. We find this in 1 Corinthians 9:15, where Paul writes about himself, "Although I proclaim the glad tidings, this gives me no ground of boasting; for I am compelled to do so by order of my Master. Yes, woe is me if I proclaim it not. For were my service of my own free choice, I might claim wages to reward my labour; but since I serve by compulsion, I am a slave, entrusted with a stewardship". This is strong language, but Paul uses it to show the Corinthians the Divine compulsion upon him, and how solemn the trust committed to him. They understood in those days how absolutely a I slave’ had to obey his master. Although the Apostle served of his own free will, yet as concerned his message, the constraint upon him put him in the same place as a slave. He felt that he might not even do his work primarily for ’wages’! He had to fulfil his trust whether he had ’wages’ or not. Oh that the same sense of being constrained by God to ’herald’ His message, might take hold of each of His redeemed ones, producing that white-heat fire within, which makes them reckless about themselves, so long as they fulfil their stewardship. God will see to it that you get your ’wages’. "No man goeth a warfare at his own charges." God is a poor master, and a strange ’King’ if He sends out His heralds without being able to provide for them. But God is a King, sending out a ’proclamation’ to the world, and He sees to the supplies of those He truly sends. It often looks like madness to believe this, but the madness of really trusting God is the highest wisdom. "l proclaim" because "I am compelled" said the Apostle. Next, as to the place of the ’proclamation’ in relation to other truth. "Christ sent me forth as His Apostle, not to baptize, but to publish the gladtidings" (1 Corinthians 1:17). The external ordinances were secondary in importance to the proclamation of the Message. In the mission field, therefore, the primary work of the missionaries is not to get so many heathen ’baptized’ and entered on a church roll, but to publish the glad tidings. And as to the language and the way in which the proclamation is to be given. "Not with wisdom of word, lest thereby the Cross of Christ shall be made void." The proclamation does not need the adornment of beautiful words, and oratorical display of language. It has only to be proclaimed in its bare simplicity, for it is the ’Word’ of the Cross which is the power of God, not words about it. Here is stated also the solemn fact that the message which contains the mighty power of God, can be rendered ’void’, or powerless, by the preacher. The words which the human ’wisdom’ of the natural man thinks necessary to make the message acceptable, have actually the contrary result, in making void the power of the Cross itself. This explains why to-day there is so little result even when the Gospel is preached. So few really believe that the I Word’ itself, simply stated, has in it the ’power of God’. They are not willing to be simple transmitters of the written Word. They want to preach ’sermons’ about the Cross-rather than simply PROCLAIM it! How did Paul fulfil his commission, as a ’herald’ with a ’proclamation?’ "When I came among you, and declared to you the testimony of God, I came not with surpassing skill of speech, or wisdom. For no knowledge did I purpose to display among you, but the knowledge of Jesus Christ alone, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:4). And then he adds, "In my intercourse with you, I was filled with weakness". Oh Paul, have you not mistaken the word? Did you not mean that you were filled with power? No. "I was filled with weakness, and fear and much trembling." Conybeare’s footnote points out that this peculiarly Pauline expression means a ’trembling anxiety to perform a duty’. The ’anxious conscientiousness’ of a ’slave’. When the solemnity of the trust and the vital character of the Message of the Cross is realized by anyone, it is bound to produce that ’trembling anxiety’ lest he should fail God, or become unfitted for the Holy Ghost to use him with the message. "And when I proclaimed my message," the Apostle continues, "I did use not persuasive words of human wisdom, but shewed forth the working of God’s Spirit and power, that your faith might have its foundation not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Here it is again. Paul deliberately avoiding using ’persuasive words’. Human influence and ’persuasion’ is not needed in addition to the ’power of God’. The herald simply has to be carefully exact in transmitting the proclamation. Then the responsibility is with God, and those who hear it. Is it not strange to be using words all about the things of earth to draw men to God, instead of simply heralding forth God’s proclamation? What about the urgency of the proclamation? How Paul laboured to prepare Timothy to carry on the work when he knew that his departure was at hand. Listen to his last solemn words to him. "I adjure thee before God and Jesus Christ ... Proclaim the tidings, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort, with all forbearance and perseverance in teaching. For a time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but according to their own inclinations, they will heap up for themselves teachers upon teachers to please their itching ears. And they will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables." So the aged Paul was under no misconception as to the attitude of many to the truth of the Gospel after he had gone-especially in the latter days in which we are now living. Nevertheless, "I adjure thee ... PROCLAIM" is written to us as well as to Timothy. The passion of his message was in Paul to the very end. The one thing he cared about was his stewardship. When he looks back upon his sufferings, all is swallowed up in the fact that he had accomplished his ministry. "When I was first heard in my defence, no man stood by me, but all forsook me; (I pray that it may not be laid to their charge). Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus stood by me, and strengthened my heart, that by me the proclamation of the glad tidings might be accomplished in full measure, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth" (2 Timothy 4:16-17) he writes. Let us finally take a glimpse into the inner life of the Apostle so that the spirit of it may get into us, and urge us forward to ’proclaim’ the Word of the Cross with new perception of its urgency and its power. The Apostle’s words to the elders at Miletus show us vividly the spirit of his labours. "Brethren, ye know yourselves ... after what manner I have been with you throughout the time; serving the Lord Jesus with all lowliness of mind, and with many tears and trials which befell me through the plotting of the Jews. And how I kept back none of those things which are profitable to you.... And now, as for me, behold I go to Jerusalem, in spirit foredoomed to chains; yet I know not the things which shall befall me there, save that in every city the Holy Spirit gives the same testimony, that bonds and afflictions abide in me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify the Glad-tidings" (Acts 20:18-24) In 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, we have a glimpse into his service as a herald. "I commend myself as one who ministers to God’s service; in steadfast endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in stripes, in imprisonments ... as ever dying, yet behold I live; as chastened by suffering, yet not destroyed; as sorrowful, yet ever filled with joy; as poor, yet making many rich." Then in 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 we see how he handled the Word of God. He said, "I have renounced the secret dealings of shame, I walk not in the paths of cunning, I adulterate not the Word of God: but openly setting forth the truth, as in the sight of God, I commend myse4f to the conscience of all men". Keen as Paul was to win souls to Christ, he used no cunning schemes to reach them. Oh the dishonourable things that are done to get hold of converts, or ’members’ for a church! Many are disguised under the idea of lawful ’guile’ or ’wisdom’ for the reaching of the people. But Paul boldly depended upon an open, straightforward proclamation of the Word of the Cross, believing it to be the ’power of God’. He ’openly set forth the truth’ in such a way that the consciences of men were reached, both by the plain honest statement of his message, and the transparent clearness of his life, All that is of God can be openly proclaimed to all. There are no degrees of ’initiation’ in the Church of God. There are different stages of growth in knowledge, but no ’secret truths’ which cannot be proclaimed to the whole world. Oh for this bold, straightforward, open declaration of the Word of God, relying upon it as the power of God. May we all be saved from cunning scheming under the guise of ’making known the truth’. There should be no ’sheep-stealing’, no I proselytizing’ and no ’planning’ to get hold of this one and that one. Let us openly proclaim God’s message in the simple terms of the Scriptures, assured of the co-working of God. The apostasy of the visible church can alone be countered by the proclamation of the Word of the Cross, with the spirit of, and in the way Paul proclaimed it. Is the ’apostasy’ amongst the people in the pews, or is it in the pulpits? Will God condemn the ’sheep’ or the ’shepherds’ charged with feeding the flock? Those who have to face the people who sit under the apostasy of the pulpit, and afresh lift up the banner of the Cross, need to get a new faith and a fresh vision from God. Then consider the way in which the Gospel of the Cross should be proclaimed. Let us ask why there is so much apparent preaching of the Gospel which has so little result? Is there something wrong about the way in which it is presented? Some time ago when I was pondering over this, a leaflet came into my hands in which the writer said that the great need today was that souls should be invited to ’come to the Risen Lord’. And then I saw the weakness in this way of preaching the Gospel. Let me put it as a question to those who are preachers and teachers. Is the Gospel of the Cross to be proclaimed thus: The Lord Christ died instead of sinners on Calvary, and having completed the work of redemption, He went back to heaven, and now His messengers, on the ground of what He did at Calvary, are to call sinners to the Risen Christ? Or is it an absolute necessity that the Holy Ghost should make Christ’s death at Calvary so real to each sinner who needs salvation, that they realize first His death for them, and then come to Him as a Living Saviour? The first method practically eliminates the Cross. For thousands of people ’come to Christ’ who do not realize at all the fact of His death for them. The result is that many of these souls give little evidence of regeneration-they are not radically changed, and made new creatures in Christ. There is a subtle and strange omission of the preaching of the Cross because of this emphasis upon the Risen Lord. He is the Living Saviour, but - we do not come to Him only through His merits, and even on the ground of His work at Calvary, but that death on Calvary must be made real to us by the Holy Spirit, so that we see our part in it, and know that we are born into a new life through His death as our Substitute. Galatians 3:1 emphasizes this in a very vivid way. "Oh senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you?" writes the Apostle, "You, before whose eyes was held up the picture of Jesus Christ upon the Cross". This is the literal sense, says Conybeare, and Lightfoot uses the word ’placarded’. This was the way Paul preached. He ’proclaimed’ the ’Word of the Cross as the power of God’ and he ’placarded’ Jesus Christ upon His Cross before the Galatians, so that, as it were, they saw the crucifixion with their very eyes. This is the message to be proclaimed, just as if you went out as a herald, saying "A proclamation from heaven-He was lifted up on the Cross for you. BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD !" Then lastly, a ’herald’ does not proclaim his message in a feeble voice, or in a timid self-conscious way! Let us not fear to lift up the voice like a trumpet. The trumpet that God uses now is the voice of one who will be a herald, and messenger, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which I beareth "away the sin of the world". The Cross of Calvary Note: The following summary of texts showing the difference between the experimental application of the ’Cross’ and the ’Blood’ to the believer, is given to make clear that when the Word speaks of one it does not mean the other. 1. The Place of Sin-bearing by the Substitute. I. He "bare our sins . . . on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. . . ." (1 Peter 2:24) 2.The Place of Reconciliation "Reconciled by His death. . . ." (Romans 5:10) II. The Place of the ’sinner’ crucified. I. Our "old man crucified with Him . . . that henceforth ... not serve " sin" (Romans 6:6) 2. "I ... crucified with Christ ... not I but Christ liveth in me. . . ." (Galatians 2:2o) 3. "They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh..." (Galatians 5:24) 4. "The world ... crucified to me. . . ."(Galatians 6:14) III. The Place of Unity between believers. "Reconcile both ... by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby. . . ." (Ephesians 2:16) IV. The Place of the Overthrow of Satan. "Principalities and powers, He made a shew of... triumphing over them .[i.e., through thecross] (Colossians 2:15) (See John 12:31; John 16:11) V. The Death of the Cross applied to the believer. "We who died. . . ." (Romans 6:2, R.V.) "Discharged ... having died." (Romans 7:6, R.V.) "Ye died with Christ. (Colossians 2:2o, R.V.) "For ye died. (Colossians 3:3, R.V.m.) "For if we died with Him, we shall also live. .(2 Timothy 2:11, R.V.) VI. The death of the ’Substitute’ the death of the sinner. "One died for all, therefore all died. . . ." (2 Corinthians 5:14, R.V.) VII. The Continuity of the ’Cross’ for every believer as well as the continued application of the Blood. "Always delivered unto death ... that the life also of Jesus manifested might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but LIFE in you...." (2 Corinthians 4:10-12; 1 Peter 1:19) The Precious Blood of Christ I. The Outpoured Blood. I . As Propitiation (Romans 3:25) 2. As Redemption (1 Peter 1:19; Ephesians 1:7) 3. As a ’Purchase’ Price (Acts 20:28) 4. As the ground of peace (Colossians 1:20) 5. As the ground of Justification,’ i.e., the sinner declared guiltless (Romans 5:9) II. The Blood within the veil. I. Christ entered through the Blood (Hebrews 9:12) (See Hebrews 9:7; Hebrews 9:22) 2. Believers have access by the Blood (Hebrews 10:19) 3. Believers are "made nigh by the Blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13) III. The Blood applied to the believer. i. The type of ’sprinkling’ for remission of sin (Hebrews 9:18-23) (See also Hebrews 12:22-24) 2. The Blood to the conscience (Hebrews 9:14) (See also Hebrews 10:22) 3. The Blood ’sanctifying’ or setting apart for God (Hebrews 13:12) 4. The Blood of the covenant the ground of God’s work in the soul (Hebrews 13:20-21) 5. Loosed us from our sins in His Blood . . ." (Revelation 1:5, R.V.m.) IV. The condition for the perpetual application of the Blood "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin . . ." (1 John 1:7) V. The Blood of the Lamb applied by the Spirit of God, the weapon of victory over Satan. "They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death . . ." (Revelation 12:11) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 04.00. THE MAGNA CHARTA OF WOMAN ======================================================================== THE MAGNA CHARTA OF WOMAN by Jessie Penn-Lewis Are Women supposed to be silent in Church? Must women keep their heads covered in church? Has God decreed that men must always rule women? ===================== Some of the conclusions to which this book comes will astonish you. Some you may not agree with. Others will startle some men. But all will challenge you to be more of a woman for Christ ! ==================== Contents About the Author Introduction Chapter 1. Ye All Can Prophesy Chapter 2. Authority Over Her Head Chapter 3. Thoroughly Deceived ... but Chapter 4. Thou Art Turning ... and Chapter 5. Some Misunderstood Words Chapter 6. Some Glimpses into History Chapter 7. Conclusion ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 04.000. ABOUT THE AUTHOR ======================================================================== About the Author Born in 1861 in South Wales, this daughter of a mining engineer was nurtured in the "lap of Calvinistic Methodism," as she put it. Surrounded by love and a large library, she ventured into a life of learning and activity which always seemed far beyond the capability of her persistently frail body. Strong-willed and independent, she walked at the age of nine months, and by the age of four could read the Bible freely, without having been taught to read. She married at the age of eighteen, was converted to Christ eighteen months later, and set about to learn to follow God. At the age of thirty-one she was baptized with the Spirit, and her simple motto became, ’’Keep free to follow the will of God." God gave her remarkable insight into the Scriptures, and it became obvious that He had fashioned her to be a teacher. Her ministry took her to Sweden, Russia, Finland, India, Canada and the United States. Her life became linked to the spiritual giants of her generation- F. B. Meyer, Andrew Murray, D. L. Moody . She founded The Overcomer, a serious journal on the pursuit of the deeper Christian life. For many years she addressed great audiences at vast conventions of Christians. Finally, after one such series of talks she arrived home obviously ill. Her strength waned rapidly and she slipped into the presence of Christ in 1927 at the age of sixty-six. Few women in modern times have left so profound an impression on their generation, and few have so boldly and biblically stated the value of their gender. Jessie Penn-Lewis was the embodiment of Women’s Liberation in its best and noblest sense. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 04.0000. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== Introduction "It is incumbent upon Christian women to explain themselves,’’ writes the Editor of The Living Way, published in California. "They profess, as Christians, obedience to the Word of God. They think that St. Paul forbade women to speak in public, and that he discountenanced women teachers of the Bible. Yet they teach and pray and preach; and they do not even ’veil’ when they do these things.... With [women] rests the responsibility to explain the Apostle Paul in a convincing manner, as not in opposition to their conduct. It is not enough for a woman to say ’I must leave such matters to better scholars than I; but in the meantime I will teach or preach, because I know the Spirit prompts me to do so.’ [But] a woman who is called to ’ preach’ is likewise called to an understanding of the Word which will agree with that inward voice. It is the Word and the Spirit by which we must be led.... Perhaps in days past it was impossible for women to grasp the means of solving these problems that face the Christian women- why the Holy Spirit should seem to move in one direction, and the Bible point the other way, but that day has passed. Our colleges and universities are open to women. They can study Greek and Hebrew, with all essential help, as well as men. And now they should surmount these mental and spiritual perplexities.... They should equip themselves, as biblical scholars, to explain St. Paul as not at variance with their practice, or else they should keep silence in the churches...." The editor who writes thus exactly expresses the present situation. The hour has come when it is necessary that ’’Christian women should explain themselves," if the work of women in the service of Christ is not to lag behind the work of women in the world. The emancipation of women has burst upon the world as one of the epoch making results of the Great War. It is now impossible to stay the advancing tide. The noble work of the women of the country has, it is admitted, saved the British Empire. Many men who believed that women were "called" and "fitted" only for domestic life may be said to owe their lives to the womanhood of the nation proving the falsity of their theory. The question now is whether the Christian women, in their witness for Christ, are to share in this emancipation or are they to be kept back while their confreres in the world have every door opened to them. The question also goes much deeper than this. It touches the authority and infallibility of the Word of God and its divine fitness to meet the needs of every generation. It cannot be that the women of today are to be liberated for full share in the work of the world and at the same time have restrictions placed upon them in the work of God. For if this be so, all the emancipated women of the world must consent to retire to a narrower sphere of service when they become Christians, morally bound to conform their lives to the written Word of God. In this matter the Bible itself is challenged. Is it "out of date" for the guidance of the women of today? It has consequently become imperative that Christian women themselves should now search into this question and " explain themselves" and their true status from these Scriptures, so that it may be seen that the Bible is not an antiquated Book, out of harmony with the present times. The Church of Christ as it was originally constituted, without the addition of centuries of man-made laws, is not out of harmony with the principles of all the successive movements of God in the world itself. But where are the Christian women to obtain the knowledge necessary for thus independently searching the Scriptures, seeing that there are but few with the training necessary for such independent research? "The hour produces the man" is a saying which can be altered into "The hour produces the woman," to meet the woman’s need of knowledge on this vital subject. "We are acquainted with a woman," writes the editor of The Living Way, ’’who has taken the matter very seriously. Katherine Bushnell, M. D., feeling called to a public ministry, early resolved that her practice and teaching should correspond. She would not let her zeal outrun her reverence for St. Paul and his instructions. If the voice within could not be silenced in its demand that she preach and teach the Word of God, then that same voice could be relied upon to teach her how her call could be consistent with God’s Word. Years of prayerful meditation over the Word, patient, persistent study of the sacred languages, and a delving in all works on Bible exposition promising any help (God placing within her reach the great libraries of England 1.), have brought an abundant reward. She has recorded some of the results of these years of research in a Bible correspondence course for women so that other women can ’enter into her labours.’ and begin their studies where she has left off.’’ 1. E.g., The British Museum and the Gladstone Library at Hawarden. Dr. Bushnell was an intimate colleague of the late Mrs. Josephine Butler, who, on the eve of her death, gave her a last charge that with her knowledge of the original languages of the Bible she would devote herself to the educating of her sex in God’s teaching about women in the Scriptures. In accordance with this promise, Dr. Bushnell has for years been conducting a Bible correspondence course for women, with the lessons issued in mimeograph sheets at periodic intervals. Again and again she was urged to give forth her knowledge in print, but her reply was that the time had not yet come. But now at the psychological moment when the minds of men have been opened by the discovery of the dormant capabilities of women, she has been manifestly guided of God to issue the first series of lessons in book form, under the title of God’s Word to Women. 1. They cover the whole ground of the status of womanhood from the beginning in the book of Genesis to the teaching of Paul in the New Testament. The lessons open up the Scriptures in a way which can only be described as containing a revelation direct from God to those who have sought to be faithfully obedient to the Spirit of God in His leadings to public service, convinced that in His own season God would bring to light the true meaning of the words of St. Paul which appeared to be opposed to the known mind of the Holy Spirit in their personal experience. We gratefully recognize also that Dr. Bushnell, in doing this invaluable service to Christian women at this time, does her work with scholarly dignity and soberness of language, revealing the mind of a true scholar, whose only concern is to arrive at truth and not, as prejudiced persons might suppose, as a "woman" herself, endeavoring to stretch any possible point to prove her case. She also repudiates any "desire to discuss ’which is the greater in the Kingdom of Heaven, man or woman,’ as an unworthy question to raise at all," and is concerned only that women, as women, should know and fulfill their destiny as ordained of God. Emphatically, too, she acknowledges the Scriptures as the infallible Word of God, with the early chapters of Genesis as true history. She says, "We are convinced that they are history, and to women very valuable history. But even if we did not believe this, women could not afford to ignore them, for the sufferings of women from a false interpretation of their teachings, have been no unreality...." Thank God, at last with the aid of this God-given light Christian women can "explain themselves," and thank God still more that the infallible word of God is proved to be the very "Word of God" in truth by the harmony of its bedrock principles with the world movements of God in the present day. The sovereign Lord of the universe, who is bringing about the liberation of nationalities, is also emancipating womanhood from the bondage of centuries and thereby proving himself again to be the God of the Bible. He has never changed His original purpose toward the creatures He made, and never decreed, as theology, colored by Judaism, has taught, that in the dispensation of grace the largest number of His redeemed church should be relegated to a lower status than that which was given to them through the atoning work of the Son of God. Many may say that there is no need to trouble about Paul’s supposed teachings today since women in general have won their freedom and nothing can ever put them back where they were before the Great War. But, in fact, the need to explain the Apostle’s language is greater, for the tide of liberation will not reach the Christian women, those who are born of the Spirit and seek to conform their lives to the Word of God, unless they can be shown that their liberation is in harmony with that Word. For this they must understand for themselves their true destiny as revealed in the Scriptures of truth, or else they will hold back from fulfilling the purpose of God for them in these closing days of the Age. Other women who know not God will fill the leading positions which are increasingly being opened to them on every hand. When God’s time comes to remove a veil from His Word, nothing can hinder the fulfillment of His will. 1. Published by the author, Oakland CA. He is sovereign Lord of the universe, and He has permitted for some good purpose the centuries of misrepresentation and misinterpretation of His mind concerning women, even though the "trail of the serpent" is visible all along the line. We believe it will be a cause of unspeakable thankfulness to multitudes of Christian women when they know the truth, for the dark shadow of Paul’s (supposed) relegation of them to perpetual subordination on account of Eve’s deception has clouded their spiritual sense of the justice of God and their apprehension of the fullness of the gospel message. Christian men, too, who have known the truth in their inner consciousness will rejoice in the light now given. Reviewing Dr. Bushnell’s book, we are bound to say it is singularly free from extravagances. Her language is restrained and dignified. Sometimes we find a little sarcasm, but knowing what she knows and having seen what she has seen of the results in the world of the Genesis 3:16 misinterpretation, nothing but the grace of God has enabled her to write so temperately. Here and there may be some " thoughts" which might seem farfetched, but they are as legitimate an exegesis of the text as any others and do not affect any vital and fundamental New Testament doctrine. For instance, she says that she cannot find the place "where the Bible says that Eve was expelled from Eden." ’’Adam was thrust out with a flaming sword between him and the tree of life, lest he put forth his hand, and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" (Genesis 3:22). But since Eve was ’’living spiritually, there was no such need to cut her off from the tree! " He drove out the man." Dr. Bushnell continues, " I choose to believe that something of the odours of Eden have enveloped Motherhood ever since creation." If deep hidden instinct is any evidence of an intuitive knowledge of some facts of life as they exist in the sight of God, Dr. Bushnell’s faith is shared by men and women alike, many of whom own that there is no more beautiful reminder of Eden with its odors than the picture of a young mother with her newborn child. Dr. Bushnell suggests, too, that if Eve had heeded God’s warning that she was "turning’’ to Adam and what the consequences would be, not yielding to this "turning," Adam might have been saved from the effects of his fall. Who is to say that this was not so? William Law declares that Adam lost much of his perfection before Eve was formed, and she was elaborated to prevent "worse effects of his fall, and to prepare a means of his recovery." Concerning the sending forth of this edition, I refer to some reasons for its issue from the spiritual standpoint at the close, but here I would say in connection with the original book itself that I am constrained to send out part of its message in this simple form because (l) the complete edition is so full of deep, solid information that many women who need its truths may not have the foundational knowledge for grasping at this time, and (2) the book has had to be issued at a price which is prohibitive to widespread circulation while the need for knowledge of the truths it contains is urgent. It is my hope, therefore, that this edition will be a signpost, pointing those who desire full knowledge of the subject to the original book, God’s Word for Women, which contains much which has not been touched upon here, such as "God’s law of marriage" and other deeply vital aspects of the theme. With Dr. Bushnell’s permission, I have sought to give as simply as possible the main points of some of the lessons concerning those aspects of the subject which affect the ministry of Christian women in the service of God. Jessie Penn-Lewis, 1919 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 04.01. YE ALL CAN PROPHESY ======================================================================== Chapter 1 "Ye All Can Prophesy” Let us consider the three passages in the New Testament which contain the teaching of Paul concerning the ministry of Christian women in the Church of Christ. As our examination of them involves questioning the rendering of the original text by translators, it would be well first to emphasize the vast debt we owe to the labors of scholars in the translation of the Scriptures and to remind ourselves of the fact that, as Schofield has said, ’’the labours of competent scholars have brought our English Versions to a degree of perfection so remarkable, that we may confidently rest upon them as authoritative." That this is so we gratefully admit, but, we are bound to add, with the exception of passages relating to the status of women. These most sorely need revision as must surely be acknowledged by all who honestly weigh the facts set forth by Dr. Bushnell who says, "It is very serious to base principles of action on translations of obscure passages- those upon which no translators can dogmatise." But "it is not worth our while," writes Dr. Bushnell, "to complain that men have not always seen truths that had no special application to their needs, either in interpreting or in translating the Bible; we merely wish to point out wherein there is need of changes.... Supposing women only had translated the Bible from age to age, is there a likelihood that men would have rested content with the outcome? Therefore our brothers have no good reason to complain if, while conceding that men have done the best they could, alone, we assert that they did not do the best that could have been done. The work would have been of a much higher order had they first helped women to learn the sacred languages. . . and then have given them a place on the translation committees...." For "there are truths," Dr. Bushnell rightly says, "that give light upon problems that women alone are called upon to solve," and "such truths man is not equipped to understand, much less to set forth to the understanding of women." Canon Payne Smith says of the Bible, "A bad translation of this Book exercises a depressing influence upon a nation’s civilization; a good translation is one of the great levers in a nation’s rise." This is especially so in the effect of a " bad translation’’ connected with the status of women in general. For, as Dr. Bushnell observes, the reason why ’’so large a proportion of the women of Christendom are given over to fashion and folly" is that they have never been "given a proper and dignified work in the advancement of God’s kingdom...." And this because three passages in the epistles of Paul have been rendered into English in such a way that they have entirely misinterpreted the teaching of the Apostle, and by so doing have shut out women from "proper and dignified work" in the church of God. Now let us turn to 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and see what fresh light Dr. Bushnell brings to bear upon it. It reads in the R.V. thus: Let the women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church. By minute examination of the original Greek text, references to authoritative scholars and the historical setting of the occasion calling forth the epistle, Dr. Bushnell shows clearly that Paul never wrote these words as a " commandment of the Lord,’’ but was quoting what the Judaizers in the Corinthian church were saying. Their mischief making at Corinth was in connection with the work of Christian women as in other ways. This simplifies the entire subject, if the statement proves to be in harmony with the context and other parts of scripture. Referring to the various attempts which have been made to reconcile Paul’s words about women praying and prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5 : "But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoureth her head. . ." ) with his seeming command, "Let the women keep silence,’’ in 1 Corinthians 14:34, Dr. Bushnell points out some weak points in the explanations and expresses what many Christian women have felt, that most of these attempts have not solved the difficulty satisfactorily. "The Holy Spirit does not descend to sophistry to induce women to do the will of God," says Dr. Bushnell. Nor does Paul, as Prof. Ramsay suggests, use "tortuous special pleading," or resort to "Jewish fables" to "find a pretext for silencing women." For Paul spoke as "the mouthpiece of God," and his writings were prompted by the Holy Spirit. Therefore a "consistent worthy sense can be found" in his words, if his arguments are not twisted out of conformity with Scriptures. For it is a safe rule that scripture must interpret scripture under the illumination of the Spirit of God. and when it does so, it will be found to have no contradictions. The true interpretation carries with it, to a spiritual mind, a reasonableness and simplicity which is worthy of God. So it appears in this instance. That Paul is but quoting the language of the Judaizers in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is in harmony with previous parts of the epistle. Again and again from 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 1 Corinthians 6:1-20, 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, 1 Corinthians 10:1-33, 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 14:1-40, it can be seen that he is replying to a letter of questions sent to him by the Corinthian Church. In instance after instance it can be detected that "the reference to the questions is repeated whenever a new point is taken up." 1. We need to remember that in the Greek manuscripts there were no capital letters to words, no quotation marks, and no punctuation such as we have in our English versions of the Bible. So those who use a translation (e.g., English) are dependent upon the translators for the addition of these valuable and necessary aids in obtaining the sense of the original. From the Greek text itself there is no means of knowing when a sentence is a quotation or when it expresses the mind of the writer except by internal and contextual evidences and careful examination of the historical setting of the words. Even then "few are the translators, fewer the exegetes. . . to abstain from finding in the Bible thoughts which it does not contain, and rejecting, or unjustly modifying, the thoughts which are indeed there," says Archdeacon Farrar. How solemn, then, the fact that for centuries Christian women have been robbed of their true status in the Church of Christ because translators, and many expositors, have failed to perceive the true setting of the Apostle s words. But God is giving the true light on this subject at the time when it is most needed for women’s service in the world. Scholars are now in possession of greatly increased knowledge of facts connected with early church history and other subjects which enables them to understand better the writings of the New Testament. Some appear to be beginning to see that the key of " quotations" from the letter of the Corinthian Church to Paul unlocks some problems as to the meaning of some statements in his epistles, statements which have hitherto been beyond solution. For example, Professor Sir William Ramsay, the most widely accepted authority on St. Paul in the present day and known for his researches in the history of the early church in Asia Minor, "an extensive writer about St. Paul, his epistles, and journeys,’’ says: ’’ we should be ready to suspect Paul is making a quotation from the letter addressed to him by the Corinthians, whenever he alludes to their knowledge, or when any statement stands in marked contrast either with the immediate context, or with Paul’s known views." Dr. Bushnell observes that this ’’marked contrast" is obvious when 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is placed alongside of 1 Corinthians 11:5, for Paul must have written the words in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 not more than half an hour after the previous ones, which show clearly that women were accustomed both to pray and to preach in public. Moreover, that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 contained a ’’quotation’’ of the Judaizers’ words is confirmed when it is considered in detail. "It is not permitted,’’ says someone, for women "to speak . . . as also saith the law…" (1 Corinthians 14:344). But this cannot refer to the Old Testament Scriptures, for there is not one trace, from Genesis to Malachi, of any such prohibition, nor is there a single word in the whole "law of Moses" dealing with the subject. 2. Therefore the words "it is not permitted’’ and " as also saith the law" must refer to some "rule’’ outside of Scripture. There was no other but the Oral Law of the Jews, appealed to by the Judaizers in the church in their efforts at that time to bring Christianity back within the confines of Judaism. That the words "as saith the law" referred to the Oral Law of the Jews is recognized by some scholars, for a well known lexicographer, in his Greek-Latin Lexicon, says that "as saith the law" refers to the Jewish Oral Law, which did teach the silencing of women. The Talmud also taught that it was ’’ a shame for a woman to let her voice be heard among men" almost the very words used in the language quoted by the Apostle. Again, the reference to the "law" is, of itself, sufficient to show that the Apostle, who labored so earnestly to free the Christian Church from the very shadow of Judaism, as his epistles show, was not expressing his own conviction in the language attributed to him. Paul never appealed to the " law" for the guidance of the Church of Christ, but, on the contrary, declared that believers were " dead to the law by the body of Christ" (Romans 7:4), that they might serve in newness of spirit and not the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). Then how could he say consistently, "Let the women keep silence . . . as also saith the law," even were such a prohibition to be found in the law of Moses? It is therefore clear that the Apostle was quoting what the Judaizers in the Corinthian Church were saying. For, as Dr. Bushnell writes, many were in it as ’false brethren’ to destroy it (2 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 2:4) . . . and others were honestly, but mistakenly, working to the same end, but with better motives.... None of them could hope to influence the Christians to return to . . . the traditions of the Jews by attacking things that were regular.... The only opportunity lay in something irregular, and this they found in the public prophesying of women. The Oral Law had said ’It is a shame,’ and the Judaizers took up the cry that ’ the women must keep silence’ . . . ’they must ask their husbands at home.’...’ It is a shame for a woman to speak in the assembly, the Oral Law of the Jews says so,’ etc. All this was written to Paul from Corinth. He copies it out for his text. He shows up its sophistries, [and] exhorts his converts to be jealous of their gift of prophecy in the church...." As to the women "asking questions of their husbands at home," Dr. Bushnell points out that it is not known that even men asked questions in church as the Jews did in the synagogue. If Paul said these words as a command, in the condition of the Corinthian and other churches of that time, he would be sending some women back to heathenism or Judaism for spiritual help or, in some cases, to no "help" at all, since many might be without husbands. Let us look now at the context of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, and see how the "quotation" fits into its place as a quotation. To grasp the subject clearly it would be well to read 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 in the R.V., remembering that in the original Greek manuscript there were no chapter divisions or texts to split up the matter into verses. The theme from the beginning of 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 is one coherent whole, and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 of that chapter form the basis and key to all that is afterward written. Paul is dealing with the subject of the mystical Body of Christ and the operations of God the Holy Spirit in and through the living members of the Body. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 he describes the Body itself, the mystical church, and the way in which each member is joined up and set in his place by God the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:18-28). Then comes the picture of the love life of God to be shown forth in each member (1 Corinthians 13:1-13), followed by a very full opening up of the subject of "preaching," or as it was termed by Paul, "prophesying," in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58. The believers were to "follow after love" as the first essential, and desire all spiritual "gifts." But the primary gift was prophecy- power to declare God’ s message either by the prophetic gift or speaking to edification, and "exhortation and comfort.’’ This was a necessity for the growth of God’s children (1 Corinthians 12:3, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 12:19), as well as for the conviction of those "without" the church (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). Then in 1 Corinthians 12:26 the Apostle pictures a gathering of the members of the local church the assembly which in Corinth was probably held in the house of Gaius (1 Corinthians 1:14; Romans 16:23). He pictures one and another present. "What is it then, brethren?" he writes. Here we must remember, as Dr. Bushnell points out, "that the word ’ brethren’ was more like ’sisters’ in Greek than in English.’’ The difference is only between "adelphos (brother) and adelphe (sister).’’ Moreover, " masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives very generally had the same form in New Testament Greek.’’ In English "it is only by an effort of thought that women take the word ’brethren’ to themselves, but not so the Greek adelphoi...." "What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation.’’ This would easily produce confusion, and so the Apostle directs that each one may speak "by course" but all ’’unto edifying." " For," he writes, " ye all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted" (1 Corinthians 14:31, R.V.m.). ’’God is not a God of confusion, but of peace; as in all the churches 3. of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33). "All" might prophesy, said the Apostle, that ’’all may learn,’’ as God gave the word of wisdom or word of knowledge to one and the other- surely women as well as men both "alls" obviously including all who might be in the assembly. This was Paul’s light from God for the church at Corinth, in answer to the objections of the Judaizers, which he now proceeds to quote. The very writing of the words seems to stir his indignation, for he follows them with the abrupt exclamation or question "What? was it from you Judaizers, or criticisers, at Corinth] that the word of God went forth? or came it unto you alone?. . . if any man thinketh himself to be spiritual [see 1 Corinthians 12:1 knowing the Spirit, and what comes from Him], let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the commandment of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 14:36-37). In reference to the expression "the word of God," Dr. Bushnell points out that it has a definite and specific sense in the New Testament, "as referring either to the Gospel or prophetic utterance given from above." 4. in this again scripture interprets scripture. Paul is referring to the word of God in its coming forth from God and its going forth through His messengers. He has been explaining how the Spirit of God gave to one and the other in the Body of Christ “the Word" and the gift of prophecy. Could the Judaizers claim that it had come to them alone and gone forth out of them and no others? Were they the final authority as to who should speak when God gave the message? If any man among the objectors was "spiritual," it would be evidenced by his recognizing that all the things that Paul had written were "the commandment of the Lord," notwithstanding the "precepts of men" in the Oral Law of the Jews. " Paul’s contention is,’’ writes Dr. Bushnell, that "since the Spirit of prophecy. . . did not . . . come forth from anyone but God, to attempt to control ’prophecy’ by restrictions as to who may utter it means a dictating to God as to what instruments He may employ." That Paul was quoting the Judaizers in the language he used in these verses again is made still more evident when we consider the historical setting, which may be briefly summarized as follows. The Corinthian Church had written Paul a letter and he is answering it. There were divisions among them. He had enemies at Corinth who disputed his right to be called an apostle and criticized him and his companions for having a woman traveling with them. The fact stated in Acts 18:18 that Priscilla with Aquila her husband had left Corinth in company with Paul shortly before seems to make clear that the woman referred to was Priscilla. 5. She was well known to all the churches of the Gentiles (Romans 16:3-4), and it is probable that Paul was writing his reply to the letter in her home at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:19). Now why should there be any trouble over Priscilla? It seems that Aquila was a Jew from Asia Minor and his wife was probably also a native. Here women were held in great honor. ’’The honours and influence which belonged to women in the cities of Asia Minor," writes Prof. Ramsay, " form one of the most remarkable features in the history of the country.... Under the Roman Empire we find women who are magistrates and presidents of games, who are loaded with honours. The custom of the country influenced even the Jews, who. . . in one case, appointed a woman at Smyrna to the position of ruler of the Synagogue." Out of this atmosphere of dignity and honor, Priscilla goes to Corinth expecting to take her usual position of equality with her husband! So we have the occasion for the criticism of the Judaizers and the questions of the church at Corinth! How early believers understood Paul’s reply to their questions on the subject is also seen in Acts 21:9, referring to Philip’s "four daughters . . . which did prophesy.’’ Dr. Bushnell observes that "not even a year after [the] Corinthian epistle was written were women yet silenced." It all is so clear now that we know! And we cannot but marvel why this simple and obvious explanation of the words of Paul did not occur to the translators of our English versions. But we shall see the reason for their eyes being holden and their minds being closed as we turn to the other passages bearing upon this subject. Before doing so, let us note that not all expositors have been blinded. Dr.. Adam Clarke writes concerning 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 that it is ’’the only one in the whole Book of God which even by a false translation can be made prohibitory of female speaking in the Church. How comes it then, that by this one isolated passage, which according to our best Greek authorities, is wrongly rendered and wrongly applied, woman’s lips have been sealed for centuries, and the ’testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy’ silenced, when bestowed on her? How is it, that this solitary text has been allowed to stand unexamined and unexplained, nay, that learned commentators who have known n its true meaning, as perfectly as either Robinson, Bloomfield, Greenfield, Scott, Parkhurst, or Locke, have upheld the delusion, and enforced it as a Divine precept binding on all female disciples through all time? Surely there must have been some unfaithfulness, ’craftiness,’ and ’ handling the word of life deceitfully’ somewhere. Surely the love of caste and unscriptural jealousy for a separated priesthood has had something to do with this anomaly. By this course, divines and commentators have involved themselves in all sorts of inconsistencies and contradictions; and worse, they have nullified some of the most precious promises of God’s Word. They have set the most explicit predictions of prophecy at variance with apostolic injunctions, and the most immediate and wonderful operations of the Holy Ghost, in direct opposition ’to [supposed] positive, explicit, and universal rules.” NOTES 1. Conybeare and Howson’s translation of the epistle brings out clearly many of these quotations. 2. That it did not refer to ’’Genesis 3:16’’ as "the law’’ will be seen on reading chapter 6. 3. ’’Ecclesia,’’ assembly or congregation, meaning simply the local gatherings of believers, established in the first centuries of Christianity. 4. See Luke 3:1-2, Luke 5:5 Romans 9:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:8, 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 2:17, 2 Corinthians 4:2. 5. The R V margin reads a "wife that is a sister" This could mean Paul’s own wife or Priscilla, who was Aquilia’s wife, or the Apostle was speaking in the abstract of the principle of liberty of action. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 04.02. AUTHORITY OVER HER HEAD ======================================================================== Chapter 2 Authority Over Her Head Let us look at 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and endeavor to understand the circumstances which occasioned the writing of this particular passage. Otherwise, even in the R.V. English, it conveys no intelligible meaning to the ordinary reader. Although, as Dr. Bushnell says, "we should not thoughtlessly assume that the Bible is to be read in the light of profane history, and corrected by it; nevertheless, when [it is] tested by well known ancient customs, or conditions set forth in reliable profane history, it will be found to ring true to contemporary facts. The subject of the wearing of the veil is not of great importance to Christian women today in Western lands, except that a true understanding of Paul’s words would show that he was always consistent in word and practice. Also, every portion of the Scriptures, being inspired and given for our learning, contains some deep and eternal principle applicable to every age. It is necessary for elucidation to deal with this passage verse by verse. We find at the beginning one of Paul’s many "quotations’’ from the Corinthian letter." Now I praise you, wrote the Apostle, "that ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions even as I delivered them to you." According to Conybeare and Howson this is what the church at Corinth had said in their letter as they asked for some light on the question of the wearing of the Jewish Tallith, or veil, in worship in the Christian Church. The real purpose of this passage, says Dr. Lightfoot, was to stop the practice of Jewish Christian men veiling in worship, according to the custom of the Jews. It seems that the Jew veiled as "a sign of reverence before God, and of condemnation for sin.’’ The veil was called a ’’tallith.’’ The Romans also veiled in worship, and the Corinthian Church consisted largely of Roman converts. Then the question arose at Corinth whether the Christian women as well as the Christian men should veil. This question the Apostle now proceeds to deal with in his usual way of analogy and spiritual logic, seizing the occasion for teaching the believers at Corinth how to arrive at a "sound judgment’’ for themselves in the practicable application of spiritual principles to the facts of life. 1 Corinthians 11:3 : ’’ I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ." Chrysostom says, "He cannot be the Head of those who are not in the Body . . . so when Paul says ’every man’ one must understand it of believers." It is also important to know that the Greek word used throughout the entire passage for "man’’ is "aner" the adult male or husband, for according to the Oral Law of the Jews the married man alone was obliged to wear the tallith. "And the head of the woman is the man" obviously, the head of the wife is the husband. ’’And the head of Christ is God’’ 1 Corinthians 11:4 : ’’ Every [Christian] man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.’’ Since the tallith was a sign of guilt and condemnation, when a Christian covered his head with it, a sign of condemnation, he dishonored his Head, Christ, who had atoned for all his sins. "There is . . . now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus’’ (Romans 8:1). 1 Corinthians 11:5-6 : ’’But every Woman [i.e., wife, since he who wore the tallith was a husband], praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoureth her [matrimonial] head: for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. ’For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn’: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled." Here we have the fact recognized without any condemnatory comment by the Apostle that women did pray and prophesy in the church. But why the reference to "veiling," and the dishonor to her husband as her "head’’? Here again the customs and the Oral Law of the Jews elucidate Paul’s language, together with the clue of "quotation," for Dr. Lightfoot says that in the words, "For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn," Paul " does not here speak in his own sense, but cites something usual among the Jews." And it is a fact that the Oral Law decreed that if a Jewess did not cover her head, she should be "shorn" the very greatest "shame" that was possible to a Jewish woman so much so that a Jew might divorce his wife if she was seen abroad with her head uncovered, and ’’ a Jew favourably disposed towards his wife’s profession of Christianity, and towards the practice of unveiling in worship, might be compelled by his relatives, or the Synagogue authorities . . . to divorce his wife if she unveiled.’’ In the light of these circumstances, therefore, the reasoning of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:5-6 is simple if read with the analogy of 1 Corinthians 11:4 in mind. The Apostle reasons that if a man dishonored his "head," Christ, by wearing the tallith when he prayed or prophesied a veil being a sign of guilt or condemnation so a "wife" who took part in the assembly with her head uncovered, might or would, according to the Oral Law of the Jews, bring dishonor upon her (matrimonial) " head." Therefore if unveiling her head in the church meant these consequences --i.e., "shame" as if she was shorn and all that it signified then "let her be veiled"; she was not commanded to unveil like her husband. 1 Corinthians 11:7 : ’’For a [Christian] man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man." That the Christian man is referred to in the entire passage should be remembered as we read these words, for, as Dr. Bushnell remarks, ’’poor fallen sinful man does not bear God’s image and likeness simply because he is a male. It is the glorified Jesus Christ who bears that image and manifests that glory. It is only in Him that humanity takes that standing before God." The analogy again is simple. A Christian man ought not to veil his head with a sign of condemnation, for as a Christian he is "the image and glory of God," and should manifest the glory of his Head in heaven. The "wife" also is the "glory" of her (matrimonial) head, and should likewise reflect honor and not dishonor upon him. 1 Corinthians 11:8-10 : "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man: for neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man: for this cause ought the woman to have authority over her head, because of the angels.... (R.V m. ). 1 Corinthians 11:10, Dean Stanley says, " in the difficulty of its several parts, stands alone in the New Testament." "But," Dr. Bushnell remarks, "the only difficulty is to make Paul say the precise opposite to what he clearly says here!" Her rendering of 1 Corinthians 11:8-10 makes them very simple. It runs as follows: "For man is not originally from woman [as a despised and inferior source], but woman is from man Nor was the man created for the woman, [to help her], but the woman for the man, [to help him] For this [additional] cause ought the woman to have the authority over her head [to unveil it], because of her angels who always behold God’s face." 1 Corinthians 11:10, read in this way, consistently gives a logical climax to the Apostle s reasonings in the preceding verses, and the R.V. and its marginal note is very near Dr. Bushnell s reading when it says, "For this cause ought the woman to have authority over her head, because of the angels.’’ The words " a sign of" in the text of the R.V. are in italics, indicating that they are not in the original Greek but are supplied by the translators. The R.V. rendering, therefore, correctly does away with the fiction of "veil" as a "sign’’ of another’s authority. Yet the A.V. (1611), and even a recent edition of the A.V. issued with the express purpose of helping students in the understanding of the Scriptures, has a note in the margin saying that " power on her head" means ’’ the sign of her husband’s authority." How difficult it is for fixed ideas to be removed from the minds of men, even when there are indisputable and authoritative statements to the contrary! How the idea that "power" meant a ’’veil" came into the teaching on 1 Corinthians 11:10 is traced back historically by Dr. Bushnell to Valentinus the Gnostic and the rites of the gnostic initiation ceremonies, showing that the very first corruption of St. Paul’s meaning came from this objectionable source. But what about these angels in 1 Corinthians 11:10? The suggestions made in connection with this phrase are truly childish and unseemly, contrary to an understanding of what the atoning work of Christ has accomplished for redeemed men and women. Some expositors suggest some peril from the spirit world which demands a veil as protection for the praying woman, so that even in private prayer she is to be covered; whereas the only protection from the interference of evil spirits with man or woman engaged in prayer is reliance upon the atoning blood of the Lamb. From the highest spiritual standpoint, which was Paul’s normal condition of mind, the words mean that the woman should have unveiled access to God, as well as to her husband and the angels. This the text itself confirms in the original. The definite article in Greek, says Dr. Bushnell, often has the force of a possessive pronoun. The words in 1 Corinthians 11:10 thus will bear the translation " because of their angels." This could be taken in two ways. First, in the light of Christ’s word in Matthew 18:10, where He says of the "little ones" who believe in Him that ’’their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven," meaning that the ministering spirits called "angels," who are given charge over all believers (cf. Hebrews 1:14), have always unveiled access to God, and therefore those they minister to should have unveiled access also, being in higher rank (in Christ) than the angels who minister to them. Or the word " angels" may be used by Paul to denote what an old mystical writer, William Bromley, wrote a hundred years ago, that the spirit of the believer is called his ’’ angel," because it stands between God and our outward man, receiving directions from Him for [its] rule and government." 1 Corinthians 11:11-13 : "Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man with out the woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God. Judge ye in yourselves: is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?’’ These verses contain Paul’s reminder of the oneness in Christ of men and women " in the Lord." He had been obliged to refer to each apart from the other, but the true spiritual position of both was one in Christ, neither able to do without the other in the economy of grace or in the world of men. So his final word is that, having reasoned the matter out for those he was writing to, they were now able to come to a conclusion and ’’ judge among themselves,’’ and decide, ’’is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled" (1 Corinthians 11:13). The removal of the interrogation mark placed to these words makes all the difference, and the removal is legitimate because, as Dr. Bushnell points out, there is no interrogative word in the sentence in the original Greek, nor does the Greek "alter the order of the words of a sentence to distinguish a question from a simple statement as we do in English." The interrogation mark alone changes the statement into a question in the English version. 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 : "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a dishonour to him. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." A simple statement in these verses has again been turned into a question by the punctuation added "centuries later than when St. Paul wrote these words." The Apostle thus appears to make statements that are obviously contrary to the facts of nature and of history. For, as Dr. Bushnell says, ’’nature" does not teach that if a man has "long hair" it is "a dishonour" to him, e.g.,millions of men in China wear long hair, and ’’nature has never taught them that it is a shame." Furthermore, the Corinthians to whom Paul was writing boasted that they were ’’descendants of the longhaired Achaeans, celebrated in the Greek poem, Homer’s Iliad." It would therefore be a most strange question for Paul to put to them, while to Jews long hair in fulfillment of religious vows (Numbers 6:1-21) was a glory, not a shame. But why does Paul refer to hair at all? Again we need to understand Jewish customs. Perpetually Paul had to be countering not only the customs but the influence of Judaistic thought upon Christians only gradually emerging into apprehension of the full liberty of the gospel. The Apostle had just said that a woman should have "authority over her own head’’ to veil or unveil as she judged best. But the Oral Law had made unveiling so disgraceful a thing that Christian women would find it difficult to put away the veil, even when circumstances were favorable to doing so. The Apostle then meets this difficulty by saying. that the woman already had a veil that was a glory to her; her own hair and so she need not be ashamed of uncovering it, whatever the Judaizers might say. 1 Corinthians 11:16 : "But if any man seemeth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." Here is the conclusion of the passage, and it should be read in the light of all that has preceded it. In effect Paul says: if the women under specially difficult circumstances wish to veil, they are to have’’ authority over their head" to do so or not, as they please. But "if any man seemeth to be contentious" about it, let him know that as Christians and as a church we "have no such custom" of veiling. The summing up of the whole passage is given as follows by Dr. Bushnell. "Paul (1) forbids men to veil (since there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus); (2) permits women to veil; but (3) guards against this permission being construed as a command by showing that ideally the woman should unveil before God, man and angels; (4) shows that there is special propriety in women unveiling when addressing God in prayer; (5) declares that (contrary to the teaching of the Jews) there is nothing for a woman to be ashamed of in showing her hair, for it is a ’glory’ to her; and (6) disavows veiling as a church custom." In confirmation of the correctness of this interpretation of the whole passage, Dr. Bushnell remarks that a "little historical evidence. . . ought to go a long way" in proving that the Apostle did not forbid women unveiling, for it is an undisputed fact in church history (see Dean Alford in comments on 1 Timothy 5:9) that "women sat unveiled in the assemblies in a separate place, by the presbyters," and were ’’ordained by the laying on of hands" until the Church Council of Laodicea forbade it in 363 A.D. three hundred years after Paul had written the Epistle to the Corinthians. Dr. Bushnell has much more to say than this on the subject, for she devotes two further lessons to tracing back through church history how the misinterpretation of Paul’s true teaching on the veil came into and colored the later versions of the English Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 04.03. THOUROUGHLY DECEIVED...BUT ======================================================================== Chapter 3 Thoroughly Deceived . . . but The third obscure passage in Paul’s writings upon which the misinterpretation of Paul’s teaching about women is based is 1 Timothy 2:8-15, written ten years later than the first Epistle to the Corinthians. It reads as follows in the R.V.: "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion (1.) over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression but she shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety." Here again let us remember that there are no punctuation marks in the Greek; and here, too, the historical setting of the words is of very great importance. For apart from historical light upon the circumstances calling forth the language used by the Apostle, it is difficult to get a clear understanding of what he means. When Paul was arrested and taken to Caesarea for trial, he there appealed unto Caesar and was sent to Rome, where he arrived in A.D. 31, in the seventh year of Nero’s reign. He was afterwards allowed to dwell in his own hired house and in time gathered a "church" or "assembly" (Gr.) about him. Paul was well known throughout the Praetorian guard of Nero as a prisoner for Christ, and he sends greeting to the Philippian Church from the Christians in the Imperial household of Nero. The moral state of things which surrounded Paul in Rome at this time can be realized only by reading the history of that period. Nero was "the most infamous potentate that ever disgraced a throne." Tacitus, a pagan historian, writes that "he punished with exquisite torture [the] Christians.... Some were covered with skins of wild beasts, and left to be devoured by dogs; others were nailed to the cross, numbers were burnt alive; and many covered over with inflammable matter were lighted up. . . as torches during the night...." All Christians, women and men, were therefore in the greatest peril. Paul was probably in Spain when he heard of the awful martyrdom of the Roman Church in A.D. 64, and it is thought that during a second imprisonment at Rome, and three years after this martyrdom of the Christians, he wrote his first epistle to Timothy in A.D. 67. The Roman Christian Church not only had to contend with persecution by the imperial authorities, but the opposition of the Jews increased the dangers of the situation. For it seems that the Jews were in favor in Rome at this time because the emperor had married the Jewish proselyte Poppaea, while Christians were in greatest peril. Professor Ramsay says: " if the Jews appeared to the Empire to resemble the Christians so much, and yet were treated so differently, the reason . . . must have lain in those points in which Christians differed from the Jews.’’ And Dr. Bushnell remarks, ’’At no point was the contrast greater at this time than in the Christian treatment of women.’’ " For," she continues, "there were four points at any rate in which this difference was manifest: (1) in the aggressiveness of Christianity, whilst Judaism was proud, exclusive and unexpansive; (2) in the instruction of women as expressly permitted by Paul, whereas the Jewish Oral Law taught that women were only to be instructed in their own special duties. . . (3) in the many conversions of women: and (4) in their activity in the Apostolic Church." Lecky, in his History of European Morals, refers to "the very conspicuous position that female influence assumed in the great work of the conversion of the Roman Empire. In no other movement of thought was it so powerful or so acknowledged. In the ages of persecution female figures occupy many of the foremost places in the ranks of martyrdom, and pagan and Christian writers alike attest the alacrity with which women flocked to the church." Therefore, writes Dr. Bushnell, "this aggressiveness of Christianity, and activity of Christian women, would not only offend Jews, but the complaint against it, on the part of the Jews, would make a deep impression in time upon the Imperial Government.... Every new convert would mean fresh danger for the Church, and the aggravation would be doubled if that convert were the wife of an unbelieving husband, or the daughter of an unbelieving father." Lecky says, too, "another cause of the peculiar animosity felt against the Christians was the constant interference with domestic life, arising from the great number of female conversions...." It is necessary therefore to bear all this in mind if Paul’s words to Timothy concerning the position of women in the church are to be understood. Prof. Sir. W. Ramsay points this out also when he says, ’’The advice given by St. Paul as to the relations of the Christians to the society in which they are placed, is always in accordance with the situation . . . occupied by them under Nero.’’ Now let us read again the passage in 1 Timothy 2:8-15, R.V., and note some points about it, taking them verse by verse. 1 Timothy 2:8 : ’’I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing.’’ This is quite clear, but now we find a full stop after the word "disputing,’’ and then the English version (R.V.) goes on to say- 1 Timothy 2:9 : ’’In like manner, that women adorn themselves," etc. But how can women "in like manner’’ adorn themselves like men? (1 Timothy 2:8). Conybeare and Howson say that "after the word ’women’ we must supply ’pray’ (as Chrysostom does)," and Prof. Ramsay says, ’’The necessary and inevitable sense of this word [likewise] is that the whole body of women is to be understood as affected by what has been said about men.’’ In other words, that Paul wishes the women to pray ’’ in every place" as well as the men. Then follow suitable directions as to how the Christian women should dress, obviously when engaged in public prayer. "In times of peril," Dr. Bushnell observes, it was very reasonable "to advise the most quiet and unobtrusive dress. "The deportment of women, again obviously when engaged in public service, is then referred to, but one of the words used by the Apostle is not rendered correctly, either in the A.V. or the R.V. The word in the Greek is to be found again only in Hebrews 12:28, in connection with service well pleasing to God; and then it is translated ’’reverence" or "godly fear" (m.). A question which Christian women might well ask the translators is why they should render this particular Greek word as "shamefacedness" (A.V.) and "shamefastness’’ (R.V., an obsolete English word) when used in reference to women, and "reverence or ’ godly fear when it refers to the Service of all believers to a God who is "consuming fire." 1 Timothy 2:10 : "But (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works." Here, hidden away in the original text, is the very confirmation of women’s public work, if Christian Women had but known it! Dr. Bushnell says the word ’’professing’’ in the original" is derived from two Greek Words, the preposition meaning `upon,’ or ’unto.’ and [a verb] meaning ’I deliver a message.’ The verb is the word from which we get ’angel,’ which means a `messenger.’ " The word is also frequently used "in the sense of ’to promise,’ " and it often means "to profess to teach." The only other passage in the New Testament where this word [in 1 Timothy 2:10] is translated ’’profess’’ is in the same Epistle in 1 Timothy 6:21, where Paul says ’’ which some professing have erred concerning the faith." On the word in 1 Timothy 6:21, Professor Ramsay says, it "regularly implies that the person mentioned came before the public, with promises, in order to gain supporters; it is applied to candidates for. . . votes in the Greek cities, who publicly announced what they intended to do . . . if they gained popular support . . ." "If this be the meaning regularly implied by this word,’’ observes Dr. Bushnell, "then why not here where it relates to women? These women came before the public to gain supporters,’ not for themselves, but to win people to the standard of the Cross, and they promise ’godliness’ in place of a sin burdened life to those who will accept their offers." But Paul has something to say quite distinctively about the woman learner in the next verses. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 : "Let a Woman learn in quietness With all subjection. But 1 permit not a Woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness." Here let us remember Prof. Ramsay’s words that Paul’s advice ’’is always in accordance" with the situation of the Christians under Nero. Read in the light of 1 Timothy 2:8-10, with their recognition of woman’s public work both in prayer and preaching-"pray everywhere," "proclaiming godliness"--it is obvious, observes Dr. Bushnell, that 1 Timothy 2:11-12 embody an "exceptional prudential measure to meet a dire necessity of perilous times," and are not contradictory to what the Apostle had just said. The times were indeed perilous for Christian women. The Jews were bitterly against the teaching of women and angered by the different attitude of Christianity towards them. They might complain to the authorities and bring grave danger upon the whole body of believers. So, writes Dr. Bushnell, the Apostle tells Timothy that "a woman who comes asking to be taught" is "to be allowed to learn, but in quietness" (not "silence" as in A.V.), because of the possible persecution, and such "learners" should be willing to learn " in all subjection." Also, Paul adds, that (on account of the Neronian peril) he himself did not allow a woman to do the "teaching" at such a time or to ’’have dominion over a man"-quite a different matter from ’’ praying" and "proclaiming’’ the gospel. Neither was it a permanent prohibition of "teaching" for all time as Dr. Bushnell illustrates in the following way: "Supposing during the Armenian atrocities, or the Chinese Boxer uprising, because of some special peril to men, to which women were not exposed, a bishop had sent the following advice: ’Let male preachers of the Gospel refrain from teaching women and controlling them, and be in quietness,’ could that be justly construed as an interdiction of male preaching for all time, if once it were known that at that time special peril to men alone existed? Would not the use of such an expression as ’preachers of the Gospel’ lead one to infer that when peace was restored these men would go back to the vocation named? So here; once knowing that special peril for women existed, the use of the expression ’women proclaiming godliness’ would merely indicate this as their normal occupation under normal conditions." Moreover, Dr. Bushnell rightly observes, ’’the ’quietness’ may be as much enjoined upon the one who is teaching as the one who is learning! It is not to be told abroad by either teacher or learner that the woman is learning. But yet the woman is to be allowed to learn. That was a step far in advance of the practice of the Jews." Now follows one of the most glorious messages from God to women to be found in the whole Bible but hidden from them, alas, for centuries, under mountains high of the misinterpretation of expositors. Let us dig out this "evangel," and see how it flashes with light from heaven. The Apostle had just said, ’’Let a woman learn. . ." and then he goes on to give Timothy the reason why. His mind goes back to Eden, and he remembers how Eve through her innocence and immaturity had fallen a victim to the wiles of the devil and had become "thoroughly deceived" (lit. Greek), so he writes as follows- 1 Timothy 2:13-15 : "For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression: but she shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety." The word rendered " formed’’ here, points out Dr. Bushnell, is not the word used for " create. " The Greek lexicon says that its meaning is " to mould, form, shape." "The lesson Paul would draw from his reference to the beginning of the race is, that as Adam was first developed, and then Eve, in the natural world, so must it be in the social world." Adam "having been first formed, and hence being older than Eve, was not deceived." "Adam was not beguiled,’’ said the Apostle. He sinned with his eyes open. But the woman was "thoroughly deceived.’’ The one was a victim, the other a deliberate sinner. Paul remembers the primeval promise that the woman’s Seed should bruise the serpent’s head. The victim of the serpent’s wiles was dealt with in abounding grace and promised the honor of becoming the progenitor of a Saviour who would eventually destroy the serpent’s power. She was saved then, through faith in a coming Saviour. How much more should she not be saved now, reasons the Apostle, when that Saviour had already come! And so he sets forth what may truly be described as the Magna Charta of womanhood. Yes, the woman in Eden was thoroughly deceived: but she shall be saved through the childbearing (of Jesus Christ) (cf. Galatians 4:4)! The childbearing -the great event of the world having its culmination at Calvary. The promise is clear. The woman ’’shall he saved’’ to the very full of all that the incarnation and death of the Son of God obtained for her. Woman is not for all time to remain under the shadow of Eve’s “deception" any more than is the man to remain for all time under the shadow of Adam’s willful sin. The woman shall be saved’’; therefore, Timothy, ’’let the woman learn...’’ and learn of her redemption from the Fall in the birth of the Saviour. Ah, here we have the key to Satan’s endeavor to fasten upon all women down the ages the results of his work in Eden. " The woman must not learn," said the Jews in Paul’s time, and "the woman must not learn," said many of the theologians of the Christian Church, influenced by Judaism. "She was thoroughly deceived once," whispered the serpent, who, alas, has since extended his operations and thoroughly deceived the whole inhabited earth (Revelation 12:9). ’’See how the woman leads in all kinds of heretical movements today, cry some. "Is it not a proof that she is open to deception as much as she was in Eden?" Yes, it is undoubtedly true that on account of her greater spiritual capacity, the woman is more open to deception in the supernatural sphere just as men are more open to be thoroughly deceived in the intellectual realm. But is it not probable that women are being swept into the wiles of the devil today because the truths of God which they should have learned have been kept from them? Is it not because for centuries past they have not been given the training in the Scriptures which would have saved them and prepared them for the day of emancipation? Had the woman been encouraged to "learn" as the Apostle advised Timothy, might not her greater spiritual capacity have resulted in an accession of spiritual force to the church, which would have saved it from the deadly deception of the " Higher Criticism? 1 Timothy 2:15 ’’But she shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.’’ The " if ’ here is important, for it gives the conditions on the woman’s part for the personal realization of the promised salvation. The words cover a wide scope in their meaning. ’’Faith" in the Saviour, the "love" life of His indwelling, the "sanctification’’ of spirit, soul and body, which is the accompanying result of His salvation and, in the practical life, the ’’self-restraint (the meaning of the Greek word translated "sobriety" ), which is the outcome of recognizing that the "body" is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Dr. Bushnell points out also that this "salvation" is not only spiritual but social. Paul implies, she says, "that woman’s social rescue began in the birth of Jesus Christ, and "Christianity unhampered by the narrowness of man" purposed to "raise woman until she stands on his level. "She shall be saved through the childbearing [of Jesus Christ]." This is the woman’s evangel and her message of hope to counter all the effects of the Fall in Eden. Is it not strange that any other meaning than their being the New Testament complement to the Genesis 3:15 promise should ever have been given to the words? 1. But woman’s emancipation day has come. Centuries of ignorance of the things of God have left their marks upon her; but women may "learn" at last, and men, too, will learn by the stern logic of experience that it has been a perilous policy for the Christian Church to have given a lower status to woman than that which was hers by right through the atoning work of the Son of God. Notes 1. The word "usurp" (A. V.) is not in the original. 2. We thankfully note that the R.V gives Galatians 4:4 as the marginal reference attached to these words. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 04.04. THOU ART TURNING...AND ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4 Thou Art Turning . . . and Now we must consider the most serious mistranslation in the English version of the Bible. This mistranslation lies at the root of all the misinterpretations of the words of Paul in the New Testament. Tears of blood would never avail to wash away the tragic consequences to the womanhood of the world. Dr. Bushnell’s hook devotes many pages to the consideration of the subject, examining all the Scriptures concerned and drawing upon the facts of history. She shows the way in which in the early centuries of the Christian era rabbinical teaching gradually began to penetrate the Christian Church on this particular question until it colored Christian theology the wide world over. In these days of enlightenment and freedom for women in general, we might see that we need not trouble about the rendering of Genesis 3:16, except that we find a reference to it placed again and again in the margins of the New Testament, showing that the fundamental mistranslation in Genesis perpetually colored the minds of translators in interpreting the language of St. Paul. For instance, we find in one version of the New Testament a note in the margin of 1 Corinthians 11:3, saying, "cf. Genesis 3:16. The woman’s veil, or head covering, is a symbol of this subordination"; again in 1 Corinthians 14:34, a marginal reference says, "cf. Genesis 3:16"; and yet again in 1 Timothy 2:11, to the word "subjection" is placed the reference "cf. Genesis 3:16." All showing that Genesis 3:16 is supposed to interpret the words of Paul in these particular passages in the New Testament. It is necessary, therefore, to turn to this passage and show how seriously this verse has been mistranslated, so that its sinister influence upon the interpretation of the language of Paul may be destroyed. The Revised Version gives the verse in Genesis 3:16 as follows: Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. We cannot attempt to give but a fraction of the light thrown by Dr. Bushnell on the whole passage in the original Hebrew. She lays firm foundations for her statements by first giving explanations and examples of the form of the Hebrew characters, so that all students of her lessons might understand what is generally known only by Hebrew scholars. She explains the minute care taken by the Jews in transcribing their scriptures, so that the "original text has been preserved in MSS. with scarcely an important change." She knows the difference between "lawful" and " unlawful" textual criticism, the one being a lawful examination of the work of transcribers and translators and the latter a manipulation of the text itself; she carefully distinguishes between the original text of the Bible as "inspired, infallible and inviolable," and translations of the Bible as necessarily open to question where they do not accurately give the sense of the original. (1). All this is important for proving the statements upon which such vital issues depend; for it will be seen, as we go further, how different is the meaning of Genesis 3:16 from that which has been given to it by commentators for centuries of the Christian era. The greatest and most grievous mistranslation in the verse is the word translated in the R.V. "desire," for in its correct rendering the whole meaning of the passage is changed. The word in Hebrew, says Dr. Bushnell, is used only three times in the Old Testament-in Genesis 3:16, Genesis 4:7, and Song of Solomon 7:10. ’’The original word is teshuqa, and as it only occurs three times in the Hebrew Bible, its sense must be fixed, (1) by studying its relation to other words in the sentences where it occurs, (2) by studying its derivation and structure, (3) by studying the way it is rendered in the ancient versions of Scripture." Dr. Bushnell shows the use of the word in the following simple way: Genesis 3:16, ’’and-to-Adam.’’ Eve’s ’’teshuqa’’ Genesis 4:7, "and-to-Cain." Abel’s ’’teshuqa.’’ Song of Solomon 7:10,"and-to-the-church." Christ’s "teshuqa." What is said (typically) of Christ must have the same meaning in Abel or Eve! But what do the ancient versions say? How do they translate "teshuqa’’? we find that every version up to one hundred years after Christ, e.g., the Septuagint Greek, the Syriac Peshito, the Samaritan and Old Latin, all render the word as "turning.’’ God said that Eve was "turning" to Adam; that Abel was "turning’’ to Cain, and (Song of Solomon 7:10) that Christ is "turning’’ toward His Bride, the church. The meanings are obviously the same. But this is not all of the amazing truth. The Hebrew word which has been rendered ’’conception" in this verse in English is not the one usually used for that word 1. in the Hebrew language, for it is two letters short. One scholar says ’’it is an abnormal formation, which occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament." And a very high lexical authority calls it a ’’contraction or erroneous.’’ So in translating the very words of God-upon which the lives of millions of the human race depended- some translators have added two missing letters to a word which they describe as a ’’contraction" instead of translating it exactly as it was written, when it would give the meaning of "sighing." That this is correct is proved by the fact that the Septuagint Greek version, which is the first and oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders the word ’’sighing’’ as it is in the original. The word ’’ sorrow," too, in the same sentence as well as in the following one, is the one used of Adam in the next verse, and so it can have no special and peculiar application to Eve as a woman And yet here is another revelation of far reaching import in this extraordinarily misinterpreted text. The words shall be in the last section of the verse are in italics in the A.V. and therefore admittedly not in the original Hebrew. Eve’s "turning’’ to Adam was not the result of a "shall" -preordained of God. Nor was its result the outcome of a ’’shall.’’ ’’And he will rule over thee,’’ said the Omniscient Jehovah as He foresaw what the consequences would be. If no "shall’’ rule is to be found in the Hebrew original, and ’’all the ancient versions testify that the verb is a simple future," therefore no ’’rule’’ was preordained by God. The words contained ’’a warning and a prophecy,’’ writes Dr. Bushnell, ’’of what has been abundantly fulfilled, . . . especially in heathen lands.’’ Dr. Bushnell says, too, ’’If it be contended that the context proves... an imperative, then the previous sentences must he imperative:’’ Must the serpent bruise the heel of the woman’s Seed, whether he will or no! Must man rule woman whether he will or no?’’ Now with these facts in mind, let us read Genesis 3:16 as Dr. Bushnell renders it: Unto the woman he said, A snare hath increased thy sorrow and thy sighing; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; thou art turning to thy husband , and he will rule over thee. We don’t have space for giving Dr. Bushnell’s reasons for using the expression ’’a snare’’; but it takes us back to verse 15 which contains the Evangel Promise to the woman, that through her should come a Seed who would finally crush the serpent who had caused her fall. The primary point which we need to grasp is the fact that the text as it stands in the original Hebrew does not contain a ’’law’’ of preordained subordination of woman, such as is suggested by its use in New Testament margins; and, incidentally, it is thereby proved that words "as saith the law’’ used in 1 Corinthians 14:34 do not refer to Genesis 3:16. ’’Rule" there would be, the Lord himself said, but not a "rule’’ ordained by Him to be perpetuated as a ’’commandment of the Lord’’ in the Christian Church in the time to come. The most heart-stirring point of all in Dr. Bushnell’s exegesis of the whole passage is the way it is made clear that Eve went forth from Eden not ’’cursed’’ but a forgiven and restored believer, ’’elevated in her own person’’ to the ’’honourable position of an enemy of Satan,’’ and constituted ’’the progenitor of the coming destroyer of Satan and his power.’’ The reason for this is to he found in Eve’s answer to Jehovah when she was asked what she had done, for her reply really involved a "choice’’ and an exposure of the character of Satan when she said that he had ’’beguiled her.’’ By doing this, she "created an enmity between herself and him,’’ which God confirmed in His words to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman." Dr. Monroe Gibson says, " There is, properly speaking, no present tense in Hebrew-only the past and future.... So here, it is not only ’I will put enmity;’ but ’I am putting, and will put’ enmity between thee and the woman. The work is begun. . . She is the first type and representative of all the separated ones who constitute the church of God." In brief, writes Dr. Bushnell, God said in effect, "She has chosen to make the breach; I will widen it." This is a justifiable conclusion if we think of all that must have passed through the mind of Eve when she heard the voice of God in the Garden. She realized that the serpent had deceived her and when asked, said so, without shrinking from the certain result of arousing his enmity against her. She chose to speak the truth, and thereby began that enmity, which Jehovah confirmed as a special prerogative for herself and her (spiritual) Seed after her. This fixed enmity of the serpent accounted largely "for a whole train of evils, prophesied’’ in verse 16, concerning her after-path in life, for, Dr. Bushnell points out ’’God nowhere says that Eve’s sorrowful and oppressed part is ’ because’ she had done anything,’’ and as the words of the Lord to Eve, in Genesis 3:16, so closely follow upon those spoken to the serpent in Genesis 3:15, ’’we have sufficient reason for concluding that all ’this’ might result’’ through the enmity of Satan. But what ground is there for saying that Eve became a "believer,’’ the first believer on Jesus Christ restored to fellowship with the God she had disobeyed? The clue is hidden in the original Hebrew of Genesis 4:1. Eve gives evidence that she believed in God’s promise of a coming Victor over Satan when on the birth of her firstborn she exclaims, "I have gotten a man--even the Coming One." Canon Payne Smith says about this exclamation of Eve, ’’Jehovah means literally ’He will come, that is, ’The Coming One.’ The name is really man’s answer to and acceptance of the promise made in Genesis 3:15; and why should not Eve, to whom the promise was given, be the first to profess faith in it? . . . For her faith’s sake, the spirit of prophecy rested upon her, and she gave Him on whom her hopes were fixed the title which was to grow and swell onward till all inspired truth gathered round it . . ."-the name Jehovah, which is the New Testament name "Lord." That Eve believed God and His promise of a Saviour, and that it was "counted to her for righteousness’’ as much as to Abraham in later years, is to be seen also in the name which Adam gave her after their interview with God (cf. Genesis 3:20), and just before Jehovah himself clothed them with the skins of animals slain, preparatory to their leaving the Garden. Let us turn again to the story. The verdict on Adam concluded with the words ’’dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19), which was a verdict of death. But at once we read, "And the man called his wife’s name ’Eve’ [that is, living, or life, R V. m.], because she was the mother of all living." That is, writes Dr. Bushnell, ’’ marking the contrast between himself and Eve, Adam called his wife ’ Eve’--’living’ spiritually living,’’ and all believers are the ’’seed of the woman’’ in Christ--not merely "mankind." Delitzsch remarks about these words of Adam, ’’The promise purports truly a ’seed of the woman.’ In the very face . . . of the death with which he is threatened, the wife is for Adam the security for both. . .’’On the point as to all believers being the ’’seed of the woman,’’ Dr. Monroe Gibson asks, "Who are her seed?’’ and replies, ’’In a certain sense, of course, all mankind are ’’seed of the woman,’ but suppose you include all mankind where do the seed of the serpent come in? [with whom her seed are at enmity]. Is it not quite obvious that the ’ seed of the woman’ cannot mean all mankind but simply those... who are found . . . on the side of God and righteousness? Those who are of an opposite Spirit are the seed of the serpent, the ’children of the devil.’” But what about the prevalent idea that Eve was cursed and punished for her fall into the snare set forth for her? (1 Timothy 2:14). In the Scripture itself there is no curse mentioned as passed either upon Adam or Eve, but only upon the serpent and the ground; nor "does God lay any charge of express disobedience at the door of Eve.’’ Dr. Bushnell exhaustively treats in several lessons the historical causes for the false doctrine of ’’the curse on Eve,’’ clearly showing that it has penetrated into Christian theology from the Babylonian Talmud which appeared in 800 A.D. (3). in which is recorded the fable of "Ten curses against Eve,’’ most of these being unfit for quotation. The earliest Source was a pagan Greek myth which is recorded about 800 B.C. This came into Jewish teaching at a time called in Jewish history the "days of mingling"-the period of four hundred years between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament-when the Jews tried to reconcile Jewish customs and the teachings of the Old Testament with Greek paganism. As we ponder over the painful story we do not wonder that Dr. Bushnell says, "The teaching that God punishes Christian women for the sin of Eve, is a wicked and cruel superstition, and unworthy the intelligence of Christians, ’’and, in addition to this, it has laid" a blighting hand upon woman’s self-respect, self-confidence and spiritual activity, from which causes the entire church of Jesus Christ suffers moral and spiritual loss." This brings us to the question as to how the mistranslation of Genesis 3:16 has crept into our English versions of the Scriptures if the Hebrew word teshuqa was always translated "turning’’ in all versions of the Old Testament up to at least 200 years after Christ. (4). Dr. Bushnell has devoted two lessons, together with a valuable chart, to making clear these vital facts, but we cannot attempt, even to summarize, the evidences she has collected with such painstaking research. The chart shows all the versions of the Scriptures with the dates when they were made and their various translations of the word teshuqa, right through the centuries down to the present time. The Latin Vulgate, a version made under rabbinical influence in 282 A. D., rendered the word as "power’’ instead of "turning." And from it, and not direct from the original Hebrew, the first English version by Wycliffe, published in 1380, was made. Then after Wycliffe’s version and before any other English Bible appeared an Italian monk named Pagnino (or Pagnimus, Latin) translated the Hebrew Bible into Latin in 1528, and he was the first who translated teshuqua into the misleading and unjustifiable rendering which strangely has colored all the English versions to the present time (with the exception of Wycliffe’s Bible, already mentioned, and the Douay Bible, both of which were made direct from the Latin Vulgate of 282 A.D.). It was seven years after Pagnino’s version was published at Lyons that Coverdale’s English Bible appeared, and Tyndale’s Bible in the time between-both of which were published on the Continent, this probably accounting, says Dr. Bushnell, for their being influenced by Pagnino. At any rate, she says, ’’from the time Pagnino’s version appeared, every English version (except the two Vulgate referred to) has followed Pagnino’s rendering’’ of Genesis 3:16 up to the present day. This is enough to show the necessity for a different translation and interpretation of Genesis 3:16, although, observes Dr. Bushnell, the need "will scarcely be realized by those familiar with the usual teachings in our Bible Commentaries, which defy principles of morality and justice,’’ as well as "outrage the sense of the original words, as proved by the ancient versions." Notes 1. Conybeare and Howson’s "Epistles of St Paul’’--the Classic upon the subject-with their valuable footnotes, illustrates the way in which the English text can be legitimately examined by the Bible student. 2. The word occurs in Ruth 4:13, Hosea 9:11, and nowhere else, arid is correctly translated in these passages.-Dr. Bushnell 3. Dr Bushnell says she gives this date on the authority of Prof Margoliouth of Oxford. It has often been fixed as early as 300 A D. 4. Dr. Bushnell adds a note pointing out that the Church Fathers seem to he ignorant of any other sense but ’ turning’ for the word teshuqa, e g . Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Tertullian. Origen, Epiphanius, Jerome. Ambrose, Augustine, Theodoret, all employ ’’turning’’ in one, two, or all three passages. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 04.05. SOME MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS ======================================================================== Chapter 5 Some Misunderstood Words Now let us return to the New Testament and briefly examine some of the words used by the Apostle Paul to which we find attached in the margin a reference to Genesis 3:16, notwithstanding that Paul’s language applied only to women who were Christians, in the New Testament sense of being a Christian, i.e., born of the Spirit and partakers of the divine nature, or ’’a new creation in Christ Jesus"-members of the Body of Christ, drawn out of all classes, from every tongue and tribe and nation. Subjection First let us take the word " subjection" in 1 Corinthians 14:34, which verse, we have already seen, contains a quotation of the words of the Judaizers at Corinth. There was one sentence in their language which contained the truth, for they probably had heard Paul speak again and again of the duty of Christian subjection. But used by the Judaizers it was "truth" strained to suit their own purposes, for believing as they did in the Oral Law and imbued with its teaching about the subordination of woman, we may judge that they did not mean what Paul meant when they made use of the word ’’ subjection." They meant subordination, but Paul meant something quite different. An examination of the word in the original throws some light on this. Dr. Bushnell points out that ’’the verb ’to be in subjection’ is from hupo, meaning ’next after,’ or ’under’; and tasso--’arrange,’ meaning ’to arrange after, or arrange under,’ as soldiers are arranged, file after file, or under a captain. The way in which the Apostle Paul used the word may be seen by consideration of all its connections in his epistles and the various kinds of persons to whom he applied it. ’’The noun ’subjection,’ ’’ says Dr. Bushnell, ’’is not found in the Greek language outside of the New Testament." Therefore it is reasonable ’’to infer that it was coined to describe a relation peculiar to believers.’’ It is also noteworthy that the A.V. often translates the Greek word in question as "obey’’ and "submit,’’ but the R V. carefully renders it as ’’subjection," and "be in subjection," wherever it occurs, thus "distinguishing them in their sense from obedience.’’ (Compare the A.V. and R.V. in 1 Corinthians 14:34 and Titus 2:5. ) The true sense of the word, says Dr. Bushnell, describes "the Christian grace of yielding one’s preferences to another where no principle is involved, rather than asserting one’s rights. Schleusner’s Greek-Latin Lexicon to the Septuagint says that this verb does not always ’convey the thought of servile subjection.’ Jesus, as a boy, was ’subject’ to His parents, yet we know that He did not even consult them when about His Father’s business.’’ The use of the word in other connections in the New Testament shows that this meaning of subjection is correct and that Genesis 3:16, with its supposed ’’law’’ of’ "subordination" to "rule," is not a true interpretation of its purport when applied only women. Let us look at a few of the other instances where the word is used. In Ephesians 5:21, R.V., we read "subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.’’ Here we have an admonition written to all Christians irrespective of sex. Again in 1 Peter 5:5, A.V., "all of you he subject one to another. . .", and in 1 Corinthians 16:16 the apostle urges the Roman Christians to be in “subjection” unto everyone that "helpeth in the work’’ (some of these being women as shown by Romans 16:3 and Romans 16:12). In Ephesians 5:22, R.V., the words "be in subjection" are in italics, showing that they are not in the original, yet in the R.V. margin to these very words we find the reference ’’see Genesis 3:16." Omitting the italics the sentence would read, "Wives, unto your husbands, as unto the Lord," obviously taking its sense from the previous verse inculcating the ’’subjection’’ of believers one to another, the "subjection" being in "wives" the very same kind of grace to be manifested in all. In Colossians 3:18 and Titus 2:5 we have again "subjection’’ enjoined upon wives, as is "fitting in the Lord’’--in each case the Greek word being the same as rendered "subjection one to another." Again this shows that the meaning of New Testament "subjection" is not the "rule" of Genesis 3:16, which Eve fell under because of her own turning to Adam and not by the preordination of God. This rule therefore does not originate from the Holy Ghost as a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ and may be incidentally evidenced by the fact that "to the extent that grace works in the heart of the husband, he loses his. . . desire to ’rule’ his wife’’--and, vice versa, any "rule’’ of the husband by the wife is an anomaly never suggested in the Scriptures! "Subjection" one to another is therefore a grace of the Spirit and a manifestation of the law of courtesy which should be seen as operative between sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, who always say the one to the other, "You first-I gladly go ’next after.’ " Obedience It is important to distinguish between the use of the words ’’subjection" and "obedience." They are different in the Greek, and the R.V. has therefore changed the words of the A.V. "obey" and "submit" into ’’subjection" wherever the Greek word for the latter is used in the original. It is striking that the word "obey" is used only in relation to servants and always for children but invariably the word "subjection’’ for wives; with one exception, 1 Peter 3:6, where the Apostle Peter points women to the example of Sarah, who ’’obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord" or "Sir." On the other hand, in Genesis 21:12, God bade Abraham "obey’’ Sarah’s voice when she said what was right, showing that the ’’relation of obedience and respect "was mutual and reciprocal and based only upon the question of ’’right" and not of sex. This distinction, brought out so clearly by the R.V., between ’’subjection" and ’’obedience," 1. is very important, and the fact that the former word has never been interpreted as meaning or including obedience, when it is used in the relation of man to man, is sufficient to free its use from the idea of servility or subordination. The New Testament meaning of "yielding preferences" one to the other in conciliation and loving self-sacrifice, every Christian, man and woman, will admit is a necessity for order and arrangement in the affairs of life, as well as being an expression of Christian character, which is well-pleasing to God. Headship Again we find the marginal reference Genesis 3:16 attached to the words in 1 Corinthians 11:3, "the head of the woman is the man.’’ But we must not forget that "at Corinth the church used the Septuagint Greek version and would read Genesis 3:16 as ’Thou art turning to thy husband, and he ’will’ rule over thee.’ ’’ so it would not convey to the Christians at Corinth what it does in our day. "Now had we always read Genesis 3:16," writes Dr. Bushnell, " ’he will rule over thee’ instead of ’he shall rule over thee’ and known that the verb is a simple future (as all ancient versions testify), ignorant, careless, or dishonest interpreters centuries ago would not have thought to show that this rule was God-ordained... We question, then, the correctness of placing Genesis 3:16 against the words ’of a wife the husband is the head,’ as interpreting it to mean, ’of the wife the husband is the ruler.’" But what is the New Testament meaning of the "headship" of the husband? (Not, let us notice, of " man" over woman in general, as the use of the word aner (husband) in 1 Corinthians 11:3-14, makes clear.) Dr. Bushnell devotes an entire lesson to showing the use of the word "head" in the Old Testament, but we can look only briefly at her clear explanation of the word in the New Testament as interpreted for the Christian- and only the Christian-by the analogy of Christ as the Head of the Church. She asks in what sense Christ is described as " head" to His Church. Then he points out that Colossians 2:19 describes it most fully. He is "the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.’’ Neither here nor in Ephesians 4:15 is Christ’s government referred to but His headship as the support, nourishment and builder of the Body. In Ephesians 1:22, His headship as a "rule’’ is clear, but this is over principalities and powers (see Ephesians 1:21-22), which are placed under his feet. But we are never told that this is the place for His Church! God gave Him to be "head over all things to the church which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.’’ The place of the Church is then shown as ’’raised up with him," and made to "sit with him,’’ to share in his rule over the ’’all things" placed under His feet (Ephesians 2:6). It was true in those days, says Dr. Bushnell, that the husband was ahead of his wife, but this made it all the more obligatory upon him that he should also be a " head" after the pattern of Christ, to support and lift up his wife to his own level. The words of Ephesians 5:33 concerning this obligation are very beautiful in the original. They read, " Let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself, in order that [expressed in Greek by a single Greek word denoting design] the wife may reverence [or revere] her husband."This is the key to "headship." The true ’’headship" is won by self-sacrificing love, even as Christ won His Church--not by rule and domination-- but by laying down His life for her. Reverence is gained by love; it can never be demanded as a right, nor created in the one who is to give it in any other way than by being "ahead" in manifesting the character of Christ. Therefore in the Church of Christ "even as Christ" (Ephesians 5:23) is the meaning of the headship described by the Apostle Paul-a headship which most truly shows forth the divine pattern of Christ and His Church. Diakonos There are also same other misunderstood words in the New Testament in connection with the work and status of Christian women in the early church, showing that in translating other parts of scripture bearing upon the subject, the minds of the translators have always been colored by Genesis 3:16 and the supposed teaching of Paul in the three obscure passages on the position of women to which we have referred. Dr. Bushnell points out an instance of this bias of mind: the rendering into English of the Greek word diakonos whenever it occurs in connection with women’s ministry. The word occurs, she says, thirty times in the New Testament and is almost always rendered "minister.’’ It is translated seven times as " servant," three times as " deacon," and twenty times as minister. (2) It may, or certainly does, refer to an ecclesiastical office, as in Php 1:1, and 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Timothy 3:12, where it is rendered "deacon." But in Romans 16:1 where Paul says, " I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, who is diakonos of the church which is at Cenchrea,’’ the translators render it as "servant’’ (A.V.), the R.V. margin giving it as "deaconess." Bishop Lightfoot, speaking of the translation of diakonos as " servant," gives strong reasons for believing that 1 Timothy 3:11 refers to women deacons and says, " if the testimony borne in these two passages to a ministry of women in Apostolic times, had not thus been blotted out of our English Bibles, . . . our English Church would not have been maimed of one of her hands." As to the R.V. margin rendering the word as "deaconess," Bishop Ellicott says that this is open to the objection that "it introduces into the New Testament the technical name diakonissa, which is of later origin"; it is not the word which Paul himself used. So the fact remains that the Apostle described Phoebe as a "deacon,’’ not a "deaconess" -a ’’minister’’ of the church, using the very same word as in 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Timothy 3:12 --this fact going a long way, observes Dr. Bushnell, "toward proving that when he gave directions as to ordaining ’deacons’ he made no distinction as to sex in his own mind." Notes 1. This also throws light on Romans 13:1, as not in contradiction to Acts 5:29, i e, ’’subjection’’-a conciliatory spirit, does not imply "obedience" to anything contrary to the known will of God. 2. Romans 15:8; 1 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 11:23; Ephesians 3:7, Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 1:7, Colossians 1:23, Colossians 1:25, Colossians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Timothy 4:6. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 04.06. SOME GLIMPSES INTO HISTORY ======================================================================== Chapter 6 Some Glimpses into History We have space in our concluding chapters only briefly to say that one primary fact emerges from all the light upon Genesis 3:16 and the information brought together by Dr. Bushnell in her textbook. And that is that in the early period of the human race and less and less down to the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament story -a period of 400 years, called in Jewish history the ’’days of mingling"-woman had a very different status from that which she is seen to occupy among the Jews in the days of Paul and a different position also from that which she held in the Christian Church after the early centuries of the Christian era. All the facts of history referred to by Dr. Bushnell on this point will be a revelation to those who know nothing about them. Professor Flinders Petrie says that women were heads of their tribes in Abraham’s day, for Sarah’s name was changed to the "well understood title of a female prince" (Genesis 17:15-16), or "chieftainess." He writes, "Sar" is "the regular old term for a chief, still kept up in the East, [and Sarah’s] position . . . was not by any means that of secluded dependence, but rather that of an independent head, or tribal mother." In those days there were matriarchs. (1) as well as patriarchs, and kinship was reckoned through the women and not the men. Professor Sayce writes that Sumeria, Ak Kadia, Babylonia, Arabia, Phoenicia and Egypt were all ancient civilizations " characterized by features of the matriarchy," and Prof. Ramsay says "the best authenticated cases of ’Mutterrect’ (2) belong to Asia Minor. Also in Genesis 36:1-43 we discover that some of the "dukes of Edom" were women, and we have an interesting sidelight in the meaning of the name of Dinah as ’’ the female judge." It is now conceded also by Bible scholars, writes Dr. Bushnell, that women had their place in the Tabernacle services either as Priestess or Levite, as " proved by the technical term used in Exodus 38:8 and 1 Samuel 2:22." But the reluctance of Jewish translators to translate the original faithfully when it ran across their prejudices connected with the position of women is to be found even in the Septuagint Greek version, for the translators, who were Jews, rendered the Hebrew word as "fasting women" in Exodus 38:8 and omitted the entire phrase containing the words in 1 Samuel 2:22. Prof. Margoliouth, of Oxford, comments on this: ’’ it is evident that by the time when the Septuagint translation was made, the idea of women ministering at the door of the Tabernacle had become so odious that it was wilfully mistranslated." The early dignity of woman is therefore unmistakably to be traced in the Old Testament Scriptures; and Kalisch, the Bible expositor, allows that they were in those days admitted to the highest office of teaching, that of prophets -Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah. (3) He comments on the seemingly narrower sphere allotted to women under the Gospel. But the light we have now gained does not indicate that a narrower sphere was allotted to women in the Christian dispensation. If there are no Deborahs referred to in the New Testament, or Huldahs as "judges," is it not because God adapts His messengers to the age or dispensation in which they live? There was no Moses going up the fiery mount in apostolic days, but there was a Paul who was equally a revelator of God’s will to his age as Moses was in his. The Judaizers described Paul’s "bodily presence" as--"weak, and his speech contemptible," and to people of his day and generation he probably appeared far below Moses in his service, but afterwards he is seen to have been to the Christian Church what Moses was to the people of God in the wilderness. Even so it can be with the Deborahs and Huldahs of the Apostolic Age and in every age. There are traces in history of women’s ministry in apostolic days as well as those recorded in the Scriptures, although on account of the teaching of the Jews and the deadening influences of the Oral Law upon them, women were far behind the men in education. But we cannot forget that this would not prevent the Holy Spirit teaching them the deep things of God, which the ’’natural man,’’ however highly educated, could not know. We have as examples some notable women referred to in the letters of Paul, which show that they did teach when the Spirit of God made them capable of doing so. Phoebe we have already mentioned. but there is more to say about her. Conybeare and Howson, in their Life of St. Paul, call attention to the use in Paul’s recommendation of her of two words associated together in technical legal matters, which indicate that she was abroad on some important business with the Courts-possibly in behalf of the church. "What Paul says of Phoebe," writes Dr. Bushnell, ’’ as a prostatis (translated ’ succourer,’ literally meaning ’one standing before’ ), proves that she was of no inferior order in the church." The word means in Greek a champion, leader, chief, protector, patron! It is the " noun form corresponding to the verb translated ’ rule’ in 1 Timothy 3:4-5, 1 Timothy 3:12 and 1 Timothy 5:17. But it could not be translated as if Paul said ’she hath been a "ruler" of many, and of myself also!’ The fact is,’’ Dr.. Bushnell says, " that the passages in Timothy referred to do not speak of ’rule.’ ’’ in Titus 3:8, Titus 3:14, the word is translated "maintain," and Phoebe held the same relation to the Church at Cenchrea that Paul says, "church officials" should hold to their own children and household --take good care of them! Theodoret says, writes Mrs. Booth, ’’The fame of Phoebe was spoken of throughout the world. She was known not only to the Greeks and Romans, but also to the Barbarians," which ’’implies that she had travelled much, and propagated the Gospel in foreign countries. We have also referred elsewhere to Priscilla, and there is more to say about her and her work in the early church. The first reference to Priscilla is to be found in Acts 18:2, where we read of Paul s arrival at Corinth. He there met Aquila and his wife Priscilla, "lately come from Italy,’’ and took up his abode with them. After eighteen months in Corinth, Paul and Priscilla and Aquila removed to Ephesus. Here came, later on, Apollos, a "learned man," "mighty in the Scriptures," but spiritually " knowing only the baptism of John." And "when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more carefully." Here we find Priscilla as a " teacher. " She was one who evidently had been taught of God so deeply that she could spiritually instruct a man "mighty in the Scriptures," and this was not a small thing when said about a Jew. ’’There are certain indications, says Dean Alford, that [Aquila] was rather the ready and zealous patron than the teacher; and this latter work, or a great share of it, seems to have belonged to his wife Priscilla." Another expositor says that "she must have been associated with, and more distinguished than, her husband.... One is allowed to infer... that she was the chief instructor, otherwise she would scarcely have been mentioned." In Romans 16:3, Paul calls her and Aquila his "fellow-labourers." "This expression," writes Dr. Bushnell, "not so very frequently employed by Paul, means much. By its use Priscilla and Aquila are legitimatized official Evangelists and Teachers." It is noteworthy also that after the first instance in Acts 18:1, Priscilla is always mentioned first (Acts 18:18, Acts 18:26, R.V.; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19) with the single exception of 1 Corinthians 16:19. It is therefore a historical fact that Priscilla is associated in the period of her greatest activity with the Apostle at the very time that he is represented by expositors as relegating women to silence. Then we are told in Acts 2:9 that ’’Phillip, the evangelist, had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy." The ancient church historian Eusebius says that these godly women fulfilled the work of evangelists, " to preach Christ to those who had never yet heard the word of the faith, and to deliver to them the record of the Holy Gospels. He also refers to Potomania Ammias, a prophetess in Philadelphia, and others ’’ who were equally distinguished for their love and zeal in the cause of Christ." There is also a reference to women apostles’’ in Romans 16:7; Paul writes, Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles.’’ Chrysostom and Theophylact, both Greeks, "say Junia was a woman; ’kinsmen’ should therefore have been rendered ’ kinsfolk,’ “ writes Mrs. Booth. She also says, ’’Justin Martyr, who lived until about A.D. 150, says, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, that ’both men and women were seen among them who had the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit of God, according as the prophet Joel had foretold." And Dodwell, in his Dissertions of Irenaeus, says that "the gift of the spirit of prophecy was given to others besides the Apostles: and that not only in the first and second, but in the third century-even to the time of Constantine-men had these gifts; yea, and women too.’’ "Women’s only century in the Christian Church,’’ observes Dr. Bushnell, "was during Apostolic days, and a little while thereafter,’’ although there are records that there were women teachers and preachers during the first four centuries. In an article in the Indian Standard (the organ of the Presbyterian Church in India). a writer on "Women Preachers’’ gives the following instances of their work in the early centuries of Christianity: 1. ’’Tertullian, one of the earliest of the Latin fathers, notes that women appear in every early reference to ecclesiastical orders. Four titles, he writes, ’’are applied to the women clergy, all of which occur in the New Testament, ’Widow,’ ’ ’Deaconess’, ’Presbyter,’ Virgin’. "The two former.’’ he adds, "are Apostolic orders." 2. "Marcella preached Christianity publicly in Rome, and Jerome (born about 340 A.D., and the translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible), writes of her: ’all that I learn with great study. . . the blessed Marcella learnt also but with great facility.’ He also celebrates her immense influence for good in Rome. 3."1n the Catacombs are found representations of women clergy, and they are shown presiding at the Lord’s Supper.... 4. " Mabillon, a French writer on ecclesiastical biography and antiquities, records that the evangelisation of Europe was due in great part to the Nuns of St. Benedict, many of whom publicly preached the Gospel. 5. "Among the Montanists, (4) who were the evangelicals of the third century, Priscilla and Maximilla, ladies of rank, served as evangelists over a wide extent of country. Women were elected by the Montanists as Deacons, Pastors, President-Presbyters or Bishops. Opinions vary as to when the recognized order of women clergy died out All agree that it lingered longer in the East than in the West...." "It seems," says the writer, "as if the decay of women’s ministry took place with the decay of Christianity, the rise of the Roman Apostasy, and the proud pretensions of an exclusive priesthood." But Dr. Bushnell’s book throws much light upon this very question-a light that is important at the present time because it shows that it was only when the teachings of the Jewish Rabbis began to influence the translations of the Scriptures that the status of Christian women in the church was changed. This means that the "Judaism" which Paul the Apostle so successfully combated in its efforts to fasten circumcision upon the Christians of his time did eventually succeed in robbing the church of the active ministry of women. In this light a comparison of the dates of the various translations made during the Christian era is very significant. Dean Stanley says that the Septuagint Greek was " the Bible of the Evangelists, and the Apostles of the first century, and of the Christian church for the first age of its existence, and was the text sanctioned probably by our Lord Himself." Then in the second century, points out Dr. Bushnell, three Greek versions of the Hebrew Scriptures were made by the Jews and Judaizers " with the express object of emphasizing the teaching of the Jews where they differed from Christianity." Following these, in the year 382, appeared the Latin Vulgate, translated by Jerome, who went to Palestine and studied Hebrew under the Jewish Rabbis, imbibing naturally the rabbinical viewpoint of the original Scriptures. Then came in the fourth century the tremendous change in the status of the ’’church’’ itself, when Constantine the Great took it under his protection. From this time on we have the gradual rise of an exclusive priesthood and an ecclesiastical system which has led men further and further away from the simplicity of the early days of Christianity. Notes 1. I.e. Matriarchism, rule by women 2. Mother rule. 3. Read the account of Miriam (Exodus 15:20); of Deborah (Judges 4:1-24 and Judges 5:1-31); of Huldah (2 Kings 22:1-20); the references to women who ’’prophesy out of their own heart’’ (Ezekiel 3:17), implying the existence of many women prophets who were not false.--Dr. Bushnell 4. Belle Montanists took their name from Montanus. who claimed to he a divinely commissioned prophet and the bearer of a fresh influx of the Spirit. Some say that he ’called himself the Paraclete Tertullian joined the Montanists, who were loyal to the fundamental truths of the Gospel. They proclaimed the imminent return of Christ and demanded the radical reform of the church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 04.07. CONCLUSION ======================================================================== Conclusion It only remains now in conclusion to summarize the purpose of the issue of this edition in addition to what has been said in the introduction. First and foremost, our purpose in cooperating with Dr. Bushnell in making known to Christian women the truths which Cod has enabled her to gain for His redeemed church is that we see it is impossible for the invisible church, consisting of the living members of Christ, to reach "full stature’’ in preparation for the lord’s return unless each member of the " Body,’’ set in its place by Cod, fulfills its office. For how can the Body reach full growth, and "make increase with the increase of God," if some of its members are quenching the Spirit or retarding their own growing up into Christ by breaking the laws of the Spirit in His leading them on into maturity? It has been said that this question of the status of Christian women and their right to speak or pray in the assembly of saints most vitally concerns the Body of Christ; and this is so, for if a member of the Body, in which Paul says there cannot be "male or female," fails to carry out the will of the "Head," it checks the life of the entire Body and the manifestation of the Spirit through all its members. It is important for the understanding of this to distinguish (1) the ’’church" as an organisation (in various sections) of professing Christians and (2) the "church’’ as an organism forming the mystical Body of Christ. In the first are rules and laws made by men who have a right to say who shall and who shall not occupy certain places and do certain work in its services; and Christian principle demands that no woman, or man for that matter, should act contrary to these rules. In the second-the "church" as an organism, formed of living members of Christ-are the ’’ laws of the Spirit,’’ which govern members of the Body according to the will of the Head; and each member must be free to obey the Spirit if the Body of Christ is to increase with the increase of God. In Paul’s description of the assembly in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40, the principles of action for the members of the Body-the "church’’ as an organism-are easily to be seen in their external manifestation as they worked out in the early church-and as tney would work out today if the Spirit of God had right of way in the gatherings of God’s people. It is this difference between the professing church of the present time and the mystical "church" [Body] of Christ which Christian women need to understand in their service for Christ when, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they are called to ’’ proclaim godliness." Where and when they are to speak, the Spirit of God must show them. But they should clearly define on what footing they stand as they speak. If they are to have working with them the Holy Spirit, do they speak as women or from their spiritual position as members of the Body of Christ, "new creations in Him? This point is so vital for the obtaining of the eo-working of the Holy Spirit in service that we must endeavor to make it clear. Let us turn for illustration to Ephesians 2:11-19, where Paul speaks of the cause of the enmity between Jew and Gentile as ’’the laws of commandments contained in ordinances. This enmity, the Apostle says, was slain through the cross so that ’’ He might create in himself of the twain one new man’’-the Body of Christ of which He is the Head. On the Cross, where the old Adam was slain, the Jew and the Gentile-as Jew and Centile-died, the one with his ordinances and the other without, so that out of both might be created a new creation, neither Jew nor Gentile, but Christ. For only through the Cross and the slaying of the old Adam is the " New Man’’-the Body of Christ-created; and there is no way into the membership of the Body but by way of the Cross. Then what he says about Jew and Gentile in Ephesians 2:1-22, Paul declares in Galatians 3:28 about "bond and free’’ and "male" and ’’female." If the Cross slays the enmity between Jew and Gentile because both have died with Christ, it also slays the distinctions of "bond and free," "male and female," in the Body of Christ. In the light of this sweeping away of earth’s distinction between Jew and Gentile by the Cross, is it not clear that the Cross has removed also the middle wall of partition" between male and female in the service of God? What difference is there between them before God, apart from the redemptive work of Christ? Has man or woman any right within the veil except on the ground of the atoning blood? Is it honoring the blood of Christ to believe that God bids a redeemed woman always enter His presence with a reminder of Eve s "fall" upon her head, or is she to point to the atoning blood and to the Cross of Calvary where the old creation life was slain and stand in God’s presence under her new Federal Head-the Last Adam, the Lord from heaven? And stand also towards her fellow members of Christ’s Body in the carrying out of the will of the Head in testimony and service for Cod. In the home sphere she is woman, wife, mother, sister, daughter, but in the Church and in service for God, praying or " proclaiming godliness,’’ she is a " partaker of the divine nature,’’ a messenger of the Lord of Hosts, a member of the heavenly Body, the Church-in both spheres seeking, with a meek and quiet spirit, to do the will of her Head in heaven. As we consider all this, it appears that the spiritual understanding of the truth of the Body of Christ is alone sufficient to show that the words " Let your women keep silence" was the language of the Judaizers and not the "commandment of the Lord," for it is obvious that the Apostle would not speak at one moment of the "spiritual" status of the ’’Body,’’ and each member as a channel of the Spirit and in the next moment lapse to the dealing with one section of it on the status of the Fall! In the light of this truth of the Body of Christ and the need for its rapid maturing in view of the lord’s soon return, we earnestly pray that through this message every Christian woman who has been called of God to witness for Him in " proclaiming godliness’’ may be strengthened to fulfill her ministry, with the empowering assurance that the Word of God is in harmony with the call of God which she has received. And we pray still more that the Holy Spirit may call out witnesses, male and female, to the Cross of Christ in this last hour of the Christian dispensation. That this was God’s purpose for redeemed women, as well as redeemed men, was unmistakably expressed in the prophecy of Joel foretelling the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.... Upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit," said Joel (2:28-29). He was one of the last of the prophets who could say, "Thus saith the Lord," before the ’’days of mingling" came upon the Jewish people, when there was no longer any prophet or vision of God. How the Holy Ghost came on the Day of Pentecost and how ’’daughters" and "handmaids’’ prophesied as they were filled with the Holy Ghost is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. And so it has been all down the centuries ever since. The Spirit of God has never been poured forth in any company, in any part of the world, in any nation, without the ’’ handmaids" prophesying, and this as the spontaneous and unvarying result of the Spirit of God moving upon women as well as men, as at Pentecost. This invariable characteristic of all "revivals" is accumulative historical evidence to the mind of God on the matter, giving additional proof that 1 Corinthians 14:34 and kindred passages should have been interpreted by translators and expositors in the light of Acts 2:1-47 and not Genesis 3:16. For we dare not attribute satanic power, without danger of sinning against the Holy Ghost or quenching the Spirit in those whom God has moved to proclaim the Gospel, to every supernatural movement that has ever broken out in the church, or differentiate and say that only the men were inspired by the Holy Spirit and all the women at the same time, in the same place, were inspired by Satan. Counterfeits there have been in every movement of the Spirit throughout the ages working alongside the true, and counterfeits there are today. But there is one infallible test for distinguishing the false from the true-the testimony to the atoning work of the Cross of Christ. We believe solemnly, as in the light of the Judgment Seat, that Dr. Bushnell speaks truth when she says, "The church which silences women will be found to silence the Holy Ghost,’’ and "a sect, or sex, or race which attempts a monopoly of the Spirit’s voice and power, will find that the Holy Spirit will flee far from it.’’ We are in the throes of the most crucial changes in the world, when "our (God is marching on" into the fulfillment of His purpose for the Church and for the world. ’’ All things,’’ said Paul, " are for your sakes.’’ God’s time has come for the emancipation of women, but it will be woe to the world and terrible loss to the Church if they are not won for Christ and for His service. For it is certain that if Christ does not get hold of the women of today, the devil will. And on the other hand, in the light of the Genesis 3:15 prophecy and evangel, it will be woe to the " serpent" and to his kingdom if those whom he has so oppressed and persecuted lay hold of the fact of his utter defeat at Calvary and in the power of their triumphant Head turn upon their foe in assurance of victory. Let us pray for revival if the Lord still postpones His return and be ready to welcome all that is of God when the opened heavens are given. May He set His seal to this message for His glory unto the ages of the ages. Amen. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 05.00. WAR ON THE SAINTS ======================================================================== WAR ON THE SAINTS BY JESSIE PENN-LEWIS WITH EVAN ROBERTS 1912 Jessie Penn-Lewis - 1861-1927 The name of Jessie Penn-Lewis often occurs in works related to the Welsh revival of 1904, not surprisingly as she was a major chronicler of the movement. She wrote an article each week in the "The Life of Faith," tracing the course of the spiritual movement first throughout Wales, and then through many lands and by many individuals. She contributed to a number of periodicals and produced her own history of the revival called ’The Awakening in Wales - and Some of its Hidden Springs.’ She is most well known for her excessive caution against demonic intrusions through the developing Pentecostal work of her day, and her later involvement with Evan Roberts. Evan John Roberts (1878-September 29, 1951), was a leading figure of the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival. In 1904, Roberts began studying for the ministry at Newcastle Emlyn. Attendance at a service held by evangelist Seth Joshua in Blaenanerch led to an experience that formed Roberts’ belief in the "Baptism of the Spirit". In October of that year, Roberts began speaking at a series of small meetings. These appearances led to his involvement in the Revival. He was soon attracting congregations numbering thousands. The four "points" of his message were: Confess all known sin Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ in your life Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly Confess Christ publicly Roberts soon succumbed to the pressure of his rigorous schedule, and, in 1906, suffered a physical and emotional collapse. Recuperating at the English estate of his patron Jessie Penn-Lewis, Roberts co-wrote with Penn-Lewis, War On The Saints, published in 1913. The book was labelled heretical by his former colleagues. Later in his life, Roberts would repudiate the work. Though Roberts returned to Wales in 1926, the latter part of his life was spent writing poetry and corresponding with ministers of the day, rather than preaching. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 05.01. A BIBLICAL SURVEY OF SATANIC DECEPTION ======================================================================== Truth of every kind makes free, while lies bind up in bonds. Ignorance also binds up, because it gives ground to Satan. Man’s ignorance is a primary and essential condition for deception by evil spirits. The ignorance of the people of God concerning the powers of darkness, has made it easy for the devil to carry out his work as deceiver. Unfallen man in his pure state was not perfect in knowledge. Eve was ignorant of "good and evil," and her ignorance was a condition which lent itself to the deception of the serpent. The devil’s great purpose, and for which he fights, is to keep the world in ignorance of himself, his ways, and his colleagues, and the Church is taking sides with him when siding with ignorance about him. Every man should keep an attitude of openness to all truth, and shun the false knowledge which has slain its tens of thousands, and kept the nations in the deception of the devil. A SPECIAL ONSLAUGHT OF DECEIVING SPIRITS ON THE CHURCH To-day there is a special onslaught of deceiving spirits upon the Church of Christ, the fulfilment of the prophecy which the Holy Spirit expressly made known to the Church through the Apostle Paul, that a great deceptive onslaught would take place in the "later times." Since the utterance of the prophecy, more than eighteen hundred years have passed by, but the special manifestation of evil spirits in the deception of believers to-day, points unmistakably to the fact that we are at the close of the age. The peril of the church at the close of this dispensation is foreshown to be especially from the supernatural realm, whence Satan would send forth an army of teaching spirits, to deceive all who would be open to teachings by spiritual revelation, and thus draw them away unwittingly from full allegiance to God. Yet in face of this plain forecast of the peril in later times, we find the Church in almost entire ignorance of the workings of this army of evil spirits. The majority of believers too readily accept everything "supernatural" as of God, and supernatural experiences are indiscriminately accepted because all such experiences are thought to be Divine. Through lack of knowledge, the majority of even the most spiritual people, do not carry out a full and perpetual war upon this army of wicked spirits; and many are shrinking from the subject, and the call to war against them, saying that if Christ is preached it is not necessary to give prominence to the existence of the devil, nor to enter into direct conflict with him, and his hosts. Yet large numbers of the children of God are becoming a prey to the enemy for lack of this very knowledge, and through the silence of teachers on this vital truth, the Church of Christ is passing on into the peril of the closing days of the age, unprepared to meet the onslaught of the foe. On account of this, and in view of the plainly given prophetic warnings in the Scriptures; the already manifest influx of the evil hosts of Satan among the children of God; and the many signs that we are actually in the "later times" referred to by the Apostle; all believers should welcome such knowledge about the powers of darkness, as will enable them to pass through the fiery trial of these days, without being ensnared by the foe. Apart from such knowledge, when thinking he is "fighting for truth," it is possible for a believer to fight for, defend, and protect evil spirits, and their works, believing he is thereby "defending" God, and His works; for if he thinks a thing Divine, he will protect and stand for it. It is possible for a man through ignorance to stand against God and to attack the very truth of God, and also defend the devil, and oppose God, unless he has knowledge. KNOWLEDGE GAINED BY LETTER OF SCRIPTURE, AND BY EXPERIENCE The Bible throws much light upon the Satanic powers, which cannot fail to be discerned by all who search the Scriptures with open minds, but these will not obtain as much knowledge of the subject from the sacred record, as will those who have understanding by experience, interpreted by the Holy Spirit, and shown to be in line with the truth of the Word of God. The believer may have a direct witness in his spirit to the truth of the Divine Word, but through experience he gets a personal witness to the inspiration of Scripture, to its testimony concerning the existence of supernatural beings, and their works, and the way they deceive, and mislead the children of men. THE WORK OF SATAN AS DECEIVER IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN If all that the Bible contains on the subject of the supernatural powers of evil, could be exhaustively dealt with in this book, we should find that more knowledge is given of the workings of Satan, and his principalities and powers, than many have realized. From Genesis to Revelation the work of Satan as deceiver of the whole inhabited earth can be traced, until the climax is reached, and the full results of the deception in the Garden of Eden are unveiled in the Apocalypse. In Genesis we have the simple story of the garden, with the guileless pair unaware of danger from evil beings in the unseen world. We find recorded there Satan’s first work as deceiver, and the subtle form of his method of deception. We see him working upon an innocent creature’s highest and purest desires, and cloaking his own purpose of ruin, under the guise of seeking to lead a human being nearer to God. We see him using the God-ward desires of Eve to bring about captivity, and bondage to himself. We see him using "good" to bring about evil; suggesting evil to bring about supposed good. Caught with the bait of being "wise," and "like God," Eve is blinded to the principle involved in obedience to God, and is deceived (1 Timothy 2:14; A.V.). Goodness is, therefore, no guarantee of protection from deception. The keenest way in which the devil deceives the world, and the Church, is when he comes in the guise of somebody, or something, which apparently causes them to go God-ward and good-ward. He said to Eve, "ye shall be as gods," but he did not say, "and ye shall be like demons." Angels and men only knew evil when they fell into a state of evil. Satan did not tell Eve this, when he added "knowing good and evil." His true objective in deceiving Eve was to get her to disobey God, but his wile was, "ye shall be like God." Had she reasoned, she would have seen that the deceiver’s suggestion exposed itself, for it crudely resolved itself into "disobey God" to be more like God! THE CURSE OF GOD PRONOUNCED UPON THE DECEIVER That a highly organized monarchy of evil spirit-beings was in existence, is not made known in the story of the garden. Only a "serpent" is there; but the serpent is spoken to by God as an intelligent being, carrying out a deliberate purpose in the deception of the woman. The serpent-disguise of Satan is swept aside by Jehovah, as He makes known the decision of the Triune God in view of the catastrophe which had taken place. A "Seed" of the deceived woman, should eventually bruise the head of the supernatural being, who had used the form of the serpent to carry out his plan. Thenceforward the name of serpent is attached to him, the very name throughout the ages describing the climax action of his revolt against his Creator, in beguiling and deceiving the woman in Eden, and blasting the human race. Satan triumphed, but God overruled. The victim is made the vehicle for the advent of a Victor, who should ultimately destroy the works of the devil, and cleanse the heavens and the earth from every trace of his handiwork. The serpent is cursed, but, in effect, the beguiled victim is blest, for through her will come the "Seed" which will triumph over the devil and his seed; and through her will arise a new race through the promised Seed (Genesis 3:15), which will be antagonistic to the serpent to the end of time, through the enmity implanted by God. Henceforth the story of the ages consists of the record of a war between these two seeds; the Seed of the woman--Christ and His redeemed--and the seed of the devil (See John 8:44; 1 John 3:10), right on to the furthermost point of the final committal of Satan to the lake of fire. Henceforth it is also war by Satan upon the womanhood of the world, in malignant revenge for the verdict of the garden. War by the trampling down of women in all lands where the deceiver reigns. War upon women in Christian lands, by the continuance of his Eden method of misinterpreting the Word of God; insinuating into men’s minds throughout all succeeding ages, that God pronounced a "curse" upon the woman, when in truth she was pardoned and blessed; and instigating men of the fallen race to carry out the supposed curse, which was in truth a curse upon the deceiver, and not the deceived one (Genesis 3:14). "I will put enmity between thee and the woman," said God, as well as between "thy seed and her seed," and this vindictive enmity of the hierarchy of evil to woman, and to believers, has not lessened in its intensity from that day. SATAN AS DECEIVER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT When once we clearly apprehend the existence of an unseen host of evil spirit-beings, all actively engaged in deceiving and misleading men, Old Testament history will convey to us an open vision of their doings, hitherto hidden from our knowledge. We can trace their operations in relation to the servants of God throughout all history, and discern the work of Satan as deceiver penetrating everywhere. We shall see that David was deceived by Satan into numbering Israel, because he failed to recognize the suggestion to his mind as from a Satanic source (1 Chronicles 21:1). Job also was deceived, and the messengers that came to him, when he believed the report that the "fire" which had fallen from heaven was from God (Job 1:16); and that all the other calamities which befell him in the loss of wealth, home and children, came directly from the hand of God; whereas the early part of the book of Job clearly shows that Satan was the primary cause of all his troubles; as "prince of the power of the air" using the elements of nature, and the wickedness of men, to afflict the servant of God, in the hope that ultimately he could force Job into renouncing his faith in God, Who seemed to be unjustly punishing him without cause. That this was Satan’s aim is suggested in the words of the wife of the patriarch, who became a tool for the Adversary, in urging the suffering man to "curse God and die," she, also, being deceived by the enemy into believing that God was the primary cause of all the trouble and the unmerited suffering which had come upon him. In the history of Israel during the time of Moses, the veil is lifted more clearly from the Satanic powers, and we are shown the condition of the world as sunk in idolatry--which is said in the New Testament to be the direct work of Satan (1 Corinthians 10:20)--and actual dealing with evil spirits; the whole inhabited earth being thus in a state of deception, and held by the deceiver in his power. We also find numbers of God’s own people, through contact with others under Satanic power, deceived into communicating with "familiar spirits," and into the using of "divination," and other kindred arts, inculcated by the powers of darkness, even though they knew the laws of God, and had seen His manifested judgments among them. (See Leviticus 17:7; R.V. margin "satyrs"; Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-11). In the book of Daniel, we find a still further stage of revelation reached concerning the hierarchy of evil powers, when in the tenth chapter we are shown the existence of the princes of Satan, actively opposing the messenger of God sent to Daniel to make His servant understand His counsels for His people. There are also other references to the workings of Satan, his princes, and the hosts of wicked spirits, carrying out his will, scattered throughout the Old Testament, but on the whole the veil is kept upon their doings, until the great hour arrives, when the "Seed" of the woman, who was to bruise the head of the serpent, is manifested on earth in human form (Galatians 4:4). SATAN AS DECEIVER UNVEILED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT With the advent of Christ, the veil which had hidden the active workings of the supernatural powers of evil, for centuries since the garden catastrophe, is still further removed, and their deception and power over man is clearly revealed, and the arch-deceiver himself appears in the wilderness conflict of the Lord, to challenge the "Seed of the woman," as it is not recorded that he appeared on earth since the time of the Fall. The wilderness of Judea, and the Garden of Eden, being parallel periods for the testing of the first and second Adam. In both periods Satan worked as Deceiver, in the second instance wholly failing to deceive, and beguile the One who had come as his Conqueror. Traces of the characteristic work of Satan as deceiver can be discerned among the disciples of the Christ. He deceives Peter into speaking words of temptation to the Lord, suggesting His turning from the path of the Cross (Matthew 16:22-23), and later on takes hold of the same disciple in the Judgment Hall (Luke 22:31), prompting him to the lie, "I know not the Man," with the very purpose of deception (Matthew 26:74). Further traces of the work of the deceiver may be seen in the epistles of Paul, in his references to the "false apostles," "deceitful workers," and Satan’s workings as an "angel of light," and "his ministers as ministers of righteousness" among the people of God (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). In the messages to the Churches, also, given by the ascended Lord to His servant John, false apostles are spoken of, and false teachings of many kinds. A "synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9), consisting of deceived ones, is mentioned, and "deep things of Satan" are described as existing in the Church (Revelation 2:24). THE FULL REVELATION OF THE DECEIVER IN THE APOCALYPSE Then the veil is lifted at last. The full revelation of the Satanic confederacy against God and His Christ, is given to the Apostle John. After the messages to the Churches, the world-wide work of the deceiver prince is fully disclosed to the Apostle, and he is bidden to write all that he is shown, that the Church of Christ might know the full meaning of the War with Satan in which the redeemed would be engaged, right on to the time when the Lord Jesus would be revealed from heaven, in judgment upon these vast, and terrible powers, full of cunning malignity, and hatred to His people, and as truly at work behind the world of men, from the days of the garden story to the end. As we read the Apocalypse, it is important to remember that the organised forces of Satan described therein, were in existence at the time of the Fall of Eden, and only partially revealed to the people of God until the advent of the promised "Seed of the woman" Who was to bruise the serpent’s head. When the fulness of time had come, God manifest in the flesh met the fallen arch-angel, and leader of the evil angelic host, in mortal combat at Calvary; and, putting them to open shame, shook off from Himself the vast masses of the hosts of darkness who gathered around the Cross, from the furthermost realms of the kingdom of Satan (Colossians 2:15). The Scriptures teach us that God’s unveilings of the truths concerning Himself, and all the things in the spiritual realm which we need to know, are always timed by Him to the strength of His people. The full revelation of the Satanic powers disclosed in the Apocalypse was not given to the Church in its infancy, for some forty years passed after the Lord’s ascension ere the Book of the Revelation was written. Possibly it was necessary, that the Church of Christ should first fully apprehend the fundamental truths revealed to Paul, and the other Apostles, ere she could safely be shown the extent of the war with supernatural powers of evil upon which she had entered. THE LAST OF THE APOSTLES CHOSEN TO TRANSMIT THE REVELATION Whatever the reason of the delay, it is striking that it was the last of the Apostles who was chosen to transmit, at the very end of his life, the full war- message to the Church, which would serve as a foreshadowing of the campaign until its close. In the Revelation given to John, the name and character of the deceiver is more clearly made known, with the strength of his forces, and the extent of the war, and its final issues. It is shown that in the invisible realm there is war between the forces of evil, and the forces of light. John says that "the dragon warred, and his angels . . , " the dragon being explicitly described as the "serpent" from his guise in Eden--"called the Devil and Satan," the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth. His worldwide work as deceiver is fully revealed, and the war in the earth realm caused by his deceiving of the nations, and the world-powers acting under his instigation and rule. The highly organised confederacy of principalities and powers, acknowledging the headship of Satan, is disclosed, and their "authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation," all deceived by the supernatural and invisible forces of evil, and making "war with the saints" (Revelation 13:7). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 05.02. THE SATANIC CONFEDERACY OF WICKED SPIRITS ======================================================================== A perspective view of the ages covered by the history in Bible records, shows that the rise and fall in spiritual power of the people of God, was marked by the recognition of the existence of the demoniacal hosts of evil. When the Church of God in the old and new dispensations was at the highest point of spiritual power, the leaders recognized, and drastically dealt with, the invisible forces of Satan; and when at the lowest they were ignored, or allowed to have free course among the people. GOD LEGISLATING FOR DANGERS FROM EVIL SPIRITS The reality of the existence of wicked spirits by whom Satan, their prince, carried out his work in the fallen world of men, cannot be more strongly proved, than by the fact that the statutes given by Jehovah to Moses in the fiery mount, embodied stringent measures for dealing with the attempts of evil spirit beings to find entry to the people of God. Moses was instructed by Jehovah to keep the camp of Israel free from their inroads, by the drastic penalty of death for all who had dealings with them. The very fact of Jehovah thus giving statutes in connection with such a subject, and the extreme penalty enforced for disobedience to His law, shows in itself (1) the existence of evil spirits, (2) their wickedness, (3) their ability to communicate with, and influence human beings, and (4) the necessity for uncompromising hostility to them, and their works. God would not legislate for dangers which had no real existence, nor would He command the extreme penalty of death, if the contact of the people with evil spirit beings of the unseen world, did not necessitate such drastic dealing. The severity of the penalty obviously implies, also, that the leaders of Israel must have been given acute "discerning of spirits," so sure and so clear, that they could have no doubt in deciding cases brought before them. Whilst Moses and Joshua lived, and enforced the strong measures decreed by God to keep His people free from the inroads of Satanic power, Israel remained in allegiance to God, at the highest point of its history; but when these leaders died, the nation sank into darkness, brought about by evil spirit powers, drawing the people into idolatry and sin; the condition of the nation in after years, rising and falling (see Judges 2:19, 1 Kings 14:22-24; compare 2 Chronicles 33:2-5; 2 Chronicles 34:2-7) into (1) allegiance to God, or (2) idolatrous worship of idols, and all the sins resulting from the substitution of the worship of Satan--which idolatry really meant--in the place of Jehovah. When the new dispensation opens with the advent of Christ, we find Him--the God-Man--recognising the existence of the Satanic powers of evil, and manifesting uncompromising hostility toward them, and their works--Moses in the Old Testament, Christ in the New. Moses, the man who knew God face to face. Christ, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, sent from God to the world of men. Each recognizing the existence of Satan and the evil spirit beings; each drastically dealing with them as entering and possessing men, and each waging war against them, as actively opposed to God. Taking a perspective view, from the time of Christ on throughout the early history of the Church, up to the giving of the Apocalypse, and the death of the Apostle John, the manifested power of God wrought (in varying degrees) among His people, and the leaders recognized and dealt with the spirits of evil--a period corresponding to the Mosaic period in the old dispensation. THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES Then the forces of darkness gained, and, with intermittent intervals and exceptions, the Church of Christ sank down under their power, until, in the darkest hour, which we call the Middle Ages, all the sins having their rise through the deceptive workings of the evil spirits of Satan, were as rife as in the time of Moses, when he wrote by the command of God, "There shall not be found with thee . . one that useth divination, or that practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer" (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Now, at the close of the dispensation, and on the eve of the millennial age, the Church of Christ will again arise, and reach God’s purposed power, only when the leaders recognize, as Moses did in the Old Testament Church, and Christ and His apostles did in the New, the existence of evil spirit powers of darkness, and take towards them and their works, the same uncompromising attitude of hostility, and aggressive warfare. THE CHURCH OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Why the Church in the twentieth century has not recognized the existence, and workings, of evil supernatural forces, can only be attributed to its low condition of spiritual life and power. Even at the present time, when the existence of evil spirits is recognized by the heathen, it is generally looked upon by the missionary as "superstition" and ignorance; whereas the ignorance is often on the part of the missionary, who is blinded by the prince of the power of the air to the revelation given in the Scriptures, concerning the Satanic powers. The "ignorance" on the part of the heathen is in their propitiatory attitude to evil spirits, because of their ignorance of the gospel message of a Deliverer and a Saviour sent to "proclaim release to the captives" (Luke 4:18), and Who, when He was on earth, went about healing all who were "oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38), and sent His messengers to open the eyes of the bound ones, that they might "turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18). If missionaries to the heathen recognized the existence of evil spirits, and that the darkness in heathen lands was caused by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 4:18 ; 1 John 5:19; 2 Corinthians 4:4), and proclaimed to the heathen the message of deliverance from the evil hosts, they know so well to be real, and malignant, foes; as well as remission of sin, and victory over sin through the atoning sacrifice of Calvary; a vast change would come over the mission field in a few brief years. But the Holy Spirit is already at work, opening the eyes of the people of God, and many of the leaders in the Church are beginning to recognize the real existence of Satanic powers, and are seeking to know how to discern their workings, and how to deal with them in the power of God. BELIEVERS MAY RECEIVE EQUIPMENT TO DEAL WITH SATANIC POWERS The hour of need always brings the corresponding measure of power from God to meet that need. The Church of Christ must lay hold of the equipment of the apostolic period, for dealing with the influx of the evil spirit hosts among her members. That all believers may receive the equipment of the Holy Spirit, whereby the authority of Christ over the demon hosts of Satan is manifested, is proved not only by the instance of Philip the deacon in the Acts of the Apostles, but also by the writings of the "Fathers" in the early centuries of the Christian era, which show that the Christians of that time (1) recognized the existence of evil spirits, (2) that they influenced, deceived and possessed men, and (3) that Christ gave His followers authority over them through His Name. That this authority through the Name of Christ, wielded by the believer walking in living and vital union with Christ, is available for the servants of God at the close of the age, the Spirit of God is making known in many and divers ways. God gives an object lesson, through a native Christian like Pastor Hsi, in China, who acted upon the Word of God in simple faith, without the questioning caused by the mental difficulties of Western Christendom; or He awakens the Church in the West, as in the Revival in Wales, by an outpouring of the Spirit of God; which not only manifested the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the twentieth century, as in the days of Pentecost; but also unveiled the reality of Satanic powers in active opposition to God and His people, and the need among the Spirit-filled children of God, for equipment for dealing with them. Incidentally, too, the Revival in Wales threw light upon the Scripture records, showing that the highest points of God’s manifested power among men, is invariably the occasion for concurrent manifestations of the working of Satan. It was so when the Son of God came forth from the wilderness conflict with the prince of darkness, and found the hidden demons in many lives aroused to malignant activity, so that from all parts of Palestine crowds of victims came to the Man, before whom the possessing spirits trembled in impotent rage. The awakened part of the Church of to-day, has now no doubt of the real existence of the spirit beings of evil, and that there is an organized monarchy of supernatural powers, set up in opposition to Christ, and His kingdom, bent upon the eternal ruin of every member of the human race; and these believers know that God is calling them to seek the fullest equipment obtainable for withstanding, and resisting these enemies of Christ and His Church. In order to understand the working of the deceiver-prince of this power of the air, and become acute to discern his tactics, and his methods of deceiving men, such believers should search the Scriptures thoroughly, to obtain a knowledge of his character, and how spirits of evil are able to possess, and use the bodies of men. DISTINCTION BETWEEN SATAN AND EVIL SPIRITS The distinction between the workings of Satan as prince of demons, and his evil spirits, should specially be noted, so as to understand their methods at the present day; for to many the adversary is merely a tempter, whilst they little dream of his power as a deceiver (Revelation 12:9), hinderer (1 Thessalonians 2:18), murderer (John 8:44), liar (John 8:44), accuser (Revelation 12:10), and a false angel of light; and still less of the hosts of spirits under his command, constantly besetting their path, bent upon deceiving, hindering, and prompting to sin. A vast host wholly given up to wickedness (Matthew 12:43-45), delighting to do evil, to slay (Mark 5:2-5), to deceive, to destroy (Mark 9:20); and having access to men of every grade, prompting them to all kinds of wickedness, and satisfied only when success accompanies their wicked plans to ruin the children of men (Matthew 27:3-5). SATAN’S CHALLENGE OF CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS This distinction between Satan, the prince of the demons (Matthew 9:34), and his legion of wicked spirits, is clearly recognized by Christ, and may be noted in many parts of the Gospels (Matthew 25:41). We find Satan in person challenging the Lord in the wilderness temptation, and Christ answering him as a person, word for word, and thought for thought, until he retires, foiled by the keen recognition of his tactics, by the Son of God (Luke 4:1-13). We read of the Lord describing him as the "prince of the world" (John 14:30); recognizing him as ruling over a kingdom (Matthew 12:26); using imperative language to him as a person, saying; "Get thee hence"; while to the Jews He describes his character as "sinning from the beginning," and being a "murderer," and a "liar," the "father of lies," who "abode not in the truth" (John 8:44) which once he held as a great archangel of God. He is called, also, "that wicked one" (1 John 3:12; A.V.), the "Adversary," and that "old serpent" (Revelation 12:9). In respect of his method of working, the Lord speaks of him as sowing "tares," which are "sons of the evil one," among the wheat--the "sons" of God (Matthew 13:38-39); thus revealing the Adversary as possessing the skill of a master mind, directing, with executive ability, his work as "prince of the world," in the whole inhabited earth, and with power to place the men, who are called his "sons," wherever he wills. We read also, of Satan watching to snatch away the seed of the Word of God from all who hear it, this again indicating his executive power in the world- wide direction of his agents, whom the Lord describes as "fowls of the air"; in His own interpretation of the parable (Matthew 13:3-4; Matthew 13:13; Matthew 13:19; Mark 4:3; Mark 4:4; Mark 4:14-15; Luke 8:5; Luke 8:11-12); plainly saying that He meant by these "fowls" the "evil one" (Gr. Poneros, Matthew 13:19); "Satan" (Gr. Satana, Mark 4:15); or "Devil" (Gr. Diabolus, Luke 8:12); whom we know, from the general teaching of other parts of the Scriptures, does his work through the wicked spirits he has at his command; Satan himself not being omnipresent, although able to transpose himself with lightning velocity to any part of his world-wide dominions. THE LORD’S ATTITUDE TO AND RECOGNITION OF SATAN The Lord was always ready to meet the antagonist whom He had foiled in the wilderness, but who had only left Him "for a season" (Luke 4:13). In Peter He quickly discerned Satan at work, and exposed him by one swift sentence, mentioning his name (Matthew 16:23). In the Jews He stripped aside the mask of the hidden foe, and said, "Ye are of your father, the devil" (John 8:44), and with keen-edged words spoke of him as the "murderer" and the "liar," prompting them to kill Him, and lying to them about Himself and His Father in heaven (John 8:40-41). On the lake in a storm, fast asleep, and awakened suddenly, He is alert to meet the foe, and stands with calm majesty to "rebuke" the storm, which the prince of the power of the air had roused against Him (Mark 4:38-39). In brief, we find the Lord, right on from the wilderness victory, unveiling the powers of darkness, as He went forward in steady aggressive mastery over them. Behind what appeared "natural," He sometimes discerned a supernatural power which demands His rebuke. He "rebuked" the fever in Peter’s wife’s mother (Luke 4:39), just as He "rebuked" the evil spirits in other, and more manifest forms, whilst in other instances He simply healed the sufferer by a word. The difference between Satan’s attitude to the Lord, and that of the spirits of evil, should also be noted. Satan, the prince, tempts Him, seeks to hinder Him, prompts the Pharisees to oppose Him, hides behind a disciple to divert Him, and finally takes hold of a disciple to betray Him, and then sways the multitude to put Him to death; but the spirits of evil bowed down before Him, beseeching Him to "let them alone," and not to command them to go into the abyss (Luke 8:31). The realm of this deceiver-prince is specifically mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his description of him as "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), the aerial, or "heavenly places," being the special sphere of the activity of Satan, and his hierarchy of powers. The name Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, meaning the "god of flies," suggestively speaks of the aerial character of the powers of the air, as well as the word "darkness," describing their character, and their doings. The Lord’s description of Satan’s working through "fowls of the air" strikingly corresponds to these other statements, together with John’s language about the "whole world lying in the evil one" (1 John 5:19); the "air" being the place of the workings of these aerial spirits, the very atmosphere in which the whole human race moves, said to be "in the evil one." EVIL SPIRITS IN THE GOSPEL RECORDS The gospel record is full of reference to the workings of evil spirits, and shows that wherever the Lord moved, the emissaries of Satan sprang into active manifestation in the bodies, and minds, of those they indwelt; and that the ministry of Christ and His apostles was directed actively against them, so that again and again the record reads, "He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons" (Mark 1:39); He "cast out many demons, and He suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew Him" (Mark 1:34); "Unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God" (Mark 3:11). Then came the sending out of the twelve chosen disciples, when the spirits of evil again are taken into account, for "He gave them authority over unclean spirits" (Mark 6:7). Later He appointed seventy other messengers, and as they went forward in their work, they, too, found the demons subject to them through His Name (Luke 10:17). Were Jerusalem, Capernaum, Galilee, and all Syria, then filled with people who were "insane" and "epileptic"? Or was the truth of evil spirit possession of people a common fact? In any case it is evident from the gospel records, that the Son of God dealt with the powers of darkness as the active, primary cause of the sin, and suffering of this world, and that the aggressive part of His, and His disciples’ ministry, was directed persistently against them. On the one hand He dealt with the deceiver of the world, and bound the "strong man," whilst on the other He taught the truth about God to the people, to destroy the lies which the prince of darkness had placed in their minds (2 Corinthians 4:4) about His Father and Himself. We find, too, that the Lord clearly recognized the devil behind the opposition of the Pharisees (John 8:44), and the "hour and power of darkness" (Luke 22:53) behind His persecutors at Calvary. He said that His mission was to "proclaim liberty to the captives" (Luke 4:18), and who the captor was He revealed on the eve of Calvary, when He said, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31); and later on that this "prince" would once more come to Him, but would find nothing in Him as ground for his power (John 14:30). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 05.03. DECEPTION BY EVIL SPIRITS IN MODERN TIMES ======================================================================== In the special onslaught of the deceiver, which will come upon the whole of the true Church of Christ at the close of the age, through the army of deceiving spirits, there are some more than others who are specially attacked by the powers of darkness, who need light upon his deceptive workings, so that they may pass through the trial of the Last Hour, and be counted worthy to escape that hour of greater trial, which is coming upon the earth (Luke 21:34-36; Revelation 3:10). For among those who are members of the Body of Christ, there are degrees of growth, and therefore degrees of testing, permitted by God, Who provides a way of escape for him who knows his need, and, by watching unto prayer, takes heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, and Satan is set his limit with every redeemed believer (see Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Luke 22:31). Some of the members of Christ are yet in the stage of babyhood, and others do not even know the initial reception of the Holy Spirit. To such this book has not much to say, as they are among the weaker ones who need the "milk of the Word." But there are others, who may be described as the advance guard of the Church of Christ, who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, or who are seeking that Baptism; honest and earnest believers, who sigh and cry over the powerlessness of the true Church of Christ, and who grieve that her witness is so ineffective; that Spiritism and Christian Science, and other "isms," are sweeping thousands into their deceptive errors, little thinking, that, as they themselves go forward into the spiritual realm, the deceiver, who has misled others, has special wiles prepared for them, so that he might render ineffective their aggressive power against him. These are the ones who are in danger of the special deception of the counterfeit "Christs," and false prophets, and the dazzling lure of "signs and wonders," and "fire out of heaven," planned to meet their longing for the mighty interposition of God in the darkness settling upon the earth, but who do not recognize that such workings of the spirits of evil are possible, and so are unprepared to meet them. These are the ones, also, who are recklessly ready to follow the Lord at any cost, and yet do not realize their unpreparedness for contest with the spiritual powers of the unseen world, as they press on into fuller spiritual things. Believers who are full of mental conceptions wrought into them in earlier years, which hinder the Spirit of God from preparing them for all they will meet as they press on to their coveted goal; conceptions which also hinder others from giving them, out of the Scriptures, much that they need to know of the spiritual world into which they are so blindly advancing. Conceptions which lull them into a false security, and give ground for, and even bring about, that very deception which enables the deceiver to find them an easy prey. CAN "HONEST SOULS" BE DECEIVED? One prevailing idea, which such believers have deeply embedded in their minds, is that "honest seekers after God" will not be allowed to be deceived. That this is one of Satan’s lies, to lure such seekers into a false position of safety, is proved by the history of the Church during the past two thousand years, for every "wile of error" which has borne sad fruit throughout this period, first laid hold of devoted believers who were "honest souls." The errors among groups of such believers, some well known to the present generation, all began among "honest" children of God, baptized with the Holy Ghost; and all so sure that, knowing the side-tracking of others before them, they would never be caught by the wiles of Satan. Yet they, too, have been deceived by lying spirits, counterfeiting the workings of God in the higher ranges of the spiritual life. Among such devoted believers, lying spirits have worked on their determination literally to obey the Scriptures, and by misuse of the letter of the written Word, have pushed them into phases of unbalanced truth, with resulting erroneous practices. Many who have suffered for their adherence to these "Biblical commands," firmly believe that they are martyrs suffering for Christ. The world calls these devoted ones "cranks," and "fanatics," yet they give evidence of highest devotion and love to the Person of the Lord, and could be delivered, if they but understood why the powers of darkness deceived them, and the way of freedom from their power. The aftermath of the Revival in Wales, which was a true work of God, revealed numbers of "honest souls" swept off their feet by evil supernatural powers, which they were not able to discern from the true working of God. And later still than the Welsh Revival, there have been other "movements," with large numbers of earnest servants of God swept into deception, through the wiles of deceiving spirits counterfeiting the workings of God; all "honest souls," deceived by the subtle foe, and certain to be led on into still deeper deception, notwithstanding their honesty and earnestness, if they are not awakened to "return to soberness" and recovery out of the snare of the devil into which they have fallen (2 Timothy 2:26). FAITHFULNESS TO LIGHT NOT SUFFICIENT SAFEGUARD AGAINST DECEPTION The children of God need to know that to be true in motive, and faithful up to light, is not sufficient safeguard against deception; and that it is not safe for them to rely upon their "honesty of purpose" as guaranteeing protection from the enemy’s wiles, instead of taking heed to the warnings of God’s Word, and watching unto prayer. Christians who are true and faithful, and honest, can be deceived by Satan, and his deceiving spirits, for the following reasons:-- (a) When a man becomes a child of God, by the regenerating power of the Spirit, giving him new life as he trusts in the atoning work of Christ, he does not at the same time receive fulness of knowledge, either of God, himself, or the devil. (b) The mind which by nature is darkened (Ephesians 4:18), and under a veil created by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) is only renewed, and the veil destroyed, up to the extent that the light of truth penetrates it, and according to the measure in which the man is able to apprehend it. (c) "Deception" has to do with the mind, and it means a wrong thought admitted to the mind, under the deception that it is truth. Since "deception" is based on ignorance, and not on the moral character; a Christian who is "true" and "faithful" up to the knowledge he has, must be open to deception in the sphere where he is ignorant of the "devices" of the devil (2 Corinthians 2:11), and what he is able to do. A "true" and "faithful" Christian is liable to be "deceived" by the devil because of his ignorance. (d) The thought that God will protect a believer from being deceived if he is true and faithful, is in itself a "deception," because it throws a man off guard, and ignores the fact that there are conditions on the part of the believer which have to be fulfilled for God’s working. God does not do anything instead of a man, but by the man’s co-operation with Him; neither does He undertake to make up for a man’s ignorance, when He has provided knowledge for him which will prevent him being deceived. (e) Christ would not have warned His disciples "Take heed . . be not deceived" if there had been no danger of deception, or if God had undertaken to keep them from deception apart from their "taking heed," and their knowledge of such danger. The knowledge that it is possible to be deceived, keeps the mind open to truth, and light from God; and is one of the primary conditions for the keeping power of God; whereas a closed mind to light and truth, is a certain guarantee of deception by Satan at his earliest opportunity. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST As we glance back over the history of the Church, and watch the rise of various "heresies" or delusions--as they have sometimes been called--we can trace the period of deception as beginning with some great spiritual crisis, such as that which, in later years, we have termed "the Baptism of the Holy Ghost"; a crisis in which the man is brought to give himself up in full abandonment to the Holy Spirit, and in so doing thus opens himself to the supernatural powers of the invisible world. The reason for the peril of this crisis, is, that up to this time, the believer used his reasoning faculties in judging right and wrong, and obeyed, what he believed to be, the will of God, from principle; but now, in his abandonment to the Holy Spirit, he begins to obey an unseen Person, and to submit his faculties, and his reasoning powers in blind obedience to that which he believes is of God. What the Baptism of the Spirit means will be dealt with in a later chapter; at this point it is only necessary to say that it is a crisis in the life of a Christian, which none but those who have gone through it in experience, can fully under stand. It means that the Spirit of God becomes so real to the man, that his supreme object in life is henceforth implicit "obedience to the Holy Ghost." The will is surrendered to carry out the Will of God at all costs, and the whole being is made subject to the powers of the unseen world; the believer, of course, purposing that it shall only be to the power of God, not taking into account that there are other powers in the spiritual realm, and that all that is "supernatural" is not all of God; and not realizing that this absolute surrender of the whole being to invisible forces, without knowing how to discern between the contrary powers of God and Satan, must be of the gravest risk to the inexperienced believer. The question whether this surrender to "obey the Spirit, " is one that is in accord with Scripture, should be examined in view of the way in which so many wholehearted believers have been misled, for it is strange that an attitude which is Scriptural should be so grievously the cause of danger, and often complete wreckage, to many devoted children of God. IS THE PHRASE OBEYING "THE SPIRIT" SCRIPTURAL? "The Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him," is the principal phrase giving rise to the expression, "obey the Spirit." It was used by Peter before the Council at Jerusalem, but nowhere else in the Scriptures is the same thought given. The whole passage needs reading carefully to reach a clear conclusion. "We must obey GOD" (Acts 5:29), Peter said to the Sanhedrin, for "we are witnesses . . and so is the Holy Ghost Whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32). Does the Apostle mean "obey the Spirit," or "obey GOD," according to the first words of the passage? The distinction is important, and the setting of the words can only be rightly understood by the teaching of other parts of Scripture, that the Triune GOD in Heaven is to be obeyed, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. For to place the Holy Ghost as the object of obedience, rather than God the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, creates the danger of leading the believer to rely upon, or obey, a "Spirit" in, or around him, rather than God on the throne in heaven, Who is to be obeyed by the child of God united to His Son; the Holy Spirit being the media, or means, through Whom God is worshipped, and obeyed. THE TRUE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER The Baptism of the Spirit, however, so brings the Holy Spirit as a Person into the range of the believer’s consciousness, that for the time being, the other Persons of the Trinity, in heaven, may be eclipsed. The Holy Spirit becomes the centre and object of thought and worship, and is given a place which He Himself does not desire, and which it is not the purpose of the Father in heaven, that He should have, or occupy. "He shall not speak from Himself " (John 16:13), said the Lord before Calvary, as He told of His coming at Pentecost. He should act as Teacher (John 14:26), but teaching the words of Another, not His own; He should bear witness to Another, not to Himself (John 15:26); He should glorify Another, not Himself (John 16:14); He should only speak what was given Him to speak by Another (John 16:13); in brief, His entire work would be to lead souls into union with the Son, and knowledge of the Father in heaven whilst He Himself directed, and worked in the background. But the opening of the spiritual world, which takes place through the filling of the Spirit; and the work of the Spirit, which now occupies the attention of the believer, is just the opportunity for the arch-deceiver to commence his wiles under a new form. If the man is untaught in the Scriptural statements of the work of the Triune God, to "obey the Spirit" is now his supreme purpose; and to counterfeit the guidance of the Spirit, and the Spirit Himself, is now the deceiver’s scheme; for he must somehow regain power over this servant of God, so as to render him useless for aggressive warfare against the forces of darkness, drive him back into the world, or in some way side-track him from active service for God. THE PERIL OF THE TIME OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT It is just here that the ignorance of the believer about (1) the spiritual world now opened to him, (2) the workings of evil powers in that realm, and (3) the conditions upon which God works in and through him, gives the enemy his opportunity. It is the time of greatest peril for every believer, unless he is instructed and prepared, as the disciples were for three whole years by the Lord. The danger lies along the line of supernatural "guidance," through not knowing the condition of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, and how to discern the will of God; and counterfeit manifestations, through not knowing the "discerning of spirits" necessary to detect the workings of the false angel of light, who is able to bring about counterfeit gifts of prophesy, tongues, healings, and other spiritual experiences, connected with the work of the Holy Ghost. Those who have their eyes opened to the opposing forces of the spiritual realm, understand that very few believers can guarantee that they are obeying God, and God only, in direct supernatural guidance, because there are so many factors liable to intervene, such as the believer’s own mind, own spirit, own will, and the deceptive intrusion of the powers of darkness. Since evil spirits can counterfeit God as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, the believer needs also to know very clearly the principles upon which God works, so as to detect between the Divine and the Satanic workings. There is a "discernment" which is a spiritual gift, enabling the believer to discern "spirits," but this also requires knowledge of "doctrine" (1 John 4:1), so as to discern between doctrine which is of God, and doctrines, or teachings, of teaching spirits. There is a detecting, by the gift of discerning of spirits, which spirit is at work; and a test of spirits, which is doctrinal. In the former a believer can tell by a spirit of discernment, that the lying spirits are at work in a meeting, or in a person, but he may not have the understanding needed for testing the "doctrines" set forth by a teacher. He needs knowledge in both cases; knowledge to read his spirit with assurance in the face of all contrary appearances, that the supernatural workings are "of God"; and knowledge to detect the subtlety of "teachings" bearing certain infallible indications that they emanate from the pit, while appearing to be from God. In personal obedience to God, the believer can detect whether he is obeying God in some "command," by judging its fruits, and by knowledge of the character of God, such as the truth that (1) God has always a purpose in His commands, and (2) He will give no command out of harmony with His character and Word. Other factors needed for clear knowledge are dealt with later on. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 05.04. PASSIVITY THE CHIEF BASIS OF POSSESSION ======================================================================== That believers--true, fully surrendered children of God--can be deceived, and then up to the degree of deception, "possessed" by deceiving spirits, we have seen in the preceding chapters. The primary cause must now be made clear, and the conditions for deception and possession resulting therefrom; apart from the possession which is the outcome of yielding to sins of the flesh, or any sin which gives evil spirits a hold in the fallen nature. It is first important to define the meaning of the word "possession": for it is generally thought to cover only cases of possession in the acute, and fully developed degree of the cases given in the gospel records. But even then it is overlooked that many degrees of possession are referred to in the gospels, such as the woman with the "spirit of infirmity"; the man who was apparently only deaf and dumb; the little girl with the demon which terribly vexed her; the boy who gnashed with his teeth, and was sometimes thrown on the fire, and the man with the legion, so wholly mastered by the powers of evil that he dwelt outside the abodes of men. THE MEANING OF "POSSESSION" DEFINED Such cases as these are known to-day, amongst even true believers in Europe, as well as in heathen China, but "possession" is much more wide-spread than is supposed, if the word "possession" is taken to mean just what it is, i.e., a hold of evil spirits on a man in any shade of degree; for an evil spirit "possesses" whatever spot he holds, even though it be in an infinitesimal degree, and from that one spot, as a spider finds his base ere he weaves his web, the intruder works to obtain further hold of the whole being. Christians are as open to possession by evil spirits as other men, and become possessed because they have, in most cases, unwittingly fulfilled the conditions upon which evil spirits work, and, apart from the cause of willful sin, given ground to deceiving spirits, through (1) accepting their counterfeits of the Divine workings, and (2) cultivating passivity, and non-use of the faculties; and this through misconception of the spiritual laws which govern Christian life. It is this matter of ground given which is the crucial point of all. All believers acknowledge known sin to be ground given to the enemy, and even unknown sin in the life, but they do not realize that every thought suggested to the mind by wicked spirits, and accepted, is ground given to them; and every faculty unused invites their attempted use of it. The primary cause of deception and possession in surrendered believers may be condensed into one word, passivity; that is, a cessation of the active exercise of the will in control over spirit, soul and body, or either, as may be the case. It is, practically, a counterfeit of "surrender to God." The believer who "surrenders" his "members"--or faculties--to God, and ceases to use them himself, thereby falls into "passivity" which enables evil spirits to deceive, and possess any part of his being which has become passive. The deception over passive surrender may be exampled thus: a believer surrenders his "arm" to God. He permits it to hang passive, waiting for "God to use it." He is asked, "why do you not use your arm?" and he replies "I have surrendered it to God. I must not use it now; God must use it." But will God lift the arm for the man? Nay, the man himself must lift it, and use it, seeking to understand intelligently God’s mind in doing so. THE WORD "PASSIVITY" DESCRIBES OPPOSITE CONDITION TO ACTIVITY The word "passivity" simply describes the opposite condition to activity; and in the experience of the believer it means, briefly, (1) loss of self-control--in the sense of the person himself controlling each, or all of the departments of his personal being; and (2) loss of freewill--in the sense of the person himself exercising his will as the guiding principle of personal control, in harmony with the will of God. All the danger of "passivity" in the surrendered believer, lies in the advantage taken of the passive condition by the powers of darkness. Apart from these evil forces, and their workings through the passive person, "passivity" is merely inactivity, or idleness. In normal inactivity, that is, when the evil spirits have not taken hold, the inactive person is always holding himself ready for activity; whereas in "passivity" which has given place to the powers of darkness, the passive person is unable to act by his own volition. The chief condition, therefore, for the working of evil spirits in a human being, apart from sin, is passivity, in exact opposition to the condition which God requires from His children for His working in them. Granted the surrender of the will to God, with active choice to do His will as it may be revealed to him, God requires co-operation with His Spirit, and the full use of every faculty of the whole man. In brief, the powers of darkness aim at obtaining a passive slave, or captive to their will; whilst God desires a regenerated man, intelligently and actively willing, and choosing, and doing His will in liberation of spirit, soul and body from slavery. The powers of darkness would make a man a machine, a tool, an automaton; the God of holiness and love desires to make him a free, intelligent sovereign in his own sphere--a thinking, rational, renewed creation created after His own image (Ephesians 4:24). Therefore God never says to any faculty of man, "Be thou idle." God does not need, nor demand non-activity in the believer, for His working in, and through him; but evil spirits demand the utmost non-activity and passivity. God asks for intelligent action (Romans 12:1-2, "Your reasonable service,") in co-operation with Him. Satan demands passivity as a condition for his compulsory action, and in order to compulsorily subject men to his will and purpose. God requires the cessation of the evil actions of believers, primarily because they are sinful, and secondly because they hinder co-operation with His Spirit. Passivity must not be confused with quietness, or the meek and quiet spirit," which, in the sight of God, is of great price. Quietness of spirit, of heart, of mind, of manner, voice and expression, may be co-existent with the most effective activity in the will of God (1 Thessalonians 4:11, Gr. "Ambitious to be quiet."). THE CLASS OF BELIEVERS WHO ARE OPEN TO PASSIVITY The persons open to "passivity," of whom the evil spirits take advantage as ground for their activity, are those who become fully surrendered to God, and are brought into direct contact with the supernatural world by receiving the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. There are some who use the word "surrender," and think they are surrendered fully to carry out the will of God, but are only so in sentiment and purpose, for actually they walk by the reason and judgment of the natural man; although they submit all their plans to God, and because of this submittal sincerely believe they are carrying out His will. But those who are really "surrendered," give themselves up to implicitly obey, and carry out at all costs, what is revealed to them supernaturally as from God, and not what they themselves plan and reason out to be the will of God. Believers who surrender their wills, and all they have and are to God, yet who WALK BY THE USE OF THEIR NATURAL MINDS, are not the ones who are open to the "passivity" which gives ground to evil spirits, although they may, and do, give ground to them in other ways. These we may call Class No. 1, as shown in the following table. THREE CLASSES AMONG BELIEVERS I. Unsurrendered. II. Surrendered, Deceived, Possessed. III. Surrendered but Undeceived, Dispossessed and Victorious. These use the word "surrender," but do not really know it, and act it out in practice. These seem more "foolish" than those in Class 1, but in reality are more advanced. The mind is liberated, and all the faculties are operating. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Believers in this stage are more reasonable than those in No. 2, because their faculties have not been yielded into passivity. In order to understand the actions of No. 2, it is needful to read them from their inner standpoint, for to them all that they do seems right. These are open to light and all that is Divine, but they seek watchfully to close themselves to all that is Satanic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These believers call those in the next class "cranks," "faddists," ..extremists," etc. These are open to both Divine and Satanic power. No. 3 can read Nos. 1 and 2 intelligently. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Are liable to be "puffed up." Class No. 1 are "surrendered" in will, but not surrendered in fact, in the sense of being ready to carry out "obedience to the Holy Ghost" at all costs. They consequently know little of conflict, and nothing of the devil, excepting as a tempter or accuser. They do not understand those who speak of the "onslaughts of Satan," for, they say, they are not "attacked" in this way. But the devil does not always attack when he can. He reserves his attack until it suits him. If the devil does not attack a man, it does not prove that he could not. Another class among believers--Class No. 2--are those who are surrendered in such a measure of abandonment that they are ready to obey the Spirit of God at all costs, with the result that they become open to a passivity which gives ground for the deception and possession of evil spirits. These surrendered believers (Class No. 2) fall into passivity after the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, (1) because of their determination to carry out their "surrender" at all costs; (2) their relationship with the spiritual world, which opens to them supernatural communications, which they believe to be all of God; (3) their "surrender" leading them to submit, subdue and make all things subservient to this supernatural plane. The origin of the evil passivity which gives the evil spirits opportunity to deceive, and then possess, is generally a wrong interpretation of Scripture, or wrong thoughts or beliefs about Divine things. Some of these interpretations of Scripture, or wrong conceptions, which cause the believer to give way to the passive condition, we have already referred to in a previous chapter. The passivity may affect the whole man, in spirit, soul and body, when it has become very deep, and is of many years’ standing. The progress is generally very gradual, and insidious in growth, and consequently the release from it is gradual and slow. PASSIVITY OF THE WILL There is a passivity of the will; the "will" being the helm, so to speak, of the ship. This originates from a wrong conception of what full surrender to God means. Thinking that a "surrendered will" to God means no use of the will at all, the believer ceases to (1) choose, (2) determine, and (3) act of his own volition. The serious effect of this, he is not allowed by the powers of darkness to discover, for at first the consequences are trivial, and scarcely noticeable. In fact, at first it appears to be most glorifying to God. The "strong-willed" person suddenly becomes passively yielding. He thinks that God is "will"-ing for him in circumstances, and through people, and so he becomes passively helpless in action. After a time no "choice" can be got from him in matters of daily life; no "decision," or initiative in matters demanding action; he is afraid to express a wish, much less a decision. Others must choose, act, lead, decide, while this one drifts as a cork upon the waters. Later on the powers of darkness begin to make capital out of this "surrendered" believer, and to work around him evil of various kinds, which entangle him through his passivity of will. He has now no power of will to protest, or resist. Obvious wrong in his environment, which this believer alone has a right to deal with, flourishes, and grows strong and blatant. The powers of darkness have slowly gained, both personally and in circumstances, upon the ground of passivity of the will, which at first was merely passive submission to environment, under the idea that God was "will"-ing for him in all things around him. The text that such believers misinterpret is Php 2:13, "It is God which worketh in you, both to will, and to work, for His good pleasure." The "passive" person reads it, ". . . God which worketh in me the willing, and the doing," i.e., "willeth instead of me." The first means God working in the soul up to the point of the action of the will, and the second assumes His actually "will"-ing instead of, and "working" instead of the believer. This wrong interpretation gives ground for not using the will, because of the conclusion "God wills instead of me"; thus bringing about passivity of will. GOD DOES NOT WILL INSTEAD OF MAN The truth to be emphasized is that God never "wills" instead of man, and whatever a man does, he is himself responsible for his actions. The believer whose "will" has become passive, finds, after a time, the greatest difficulty in making decisions of any kind, and he looks outside, and all around him for something to help him to decide the smallest matters. When he has become conscious of his passive condition, he has a painful sense of being unable to meet some of the situations of ordinary life. If spoken to, he knows he cannot will to listen till a sentence is completed; if asked to judge a matter, he knows he cannot do it; if he is required to "remember" or use his imagination, he knows he is unable to, and becomes terrified at any proposed course of action where these demands may come upon him. The tactics of the enemy now may be to drive him into situations where these demands may be made, and thus torture or embarrass him before others. Little does the believer know that in this condition be may, unknowingly, rely upon the assistance of evil spirits, who have brought about the passivity for this very object. The faculty unused lies dormant and dead in their grip, but if used it is an occasion for them to manifest themselves through it. They are too ready to "will" instead of the man, and they will put within his reach many "supernatural" props to help him in "decision," especially in the way of "texts" used apart from their context, and supernaturally given, which the believer, seeking so longingly to do the will of God, seizes upon, and firmly grasps as a drowning man a rope, blinded, by the apparently given Divine help, to the principle that God only works through the active volition of a man, and not for him in matters requiring his action. PASSIVITY OF THE MIND Passivity of the mind is engendered by a wrong conception of the place of the mind in the life of surrender to God, and obedience to Him in the Holy Spirit. Christ’s call of fishermen is used as an excuse for passivity of brain, for some believers say, God has no need for the use of the brain, and can do without it! But the choice of Paul who had the greatest intellect of his age, shows that when God sought for a man through whom He could lay the foundations of the Church, He chose one with a mind capable of vast and intelligent thinking. The greater the brain power, the greater the use God can make of it, provided it is submissive to truth. The cause of passivity of mind, sometimes lies in the thought that the working of the brain is a hindrance to the development of the Divine life in the believer. But the truth is, that (1) the non-working of the brain hinders, (2) the evil working of the brain hinders, (3) but the normal and pure working of the brain is essential, and helpful for co-operation with God. This is dealt with fully in Chapter 6, where the various tactics of the powers of darkness are shown in their efforts to get the mind into a condition of passivity, and hence incapable of action to discern their wiles. The effects of passivity of the mind may be seen in inactivity, when there should be action; or else over activity beyond control, as if a suddenly released instrument broke forth into ungovernable action; hesitation, or rashness; indecision (as also from a passive will); unwatchfulness; lack of concentration; lack of judgment; bad memory. Passivity does not change the nature of a faculty, but it hinders its normal operation. In the case of passivity hindering the memory, the person will be found looking outside himself for every possible "aid to memory," until he becomes a veritable slave to note book, and helps, which fail at a critical moment. With this is also passivity of the imagination, which places the imagination outside personal control, and at the mercy of evil spirits who flash to it what they please. One danger is to take these visions, and call them "imaginations." The passive state can be produced without crystal gazing, i.e., if a person gazes at any object for a prolonged period the natural vision is dulled, and the deceiving spirits can then present anything to the mind. In pure inactivity of the mind, the mind can be used at the will of the person, but in evil passivity of the mind, the person is helpless, and he "can’t think!" He feels as if his mind were bound, and held by an iron band, or by a weight or pressure on his head. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 05.05. DECEPTION AND POSSESSION ======================================================================== To be deceived by lying spirits does not mean that the believer is necessarily possessed by an evil spirit; and a person may be "possessed" without having been deceived. For instance, a believer may be misled in guidance, or be deceived by counterfeit visions and manifestations, without these deceptions leading on into possession; and where there is yielding to sin, either known or unknown, even by a believer, an evil spirit may take possession of the mind, or body, without there being any experience of deception (1 Corinthians 5:5). The faculties may become severally held, or possessed, by evil-spirits, by (1) yielding to the sin of passivity--passivity is the sin of omission, for God does not give a faculty either for misuse, or non-use, or (2) yielding to sins of action, e.g., if the tongue lends itself to slander or foul language, it lends itself to sin; and becomes liable to possession. And so with the eyes, ears and other parts of the body; the lust of the eyes in seeing, and looking at vile things; the ears by wrong listening--eaves-dropping is lending the ears to the emissaries of Satan--or, on the other hand, evil spirits may take hold of the nerves of the ear, so that the person cannot hear what he should, yet is permitted to be alert enough in bearing all that he should not hear. DEGREE OF GROUND NEEDED FOR, EVIL SPIRIT TO POSSESS CANNOT BE DEFINED The needed degree of ground given to an evil spirit in order to possess, cannot be clearly defined, but that there is (1) sin without evil spirit possession; (2) sin which opens the door to possession; and (3) sin which is unmistakably the result of Satanic possession (John 13:2) is beyond question. If the man, be he unbeliever or believer, sins so as to admit an evil spirit, the ground given may be deepened without measure. (1) the ground given admits the demon, (2) the "manifestation" of the evil spirit takes place, (3) then the misinterpretation of the manifestation again gives further ground, because he believes, and admits still more of the lies of the evil one. It is possible, also, for deception and possession to come about, and pass away without the man being conscious of either. He may yield to sin which gives access to an evil spirit, and then take the position of death (Romans 6:6; Romans 6:11) to the sin or its ground, when, unconsciously to himself, the possession passes away. Multitudes of believers are "possessed" in various degrees but do not know it, as they attribute the "manifestations" to "natural" causes, or to "self" or "sin," and they put them down to these causes because they do not appear to bear the characteristics of demoniacal possession. There is also a degree of deception by deceiving spirits, in connection with counterfeits of God and Divine things, which leads on to possession; and this too, depends upon the extent of the counterfeits which have been accepted by the believer. Through "possession" by accepting the counterfeit of the workings of the Holy Spirit, believers can, unknowingly, be brought to (1) put their trust in evil spirits, (2) rely on them, (3) surrender to them, (4) be guided by them, (5) pray to them, (6) listen to them, (7) obey them, (8) receive messages from them, (9) receive Scripture texts from them, (10) help them in their desires and working, (11) stand by them, and (12) work for them; believing they are in these attitudes towards God, and doing these things for God. In some cases, the counterfeit manifestations have been accepted with such reckless abandonment, that deception has quickly developed into possession in a most acute, yet subtle, and highly refined form; giving no apparent trace of the presence of evil, yet the peculiar double personality, characteristic of fully developed "demon possession," is easily recognizable to trained spiritual discernment; although it may be hidden under the of the most beautiful "angel of light" manifestation, with all the fascinating attraction of "glory light" upon the face, exquisite music in song, and a powerful effect in speech. THE DUAL PERSONALITY OF DEMON POSSESSION The dual personality of fully developed demon possession is generally only recognized when it takes the form of objectionable manifestations; such as when a distinct other-intelligence obscures the personality of the possessed one, and speaks through the vocal organs, in a distinctly separate or altered voice, expressing thoughts or words unintended, or only partially volitioned by the subject; the victim is compelled to act in ways contrary to his natural character, and the body is manipulated by a foreign power, and nerves and muscles are twisted in contortions, and convulsions, such as are described in the Scripture records (Luke 9:39). A characteristic of the dual-personality of demon-possession also is that the manifestations are usually periodical, and the victim is comparatively natural, and normal, between what are described as "attacks," but which are really periods of manifestations of the intruding power. DUAL PERSONALITY OF EVIL SPIRIT POSSESSION IN CHRISTIANS Evidences are now available, proving that this dual-personality of possession in its fullest degree, has taken place in believers who are not disobedient to light, or yielding to any known sin; but who have become possessed through deception in their abandonment to supernatural power, which they believed to be of God; such cases having all the symptoms and manifestations described in the gospel records. The demon answering questions in his own voice, and speaking words of blasphemy against God through the person, whilst he is, in spirit, in peace and fellowship with God; thus evidencing (1) the Holy Spirit to be in the spirit, and (2) the demon, or demons, in the body, using the tongue, and throwing the body about at their will. This same "dual-personality," under entirely different manifestations , is easily recognizable by any who have the "discerning of spirits." At times the environment of the subject is more favourable than others for the spirit manifestations, and then they can be detected in both beautiful and objectionable forms. The fact of the demon possession of Christians destroys the theory that only people in "heathen countries," or persons deep in sin, can be "possessed" by evil spirits. This unexamined, unproved theory in the minds of believers, serves the devil well as a cover for his workings to gain possession of the minds and bodies, of Christians in the present time. But the veil is being stripped off the eyes of the children of God by the hard path of experience; and the knowledge is dawning upon the awakened section of the Church that a believer baptized in the Holy Ghost, and indwelt by God in the inner shrine of the spirit can be deceived into admitting evil spirits into his being; and be possessed, in varying degrees, by demons, even whilst in the centre he is a sanctuary of the Spirit of God; God working in, and through his spirit, and the evil spirits in, or through, mind, or body, or both. DUAL STREAMS OF POWER From such possessed believers there can proceed, at intervals, streams from the two sources of power; one from the Spirit of God in the centre, and the other from an evil spirit in the outer man; and with the two parallel results to those who come in contact with the two streams of power. In preaching, all the truth spoken by such a believer may be of God, and according to the Scriptures, correct and full of light--the spirit of the man right--whilst evil spirits working in mind or body, make use of the cover of the truth to insert their manifestations, so as to find acceptance with both speaker and hearers. That is to say, there may pour through a believer at one moment, a stream of truth from the Word, giving light and love and blessing to receptive ones among the listeners; and the next moment, a foreign spirit, hidden in mind or body, may send forth a streamlet through the soulish or physical part of the man, producing corresponding effects in soul or body among the listeners, who respond in their soulish or physical part to the Satanic stream, either by emotional or physical manifestations, or in nervous or muscular actions. One or the other of the "streams" of power from the Holy Spirit in his spirit, or from the deceiving spirit in mind or body, may predominate at different times, thus making the same man appear dual in character, with short intervals, at different periods of time. "See how he speaks! How he seeks to glorify God! How sane and reasonable he is! What a passion he has for souls!" may be said with truth of a worker, until some moments later some peculiar change is seen in him, and in the meeting. A strange element comes in, possibly only recognizable to some with keen spiritual vision, or else plainly obvious to all. Perhaps the speaker begins to pray quietly, and calmly, with a pure spirit, but suddenly the voice is raised, it sounds "hollow," or has a metallic tone; the tension of the meeting increases; an overwhelming, overmastering "power" falls upon it; and no one thinks of "resisting" what appears to be such a "manifestation of God!" MIXED MANIFESTATIONS The majority of those present may have no idea of the mixture which has crept in. Some fall upon the ground unable to bear the strained emotion, or effect upon the mind; and some are thrown down by some supernatural power; others cry out in ecstasy; the speaker leaves the platform, passes by a young man, who becomes conscious of a feeling of intoxication upon him, which does not leave his senses for some time. Others laugh with the exuberance of the intoxicating joy. Some have had real spiritual help and blessing through the Word of God being expounded ere this climax came, and during the pure outflow of the Holy Spirit; consequently they accept these strange workings as from God, because in the first stage of the meeting, their needs have been truly met by Him; and they cannot discern the two separate "manifestations" coming through the same channel! If they doubt the latter part of the meeting, they fear they are untrue to their inner conviction that the earlier part was "of God." Others are conscious that the "manifestations" are contrary to their spiritual vision, and judgment; but on account of the blessing of the earlier part they stifle their doubts, and say "We cannot understand the ’physical’ manifestations, but we must not expect to understand all that God does. We only know that the wonderful outpouring of truth and love and light at the beginning of the meeting was from God, and met our need. No one can mistake the sincerity, the pure motive of the speaker . . therefore, although I cannot understand, or say I ’like’ the physical manifestations, yet--it must be all of God . . " TRUE AND COUNTERFEIT ACCEPTED TOGETHER Briefly put, this is a glimpse into the mixed "manifestations" which have come upon the Church of God, since the Revival in Wales; for, almost without exception, in every land where revival has since broken forth, within a very brief period of time the counterfeit stream has mingled with the true; and almost without exception, true and false have been accepted together, because of the workers being ignorant of the possibility of concurrent streams; or else have been rejected together by those who could not detect the one from the other; or it has been believed that there was no "true" at all, because the majority of believers fail to understand that there can be mixed workings of the (1) Divine and Satanic, (2) Divine and human, (3) Satanic and human, (4) soul and spirit, (5) soul and body, (6) body and spirit; the three latter in the way of feelings and consciousness, and the three former in the way of source and power. There must be more than one quantity to make a mixture; at least two. The devil mixes his lies with the truth, for he must use a truth to carry his lies. The believer must therefore discriminate, and judge all things. He must be able to see so much to be impure, and so much that he can accept. Satan is a "mixer." If in anything he finds ninety-nine percent pure, he tries to insert one percent of his poisonous stream, and this grows, if undetected, until the proportions are reversed. Where there is mixture acknowledged to be in meetings where supernatural manifestations take place, if believers are unable to discriminate, they should keep away from these "mixtures" until they are able to discern. In accepting the counterfeits of Satan, the believer thinks, and believes, he is complying with Divine conditions in order to ascend to a higher life; whereas he complies with conditions for Satanic workings in his life, and thereby descends into a pit of deception and suffering, with his spirit and motive pure. How evil spirits gain access to the believer, is the next question we need to consider; and here we give in column form, six concise lists of (1) how they deceive; (2) the ground given for deception; (3) where they enter; (4) the excuses the spirit makes to hide the ground, and keep the believer in ignorance of his presence and the ground he holds; (5) the effect on the man thus deceived; and (6) the symptoms of the possession. COLUMN 1: HOW EVIL SPIRITS DECEIVE Taking the columns one by one we shall see how subtly the evil spirit works, first to deceive, and then to gain access to the mind or body, or both, of the believer. One principle governs the working of God, and the working of Satan in seeking access to a man. In the creation of a human being with a free will, God, Who is Sovereign Lord of the Universe, and of all angelic powers, has limited Himself in that He does not violate man’s freedom in obtaining his allegiance; neither can Satan’s evil spirits enter, and obtain possession of any part of the man apart from his consent, given either consciously, or unconsciously. Just as a man "wills" a good thing, and God makes it fact, so when the man "wills" an evil thing, evil spirits make it fact. Both God and Satan need the will of man for working in man. In the unregenerate man the will is enslaved to Satan, but in the man who has been regenerated, and delivered from the power of sin, the will is liberated to choose the things of God. In one who has thus been brought into fellowship with God, Satan can only gain ground by stratagem, or, in Bible terms, by "wiles"; for he knows he will never get from a believer deliberate consent to the entry, and control of evil spirits. The Deceiver can only hope to obtain that consent by guile: i.e., by feigning to be God Himself, or a messenger from Him. He knows, too, that such a believer is determined to obey God at all costs, and covets the knowledge of God above all else on earth. There is, therefore, no other way to deceive this one, but by counterfeiting God Himself, His presence and His workings; and under pretence of being God, to obtain the co-operation of the man’s will in accepting further deceptions; so as eventually to lead to "possession" of some part of the believer’s mind or body, and thus injure or hinder his usefulness to God, as well as that of others who will be affected by him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 05.06. COUNTERFEITS OF THE DIVINE ======================================================================== In seeking to obtain full control of the believer, the first great effort of evil spirits is directed toward getting the man to accept their suggestions, and workings, as the speaking, working, or leading of God. Their initial device is to counterfeit a "Divine Presence," under cover of which they can mislead their victim as they will. The word counterfeit meaning the substitution of the false for the true. The condition on the part of the believer, which gives the deceiving spirits their opportunity, and the basis of this counterfeit, is the mistaken location of God; either (1) in them (consciously); (2) or around them (consciously). When they pray they think of, or pray to God in themselves, or else to God around them, in the room, or atmosphere. They use their imagination, and try to "realize" His presence, and they desire to "feel" His presence in them, or upon them. THE LOCATION OF GOD BY BELIEVERS This locating of God, in, or around the believer, usually comes about at the time of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost; for up to that time of crisis in his life, he lived more by the acceptance of facts declared in the Scriptures, as understood by his intelligence; but with the Baptism of the Spirit he becomes more conscious of the presence of God by the Spirit, and in the spirit, and so begins to locate the Person of God as in, around, or upon him. Then he turns inward, and begins to pray to God as within him, which in time, really results in prayer to evil spirits, if they succeed in gaining admittance under counterfeit. The logical sequence of prayer to God as located within, can be pressed to absurdity, i.e., if the soul prays to God in himself, why not pray to God in another elsewhere? The limitation of God as a Person within, and all the possible dangers arising from this misconception of truth are obvious. Some believers so live inwardly in communion, worship and vision, as to become spiritually introverted, and cramped and narrowed in their outlook; with the result that their spiritual capacity and mental powers become dwarfed and powerless. Others become victims to the "inner voice," and the introverted attitude of listening to it, which is the ultimate result of the location of God as a Person within, so that eventually the mind becomes fixed in the introverted condition with no out-going action at all. In fact, all turning inwards to a subjective location of God as indwelling, speaking, communing, and guiding, in a materialistic, or conscious sense, is open to gravest danger; for upon this thought and belief, sedulously cultivated by the powers of darkness, the most serious deceptions, and final out-workings of deceiving spirits have taken place. THE ULTIMATE RESULT OF MISTAKEN LOCATION OF GOD Upon this principle of the mistaken location of God; used by evil spirits as the ground work for manifestations to support and deepen this belief; has come about the delusions of believers during past ages, and of recent years, who assert themselves to be "Christ." On the same principle will come about the great deceptions at the end of the age, foretold by the Lord in Matthew 24:24; of the "false Christs" and false prophets; and the "I am the Christ" of the leaders of groups of side-tracked believers; and the thousand others who have been sent to asylums, although they are not monomaniacs at all. The devil’s richest harvest is from the effects of his counterfeits; and unwittingly, many sober and faithful teachers of "holiness" have aided him in his deceptions, through the using of language which gives a materialistic idea of spiritual things, and which is eagerly laid hold of by the natural mind. Those who locate God personally, and wholly in themselves, make themselves, by their assertions, practically, "divine" persons. God is not wholly in any man. He dwells in those who receive Him, by His own Spirit communicated to them. "God is Spirit," and mind or body cannot hold communion with spirit. Sensuous feelings, or "conscious" physical enjoyment of some supposed spiritual presence is not true communion of spirit with spirit, such as the Father seeks from those who worship Him (John 4:24). God is in heaven. Christ the Glorified Man is in heaven. The location of the God we worship is of supreme importance. If we think of our God as in us, and around us, for our worship, and for our "enjoyment" (?) we unwittingly open the door to the evil spirits in the atmosphere which surrounds us; instead of our penetrating in spirit through the lower heavens (see Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:19-20) to the throne of God, which is in the highest heaven, "above principality and power, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come" (Ephesians 1:21; A.V.). THE TRUE LOCATION OF GOD The Word of God is very clear on this point, and we need only ponder such passages as Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 9:24; and many others, to see it. The God we worship, the Christ we love, is in heaven; and it is as we approach Him there, and by faith apprehend our union with Him in spirit there, we, too, are raised with Him and seated with Him, above the plane of the lower heavens where the powers of darkness reign, and seated with Him, see them under His feet (Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 2:6). The Lord’s words recorded in John 14:1-31, John 15:1-27 and John 16:1-33, give the truth very clearly concerning His indwelling in the believer. The "in Me" of being with Him, and in Him, in His heavenly position (John 14:20), being the fact for the believer’s faith, and apprehension; and the "I in you"--spoken to the company of disciples, and hence to the Body of Christ as a whole--following as a result in the individual life of the believer. The union with the Person in the glory, resulting in the inflow and outflow of His Spirit and life, through the believer on earth (see Php 1:19). In other words, the "subjective" is the result of the "objective." The "object" of Christ in heaven, being the basis of faith for the subjective inflow of His life and power, by the Holy Spirit of God. CHRIST AS A PERSON IN HEAVEN The Lord said "If ye abide in Me (i.e., in the glory), and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will. . ." (John 15:7). Christ abides in us by His Spirit, and through His words, but He Himself, as a Person, is in heaven, and it is only as we abide in Him there, that His Spirit, and His life, through His Word, can be manifested in us here. "Abiding" means an attitude of trust, and dependence on a Person in heaven; but if the attitude is changed into a trust and dependence upon a Christ within, it is really a resting upon an inward experience, and a turning from the Christ in heaven, which actually blocks the avenue for the inflow of His life, and disassociates the believer from co-operation with Him by the Spirit. Any manifestation therefore of a "presence" within, cannot be a true "manifestation" from God, if it uncentres the believer from his right attitude toward the Christ in heaven. There is a true knowledge of the presence of God, but it is in the spirit, when joined to Him Who is within the veil; a knowledge of spiritual union and fellowship with Him which lifts the believer, so to speak, out of himself to abide with Christ in God. The counterfeit "presence" of God is nearly always manifested as love, to which the believer opens himself without hesitation, and finds it fill and satiate his innermost being, but the deceived one does not know that he has opened himself to evil spirits in the deepest need of his inner life. COUNTERFEIT PRESENCE OF GOD How the powers of darkness counterfeit the presence of God to those ignorant of his devices may be somewhat as follows. At some moment when the believer is yearning for the sense of God’s presence, either alone, or in a meeting, and certain conditions are fulfilled, the subtle foe approaches, and wrapping the senses round with a soothing, lulling feeling--sometimes filling the room with light, or causing what is apparently a "breath from God" by a movement of the air--either whispers "This is the presence you have longed for," or leads the believer to infer that it is what he has desired. Then, off his guard, and lulled into security that Satan is far away, some thoughts are suggested to the mind, accompanied by manifestations which appear to be Divine; a sweet voice speaks, or a vision is given, which is at once received as "Divine guidance," given in the "Divine presence," and hence beyond question as from God. If accepted as from God, when from the spirits of evil, the first ground is gained. The man is now so sure that God has bidden him do this or that. He is filled with the thought that he has been highly favoured of God, and chosen for some high place in His Kingdom. The deeply hidden self-love is fed and strengthened by this, and he is able to endure all things by the power of this secret strength. He has been spoken to by God! He has been singled out for special favour! His support is now within upon his experience, rather than upon God Himself, and the written Word. Through this secret confidence that God has specially spoken to him, the man becomes unteachable and unyielding, with a positiveness trending on infallibility. He cannot listen to others now, for they have not had this "direct" revelation from God. He is in direct, special, personal communion with God, and to question any "direction" given to him, becomes the height of sin. Obey he must, even though the direction given is contrary to all enlightened judgment, and the action commanded opposed to the spirit of the Word of God. In brief, when the man at this stage believes he has a "command" from God, he will not use his reason, because he thinks it would be "carnal" to do so--"common-sense" is lack of faith, and therefore sin--and "conscience" for the time being, has ceased to speak. Some of the suggestions made to the believer by deceiving spirits at this time, may be: (1) "You are a special instrument for God," working to feed self-love; (2) "You are more advanced than others" working to blind the soul to sober knowledge of itself; (3) "You are different from others," working to make him think he needs special dealing by God; (4) "You must take a separate path," a suggestion made to feed the independent spirit; (5) "You must give up your occupation, and live by faith," aiming at causing the believer to launch out on false guidance, which may result in the ruin of his home, and sometimes the work for God in which he is engaged. All these suggestions are made to give the man a false conception of his spiritual state; for he is made to believe he is more advanced than he actually is, so that he may act beyond his measure of faith and knowledge (Romans 12:3), and consequently be more open to the deceptions of the beguiling foe. Upon the basis of the supposed revelation of God, and the special manifestation of His presence, and the consequent full possession of the believer by Him, the lying spirits afterwards build their counterfeits. THE COUNTERFEIT "PRESENCE" IS SENSUOUS Counterfeits of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are recognizable by the manifestations being given to the senses; i.e., in the physical realm; for the true indwelling of God is in the shrine of the spirit alone; and the soul vessel, or personality of the believer, is purely a vehicle for the expression of Christ, Who is enthroned within by His Spirit; whilst the body, quickened by the same Spirit, is governed by God from the central depths of the human spirit, through the self-control of the man; acting by his renewed will. The counterfeit presence of God is given by deceiving spirits working upon the physical frame, or within the bodily frame, upon the senses. We have seen the beginning of this, and how the first ground is gained. It is deepened by these sense-manifestations being repeated, so gently, that the man goes on yielding to them, thinking this is truly "communion with God"--for believers too often look upon "communion with God" as a thing of sense, and not of spirit--and here he commences praying to evil spirits under the belief that he is praying to God. The self-control is not yet lost, but as the believer responds to, or gives himself up to these "conscious" manifestations, he does not know that his will-power is being slowly undermined. At last through these subtle, delicious experiences, the faith is established that God Himself is consciously in possession of the body, quickening it with felt thrills of life, or filling it with warmth and heat, or even with "agonies" which seem like fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, and travail for souls, or the experience of death with Christ in the consciousness of nails being driven into the bodily frame, etc. From this point the lying spirits can work as they will, and there is no limit as to what they may do to a believer deceived to this extent. COUNTERFEIT MANIFESTATIONS OF DIVINE WORKINGS IN THE BODY Counterfeit manifestations of the Divine life in various ways now follow quickly; movements in the body, pleasant thrills, touches, a glow as of fire in different parts of the body; or sensations of cold, or shakings, and tremblings; all accepted by the believer as from God, but showing what a full entry the deceiving spirit has obtained to the bodily frame; for there is a distinction between the manifestations of evil spirits "with" and "in" the body and mind of the believer; although when they are really inside, they can also make it appear as if they were outside, both in influence and action. When evil spirits are really outside, and desirous of entry, they work by sudden suggestion, which is not the ordinary working of the mind, but suggestions which come from without; "flashes of memory," again not the ordinary working of the memory, but coming from without; touches and twitches of the nerves; feelings of draught and sensations of wind blowing on the circumference, etc. EFFECTS OF EVIL SPIRIT ENTRY TO THE BODILY FRAME When the evil spirits are inside, the whole frame is affected, at times with the pleasant sensations referred to, but at others with pains in the head and body which have no physical cause, or else so working with the "natural" that the supernatural cannot easily be distinguished from it; such as accelerating the heartbeat so as to appear palpitation, and in other ways working with the physical causes, so that part has natural ground, and part is from the accentuating force of evil. Depression then ensues in proportion to the previous exhilaration; exhaustion and fatigue in reaction from the demand upon the nervous system in the hours of ecstasy; or else a sense of drainage of strength without any visible cause; grief and joy, heat and cold, laughter and tears, all succeed each other in rapid changes, and varied degrees--in brief, the emotional sensibilities seem to have full play. The "senses" are aroused, and are in full mastery of the person, apart from the man’s volition; or they may be apparently under control, so that the evil spirit’s presence may be hidden from the knowledge of the believer, his workings being carefully measured to suit the victim he has studied so well; for he knows he must not go a shade too far, lest he awaken suspicion of the cause of the abnormal movements of the emotions, and of the sensitive parts of the bodily frame. It can easily be seen that in time the health of the deceived one must be affected by this play upon mind and body; hence the "breakdown" that so often follows experiences of an abnormal kind, or else a snapping of the tension, by a sudden stoppage of all conscious feelings, and the apparent withdrawal of the "conscious presence of God;" followed by an entire change of tactics by the deceiving spirits in the body, who may now turn upon their victim with terrible accusations; and charges of having committed the "unpardonable sin," producing as acute anguish and real suffering, as he once experienced of the bliss of heaven. COMPULSORY "CONFESSIONS" OF SIN Here the evil spirits may push the man to "confessions" of all kinds, however public and painful, which he hopes may result in regaining the "experience" apparently lost; but all in vain. These confessions instigated by deceiving spirits may be recognized by their compulsory character. The man is forced to "confess" sin, and ofttimes sins which have no existence, but in the accusations of the enemy. As it does not dawn upon him that evil spirits will push a man to do what looks like the most meritorious thing, and which the Scriptures declare is the one condition for obtaining forgiveness, he yields to the drive upon him, simply to get relief. Herein lies the danger of widespread "confessions of sin" during times of Revival, when almost a "wave" of "confession" passes over a community, and the depths of sinful lives are exposed to the gaze of others; through this enabling the lying spirits to disseminate the very poison of the pit into the atmosphere, and into the minds of the listeners. TRUE CONFESSION OF SIN True confession of sin should come from deep conviction and not compulsion, and should, be made only to God, if the sin is one only known by God; to man personally, and in private, when the sin is against man; and to the public only when the sin is against the public. "Confession" should never be made under the impulse of any compulsory emotion, but should be the deliberate act of the volition; choosing the right, and the putting things right, according to the will of God. That Satan’s kingdom gains by public "confessions" is evident by the devices of the enemy used to push men into them. Evil spirits drive a man into sin, and then compel that man publicly to confess the sin which they forced him to commit--contrary to his true character--in order to make the sin which they forced him into, a stigma upon him for the remainder of his life. Ofttimes the "sins" confessed have their rise in the believer, from the insertion by wicked spirits, of feelings as consciously abhorrent and loathsome, as were the former "conscious" feelings of heavenly purity and love; when the man who experienced them, declared that he knew of no "sin to confess to God," or "no rising of an evil impulse" whatever; leading him to believe in the complete elimination of all sin from his being. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 05.07. GROUND AND SYMPTOMS OF POSSESSION ======================================================================== In Column 2 of the summary, the various ways in which ground is given for the deception and possession of evil spirits are briefly summarized. Communication is possible with the believer without ground being given, but evil spirits can never interfere with the faculties of brain or body, unless sufficient ground for possession has been obtained by them. Satan had power to communicate with Christ in the wilderness, for the Devil spoke to Him, and Christ replied, yet the Lord Himself said later on (John 14:30) that although the prince of this world came to Him; he could find nothing in Him for his working. The devil also communicated with Eve in a state of innocence. It is therefore no proof of ground, or sin in mind or life, that Satan is able to communicate with believers. But there is a certain class of "communication" which cannot be carried on without ground having been given. There is a difference, also, between "communication" and "communion"--communication is with the mind, as evil spirits suggest thoughts to it, but they have "communion" with the man through the senses, as these respond to "feelings" given by them to the senses. Delicious, lulling, exquisite sensations in the body, arising from spiritual causes, may always be attributed to deceiving spirits, for they feed the sensuous, and nothing that comes from God in purity does this; nor does He in any degree by His manifestations, minister to a self-indulgent, self-satisfied, sensuous condition of the mind, or body of His redeemed ones; but on the contrary, the operations of God in man, are directed to the elimination of all that feeds the senses, and the invigoration of spirit, soul and body, for the keenest activities of life. The satiety of the senses, however, caused by evil spirits, sooner or later changes in manifestation, and the true character of the source stands revealed when irritable and disagreeable feelings take the place of the soothing influences hitherto given, to the horror of the one who had reveled in the exquisite "waves" of peace, thought to have come from God, and who is now convinced that he has lost God’s presence and power. Where the disagreeable takes place now, may have been the place where an agreeable manifestation occurred in the past. GROUND TO EVIL SPIRITS IN THE MIND In the list of various ways by which ground is given to evil spirits, the first is by means of suggestions or thoughts admitted to the mind. Thoughts manifestly from Satan every believer rejects at once, when he becomes conscious of them; but thousands of "thoughts" come without any volition of the person, for few understand control of the mind, and how to "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). One of the symptoms of demon possession is absolute inability, even after volition, to change the course of thinking, or subject of thought, for the mind appears stiff and laborious in action. The man cannot let a specific thought go from his mind, even after he wills to. The chief faculty open to the access of deceiving spirits is the mind, especially before the believer apprehends the need of a "renewed mind" (Ephesians 4:23), and realizes that his mind can be open to, and used by evil spirits, notwithstanding the Divine operation of God in the innermost shrine of his being. Also before he realizes what he has admitted as ground for evil spirits in his past life, for all the "thoughts" inserted by the god of this world blinding the mind (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), form material for his later working; such as "thoughts" lodged there unconsciously, perhaps years before; mental conceptions admitted without examination; floating ideas which have drifted into the ground of the mind, the believer knows not whence; a sentence in a paper, a word dropped in his hearing; the flotsam and jetsam of the mental world, leaving unthought of effect upon him, colouring Scripture, and placing the mind almost at the mercy of any suggestion of evil spirits, under certain conditions, later on. HOW TO DETECT EVIL SPIRITS’ INTERFERENCE WITH THE MIND To detect the working of evil spirits upon the mind, let the believer note the way in which his "thoughts" come. If the mind is working easily, quietly, in normal action in the duty of the moment, and sudden "flashes," "suggestions," or apparent "thoughts" arise, not in sequence, or in orderly connection with the work he has in hand, then the enemy may be counterfeiting the operation of the person’s own mind, and trying to insert his suggestions into it as if they were the outcome of the man’s own thinking; for when he is in the process of thinking, the lying spirits seek to inject some thought, suggestion or feeling-- the first into the mind, and the last into the spirit. The danger at this point is for the believer to be ensnared by the simultaneous working of his own mind, and the presentation to the mind of the evil spirit’s "pictures" or visions, which he thinks come from his own "imagination"; or very subtly refined suggestions which have no appearance of being supernatural, or even distinct from the person at all. Many think all that is "supernatural" is of necessity strikingly marvelous, and awesome, whereas the enemy’s working is very ordinary--so ordinary that he is unrecognized, and the operations of the supernatural appear so "natural," that they are not looked upon as supernatural. The Scripture statement of "the whole world lying in the evil one" is so true, that his speakings and workings are accepted and followed and yielded to, as the "ordinary" things of life, and as the ordinary operations of the mental faculties. The kingdom of darkness is near and "natural" to all the world under the rule of the prince of darkness. SYMPTOMS OF INTERFERENCE WITH THE MIND It is best to be suspicious of the abnormal in every shape and form. God does not interfere with the natural operations of the faculties. A sudden stoppage of thought, or sequence in the action of the mind, in thought or memory, as well as acute loss of the use of either, may indicate the interference of evil spirits. The spirits of evil, in possession of some faculty of the mind, can either hold it, or suddenly release it for action--this holding or releasing power explaining much that is unaccountable in suddenness of action, or "change of mind" which, like much else, is left in obscurity as "unexplainable." "I can" one moment, then "I cannot" the next, generally being put down to an "erratic temperament," or other causes. The believer, however, may be unable to act, because of the interruption, or interference of the enemy, but he really has the ability for action, if the faculties were free. Others whose lives are spent in the bondage of a "spirit of infirmity," are only conscious of a sense of inability, they are always "too tired," and have "no spirit," "no energy" for the ordinary demands of life, yet with no disease, or reasonable physical ground for their chronic inertness and feebleness. A sudden inability to listen, described as "absent-mindedness" or "preoccupation," when the person is compelled to follow some "thought" suggested, or picture presented to the mind, or to follow the words of another, are all indications of the interference of evil spirits--the compulsions especially being a mark of their workings--when the person is in a normal condition of health, and the brain is not diseased. For instance, in spiritual meetings, when people seem hardly able to listen to a vital truth, how many recognize the work of the prince of the power of the air taking away the Word (Matthew 13:19), by the suggestion of other things, not appropriate to the moment, and by the mind being unable to follow the speaker’s words, and to grasp and apprehend? Streams of "texts," also, pouring through the mind, apart from concentration, and the volitional action of the mind, may overpower all that the speaker is saying, and "Carry away" the hearer into far away thoughts, and "day-dreams," which appear so beautiful and "divine," yet after the "meeting" is over, have no solid result in practical life. Any admittance of these sudden suggestions, or passing thoughts, means ground given to the enemy. TWO WAYS THAT THE ENEMY PUTS THOUGHTS INTO THE MIND The Deceiver has two ways of putting thoughts into the mind: (1) By direct communication to the mind, and (2) indirect, by attacks on the spirit, causing undesirable feelings there, such as impatience through the attacks, which produce impatient thoughts in the mind, followed by impatient words. The believer has a sense of being hindered persistently by some unseen obstacle, for the evil spirit beings suggest a certain action to him, and then when he attempts it, he is hindered, causing in him a sense of irritation for which he cannot account. Nothing he does seems to "go right," and his life seems made up of "pin-prick" troubles, too much for him to bear, causing a sense of moroseness and discontent which grows upon him in spite of himself. Feverish activity which accomplishes nothing is manifested occasionally, or else perpetual occupation which gives no moment of rest; difficulty with work in the day time; "dreams" at night, with no sense of rest or leisure at any time; suffering, confusion, difficulty of action, embarrassment, perplexity, all emanating directly, maliciously, and deliberately from evil spirits, unrecognized by the man. Believers whose circumstances, and environment, should give them every cause for a glad and quiet mind, are harassed with terrible anxiety, and they are rarely free from troubled thoughts. The mind over-estimates everything, because the imagination and mental faculties are in bondage; ant-hills appear as mountains to them. Everything is exaggerated, so that they shrink from seeing others, as conversation is terribly difficult. They imagine they are only "thinking" in an ordinary sense, but it is not I "thinking" when a thing grips the mind, but when the mind grips the thing. Their "thinking" goes beyond the line of pure mental action. CAUSES OF DEPRESSION APART FROM THE PHYSICAL CONDITION Herein lies the real cause of depression as experienced by many believers, apart from purely physical conditions. The victim of depression and melancholia has admitted thoughts suggested by the deceiving spirits, until the mind is unable to shake them off, or else the enemy has obtained such a footing, that he holds the mental faculties in a grip of passivity, so that they cannot act. He feels as though they were in a vice, or weighted with some heavy pressure which obscures all light, and prevents him grasping the facts around him, or using his reason at all. The malignant powers of darkness ofttimes succeed in keeping those who have given them opportunity to get them into their grip under the most harassing clouds and shadows. They rejoice over their own wicked deeds, and love to bind their victims, and keep them in bondage. This is truly the "oppression" of the enemy (Psalms 42:9), and is the outcome of the earlier stages of the attacks of deceiving spirits upon the mind, which could have been quenched had they been dealt with at the beginning. That the enemy takes advantage of any mental feebleness, or overstrain, or disease, is, of course, to be recognized; but in persons of normal health, with no disease of the mind, inherited or induced, much of the "depression" may be attributed to the inroads of the enemy, through ground given unconsciously at some previous time. The cause of "brain-fag" too, needs to be examined in this light, lest many attribute to natural causes what may have been supernaturally brought about. GROUND TO EVIL SPIRITS THROUGH MISCONCEPTIONS Wrong conceptions of spiritual things give ground to evil spirits, and these conceptions the adversary skillfully cultivates ready for use on later occasions. Imaginations as to how God works in Revival power, and in "Pentecostal" measure, is specially a fruitful ground for evil spirits, i.e., a conception that God moves a meeting, and sways it as the wind sways the corn; and that God moves on the physical man, rather than from the centre of man’s spirit only. These imaginations prepare the believer for Satan’s deceptions in these very forms. This entry of "thoughts" from any quarter comes from the deeper cause of a passivity of the mind which, as we have pointed out in Chapter 4, is the main object of the adversary to produce, ere he can succeed in his effort to obtain control of the believer’s will. The Lord’s words in Matthew 13:23; that the good ground hearer is "he that heareth the word and understandeth it," show that the mind is the vehicle through which the truth of God reaches men to win their affections, and bring back the will into intelligent and loyal co-operation with God. In like manner the mind is the hindrance to Satan’s carrying out his schemes to win back control of the believer. For the success of his plans, the enemy knows that the mind must be lulled into inaction and disuse by some means or other, either by stratagem or attack. The arch-deceiver is well aware that any "teaching" of deceiving spirits accompanied by supernatural signs, may be received by the believer if his mind is lulled into passivity so that he does not question, or intelligently reason, what the teachings are, or what they involve in their ultimate issue. PASSIVITY OF THE BODY AS RESULT OF PASSIVITY OF THE MIND Passivity of body is the next stage in the development of passivity of the whole being, and is the ultimate consequence of passivity of the mind, for the mind dulled by passivity takes away alert action from the physical frame. The "dreamy," passive mind is seen in a dreamy walk and a lethargy of action in every department of the human frame. All this is deepening ground for deceiving spirits. The faculties are unused, there is lack of mental control, a lack of reasoning power, a ceasing to use the judgment, followed eventually by a disinclination to use the will. The believer slowly loses power of decision, he becomes more and more tossed about by letting everything in his environment decide for him, and sometimes thinking and believing it is God choosing and deciding for him by "Providences"; he therefore does not choose or decide for himself, but passively drifts, and accepts the choice or decision made for him by "circumstances"; or else he is full of impulses, with no central poise of any kind. But God does not choose instead of the man, otherwise he would become a machine; neither does he decide in his stead. He chooses an eternal inheritance for him, but even this choice of God for the man cannot be fulfilled apart from the believer’s intelligent co-operation. PASSIVE YIELDING TO ENVIRONMENT Therefore the passive yielding to environment and what the man sometimes calls "Providence," really means letting evil spirits decide for him, for they are the world rulers of this darkness, and readily seize the opportunity of playing upon his passive will, and thus he is deceived by them and thinks that he is yielding to the will of God. In this way good men have become victims of others’ sin, fearing to "resist evil" lest they disobey the commands of God, not intelligently understanding that they therefore fail to co-operate with God in fighting against sin (Hebrews 12:4; 1 Timothy 5:20), and conquering the spirit of the age in their environment. God has given man a will, and a deciding voice; and all the purpose of His working in man, is to restore that once enslaved will to its throne of intelligent volition, in the choosing of right instead of wrong, and God instead of Satan. But Satan’s entire purpose is to drag back the will into captivity-- and thus the man himself--so that he becomes a passive, though unconscious slave to the world-rulers of the darkness around him, and hence subject to Satan, the god of this world, ruling through his hierarchy of evil powers. The actions of the believer thus re-captured by Satan, through his emissaries of evil spirits, are the outcome of the subtle and unknown control of the adversary and the actions again give more ground to the enemy. Words are spoken, and deeds are done, almost blindly, either by impulse, or in the confusion of sudden revulsion of feeling; and often without the man intelligently apprehending the consequences of words or deeds. Old habits which ceased to be manifested, show themselves again, and sins which were once conquered, re-assert their power. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 05.08. THE PATH TO FREEDOM ======================================================================== It has been thought almost universally that the only way to deal with demon- possession is by the casting out of the evil spirit, by some Divinely equipped believer. But facts prove that this method is not always successful, for though the diagnosis of the intruder’s presence may be correct, yet the ground that gave it occupation cannot be cast out; and unless the ground is dealt with, no full relief can be obtained, or change seen, in the majority of cases. In others, when the evil spirit apparently departs, it must not be concluded that the person is entirely free, for it may be that what has occurred is only that a particular manifestation has ceased, and it is not unlikely that another manifestation may appear; possibly not a visible one, or one easily perceived or detected, but recognizable by any who have learned to discriminate between the workings of evil spirits, and those which are human or Divine. It is possible also to suppress a certain manifestation for a time, and not entirely get rid of it; and the same manifestation may return again and again in different guise, unless the ground is dealt with. In some instances, where the possession is so manifest that the true inner personality of the victim is almost entirely lost sight of, the relief may be immediate: but where the intruder hides himself so subtly in the mind, or body, as to be indistinguishable from the operations, or actions of the person--hidden in some state, or form, apparently natural or physical--the deliverance will not be obtained by "casting out" only, but by the truth being given to the mind, and the volition of the person actively refusing and disowning the ground. The very first step to freedom is the knowledge of the truth as to the source and nature of experiences the believer may have had since his entrance into the spiritual life, which possibly may have been perplexing, or else thought with deepest assurance to be of God. There is NO DELIVERANCE FROM "DECEPTION" BUT BY THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF TRUTH. And this facing of truth in regard to certain spiritual and "supernatural" experiences, means a keen edged knife to the man in his self-respect, and pride. THE HUMILIATION OF THE UNDECEIVING PERIOD It requires a very deep allegiance to the truth which God desires should reign in the inward parts of His children, for a believer to accept truth which cuts and humbles, as readily as he accepts that which is agreeable. The "undeceiving" is painful to the feelings, and the discovery that he has been deceived is one of the keenest blows to a man who once thought that he was so "advanced," so "spiritual," and so "infallible," in his certainty of obeying the Spirit of God. "Was he not advanced?" Yes, to a degree above the "man of soul," but he had not reached the goal as he thought, for he had but begun the journey in the spiritual plane. The end of standard one is but the beginning of standard two. So after all, he believed a lie about himself and his experience. He was not as "advanced" as he thought. Thus the truth breaks upon his mind, and its entrance is not agreeable. It is not easy to disbelieve absolutely, what he once believed so thoroughly. Then "Was he ’spiritual’?" He may have had spiritual experiences, but this does not make a man "spiritual." The spiritual man is a man who lives in, and is governed by, and understands his spirit, and co-operation with the Spirit of God. A great experience accompanying the ENTRANCE INTO THE PLANE OF THE SPIRIT does not make a believer "spiritual." THE DISCOVERY OF THE TRUTH OF DECEPTION The deceived believe, laid claim to positions to which he had no right, for with the entrance of truth he discovers he was neither so advanced, nor so spiritual, nor so infallible as he had thought. He built his faith about his own spiritual condition on assumption, and left no room for a doubt, that is, true doubt, such as doubting a statement that afterwards turns out to be a lie, but in due season doubt finds an entry to his mind, and brings his house of infallibility to the ground. He knows now that what he thought was an "advanced" experience, was only a beginning, and that he is only on the fringe of knowledge. This is the operation of truth. In the place of ignorance is given true knowledge; in the place of deception, truth. Ignorance, falsehood and passivity; upon these three the enemy silently builds his castles, and unobtrusively guards and uses them. But truth pulls his strongholds to the ground. By the entry of truth, the man must be brought to the place where he acknowledges his condition frankly, as follows:-- (1) I believe that it is POSSIBLE for a Christian to be deceived and possessed by evil spirits. (2) It Is possible for ME to be deceived; (3) I AM deceived by an evil spirit; (4) WHY am l deceived? Then comes the facing of the fact that (1) ground does exist; and (2) the seeking for knowledge as to what the ground is. In order to discover the ground, the believer must first, in a general sense, get a fair conception of what ground is; for he is liable to be deceived in (1) putting down to "possession" what belongs to something else, and (2) placing to something else what belongs to possession. He may confuse ordinary conflict, i.e., the perpetual battle in spirit against the powers of darkness, with conflict which comes from possession. And when the deception and possession are of long standing, the spirits of evil may get the believer himself to defend their work in him, and through him fight tenaciously to guard the cause of his deception from being brought into light, and exposed as their work. They thus get the believer himself, in effect, to take their side, and fight for them to keep their hold, even after he has found out his condition, and honestly desires deliverance; one of the greatest hindrances being the effect of an assumed position concerning spiritual experiences, which believers are loath to examine, and part with. THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF DELIVERANCE IN CALVARY’S VICTORY The Scriptural ground for obtaining deliverance is the truth concerning Christ’s full victory at Calvary, through which believer CAN BE DELIVERED FROM THE POWER OF BOTH SIN AND SATAN, but in actual fact the victory won at Calvary can only be applied as there is conformity to Divine laws. As the deceptions of Satan are recognized, and the will of the person is set to reject them, he can, on the basis of the work of Christ at Calvary as set forth in Romans 6:6-13; Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8, and other passages, claim his deliverance from these workings of the devil in deception and possession. Just as there are various degrees of deception and possession, so there are degrees of deliverance according to the understanding of the believer, and his WILLINGNESS To FACE ALL THE TRUTH ABOUT HIMSELF, and all the ground given to the enemy. In doing this the believer needs to have a steady grasp of his standing in Christ as identified with Him in His death on the Cross, and his union with Him in spirit in His place on the Throne (Ephesians 1:19-23; Ephesians 2:6), and he must "hold fast" with steady faith-grip, the "Head" (Colossians 2:19) as the One who is, by His Spirit, giving him grace (Hebrews 4:16), and strength to recover the ground in mind and body which he has ignorantly yielded to the foe. For the man himself must ACT to get rid of passivity; he must revoke his CONSENT given to evil spirits to enter, and by his own volition insist that they retire from the place (Ephesians 4:27) they have obtained by deceit. Since God will not act for him in regaining the normal condition of his outer man, nor exercise his choice for him, he must stand on the vantage ground of the Calvary victory of Christ, and claim his freedom. Assuming, then, that the believer has discovered that he is a victim of the deceptions of deceiving spirits, what are the subjective steps in the path of freedom? Briefly, (1) acknowledgment of deception; (2) refusal of ground; (3) steadfast fight against all that possession means; (4) being on guard. against excuses; (5) the detection of all the effects of possession; and (6) a discerning of the result of these actions. For the believer must learn to read the signs of dis-possession, as well as the symptoms of possession, lest he be deceived again by the Adversary. We give in column form a complement to the column lists in page 102. The first treated of the way the believer has been deceived; this one of the way of deliverance. COLUMN 1: DOUBT OF EXPERIENCE Taking first for consideration the list in Column 1. (1) Doubt of the experience, or "manifestation" being of God. We cannot emphasize too strongly the need of not quenching, and not ignoring the first doubt, for the "doubt" is actually the initial penetration of truth to the mind, and hence the first step to deliverance. Some have instantly quenched the first doubt, fearing to "doubt God," and in doing so, closed the mind to the first ray of light which would have led them into liberty. They have looked upon doubt as temptation, and resisted it, overlooking the distinction between true and evil, right and wrong, "doubt." This has its root in the mind of most Christians, in associating only evil with such words as "judging," "criticizing," "doubting," and "enmity," "hatred," "unbelief," etc., all of which dispositions and actions they thought to be evil, and evil only, whereas they are evil or good according to their source in spirit or soul, and in relation to their object, e.g., "enmity" against Satan is God-given (Genesis 3:15), "hatred" to sin is good, and "unbelief" of spirit manifestations is commanded until the believer is sure of their source. (1 John 4:1). To doubt God--which means not to trust Him--is sin; but a doubt concerning supernatural manifestations is simply a call to exercise the faculties, which all spiritual believers should use to discern "good and evil." The deep doubt concerning some supernatural experiences is therefore not a "temptation," but really the Holy Spirit moving the spiritual faculties to action according to 1 Corinthians 2:15; "He that is spiritual judgeth--i.e., examineth--all things," the "things of God" thus being "spiritually discerned" (A.V.). NO "CONTRADICTION" IN WORKING OF SPIRIT OF GOD A "doubt" generally first pierces the mind either (1) from truth pointed out by others, or (2) arises from some flaw in the experience which arrests the attention of the believer. In the case of some supernatural manifestation, for instance, which bore the appearance of being Divine, there was some slight contradiction which perplexed the soul. And as no contradictions can possibly occur in any of the workings of the Spirit of God, Who is the Spirit of Truth, one single contradiction is sufficient to reveal a lying spirit at work. This axiom must not be ignored. For instance, a believer declares, under supernatural "power"--assumed to be Divine--concerning one who is ill, that God purposes the restoration of that one, yet the sick one dies. This is a "contradiction" which should be fully examined, and not put aside as among things "not to be understood;" for the supernatural element in the declaration could not be of the Spirit of God, Who cannot depart from truth in His revelation of the Will of God. To "prove the spirits" (1 John 4:1), so as to discern between the "Spirit of Truth" and the "spirit of error" is a clear command to the children of God, as well as to "prove all things," and hold fast that which is "good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21); bring "to the proof . . . with all longsuffering" (2 Timothy 4:2; R.V. m.). To question until all things have stood the test of full examination is the safest course, and is far removed from the doubting of God Himself, in His faithfulness and love, the only doubt which is sin. ADMITTANCE OF POSSIBILITY OF DECEPTION (2) ADMITTANCE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DECEPTION is the second stage in the breaking of truth upon the mind, although it may sometimes precede the doubt. To admit the possibility of being deceived--or mistaken--in any aspect of new experience or action, or even view of truth, is really a possibility which should be acknowledged by every believer; and yet so subtle is the deception of the enemy, that almost invariably the attitude of each one is, that "others" may be open to deception, and he or she is the exception to the rule. This certainty of personal exception is so deep seated with the most visibly deceived person, that the long battle is simply to obtain entrance to the mind for the one thought of possible deception, in any point at all. The believer seems armed with unshaken assurance that if others be misled, he certainly is not; he "beholdeth the mote" in his brother’s eye, and is blind--blind to the "beam" in his own. But an open attitude to truth says, "Why not I as well as others? May not my assurance of safety be a deception of the enemy, as much as the deception I see in others?" Why all believers should admit the possibility of deception by the deceiving spirits, may be considered just here. THE BASIC FACT OF THE FALL The primary fact to be recognized by every human being is the complete and utter ruin of the first creation at the Fall, when the First Adam admitted the poison of the serpent, which permeated and corrupted his whole being beyond repair. This fact of the utter corruption of the human race as a consequence of this is unmistakably declared in the New Testament:-- "The old man, which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit." (Ephesians 4:22 R.V.) "Being darkened in their understanding; alienated from the life of God." (Ephesians 4:18). "We all once lived in the lusts of the flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:3). Thus the Apostle described the whole race of man, Gentile and Jew, Pharisee and Publican--in all, he said, "the prince of the power of the air" wrought, as "the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience." These facts declared by the Word of God, and the reality of the blinded mind (2 Corinthians 4:4), and ruined condition of every human being, is the ONLY BASIS UPON WHICH THE TRUTHS WE ARE CONSIDERING IN THIS BOOK CAN BE UNDERSTOOD, AND PROVED TO BE TRUE, IN EXPERIENCE AND PRACTICE. ADMITTANCE OF POSSIBLE DECEPTION LOGICALLY REASONABLE The second fundamental fact--and the logical outcome of the first--is that unless regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the indwelling of the Spirit, means (1) sinlessness, and (2) the present possession of a resurrection body, every part of a believer not yet renewed, and freed by the redemption of Calvary from the effects of the Fall, MEANS GROUND FOR THE POSSIBLE ENTRY AND POSSESSION OF DECEIVING SPIRITS. Since absolute sinlessness, and the present possession of the resurrection body are not clearly taught in the Scriptures, as attainable whilst on earth, the admittance of possible deception, and entry of evil spirits to the outer man of mind or body, is logically and reasonably possible for all; even whilst the spirit and heart of the man is renewed by the Holy Spirit. If we come to facts of experience, the proofs are so abundant as to be beyond our power to handle in the limited space of this book, not only in the unregenerate world, but in those who are undoubtedly children of God, and spiritual believers. If we knew ourselves, and our actual condition as sinners, simply as depicted in God’s Word, we should be in greater safety from the enemy. It is the ignorance of our true condition, apart from the new life from God implanted in us, and our blind confidence of safety, without an intelligent basis for our faith, which lays us open to being deceived by Satan through our very certainty of being free from his deception. After admitting the possibility of deception in supernatural things, and a doubt has come in to the mind whether certain "experiences," either personal or otherwise, were of God after all, the next stage is, (3) THE DISCOVERY OF THE DECEPTION. Light and truth alone can make free, and when once a doubt comes in, and the man opens his mind to the truth that he is as liable to be deceived as anyone else, then to the open mind and attitude, light is given (John 3:21). Sometimes the specific deception is seen at once, but more often the discovery is gradual, and patience is needed while the light slowly dawns. Certain facts in connection with various experiences of the past, which the believer has failed to note, may now emerge into the light, and the half truths of the Adversary which he had used to deceive, are clearly seen--the twisting of words, the wrenching of sentences out of their context in the Scriptures, all come into view as the light is given. Then comes:-- (4) THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE DECEPTION. This is now imperative. The truth must not only be faced, but owned, so that things are called by their right names, and the father of lies defeated by the weapon of truth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 05.09. THE VOLITION AND SPIRIT OF MAN ======================================================================== It is now necessary to see from the Scriptures the true way in which God works in the believer, in contradistinction to the way of Satan and his wicked spirits; for the principle of co-operation with God, and not passive control by Him, must be fully understood, not only as the basis of deliverance from deception and possession, but also as the basis for the warfare which will be dealt with in our next chapter. Briefly, it may be said that the Holy Spirit dwelling in the regenerate human spirit, energizes and works through the faculties of the soul and the members of the body, only in and with, the active co-operation of the WILL Of the believer, i.e., God in the spirit of man, does not use the man’s hand apart from the "I will use my hand" of the man himself. CO-OPERATION WITH GOD DOES NOT MEAN AUTOMATIC WORKING When Paul said, "His working, which worketh in me mightily" (Colossians 1:29), he first said, "I labour according to" His working. The "I labour" did not mean that hands and feet and mind worked automatically in response to a Divine energizing, as the engine works in response to the steam, but at the back of the "I labour" was the full action of Paul’s will, saying "I choose to labour," and "as I labour, God’s power and energy energizes me in the acting," so that it is "I who live and move and work," and "yet not I, but Christ--the ’Spirit of Christ’ in me." (See Galatians 2:20; Php 1:19). It was so in the Greater than Paul, Who said, "I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me," "The Son can do nothing of Himself," and yet He said also, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." "The works that I do shall ye do also!" He had a separate will, but He came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father, and He was doing the Father’s will when He said to the one who sought His healing power, "I WILL, be thou clean!" Thus it should be in the life of the believer. Granted the essential union of his will with the will of God, and the energizing power of the Holy Spirit, by his own deliberate choice of harmony with that Holy Will, the believer is actively to use his will in ruling himself in spirit, soul and body. God dwelling in his spirit co-working with him through his exercised volition. GOD GOVERNS THE RENEWED MAN BY HIS CO-ACTING WILL For deliverance from the power of sin and protection from deceiving spirits in their workings, it is important to have a clear apprehension of God’s purpose in redemption. God created man, with dominion over himself. This dominion was exercised by his act of will, even as it was by his Creator. But man fell, and, in his fall, yielded his will to the rule of Satan, who from that time by the agency of his evil spirits has ruled the world, through the enslaved will of fallen man. Christ the Second Adam came, and taking the place of man, chose obedience to the Father’s will, and never for one moment diverged from His perfect co-operation with that will. In the wilderness He refused to exercise the Divine power at the will of Satan, and in Gethsemane in suffering His will never wavered in the choice of the Father’s will. As Man He willed the will of God right through, becoming obedient even unto death, thus regaining for regenerated man, not only reconciliation with God, but liberty from Satan’s thraldom, and the restoration of man’s renewed and sanctified will to its place of free action, deliberately and intelligently exercised in harmony with the will of God. Christ wrought out for man upon Calvary’s Cross salvation of spirit, soul, and body, from the dominion of sin and Satan; but that full salvation is wrought out in the believer through the central action of the will, as he deliberately chooses the will of God for each department of his tripartite nature. The will of the man united to the will of God--and thus having the energizing power of God working with his volition--is to rule his (1) "own spirit" (see Proverbs 25:28; 1 Corinthians 14:32); (2) thoughts or mind (Colossians 3:2) inclusive of all the soul-powers; and (3) body (1 Corinthians 9:27), and when, by the appropriation of God’s freeing power from slavery to sin and Satan, the believer regains free action of his will so that he gladly and spontaneously wills the will of God, and as a renewed man re-takes dominion over spirit, soul and body, he reigns in life "through . . Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17). But the natural man does not reach this stage of renewal and liberation of his will, without first knowing the regeneration of his own human spirit. God is not in fallen man until the moment of his new birth (Ephesians 2:12; Ephesians 3:16; John 3:5-8). He must be "begotten of God;" the very fact of such a begetting being necessary, declares the non-existence of Divine life in him previously. After such a begetting, it is also necessary to understand that the regenerated man does not, as a rule, immediately become a spiritual man, i.e., a man wholly dominated by, and walking after the spirit. THE NATURAL" VERSUS THE "SPIRITUAL" MAN At first the regenerated man is but a "babe in Christ, manifesting many of the characteristics of the natural man in jealousy, strife, etc., until he apprehends the need of a fuller reception of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the regenerated spirit as His sanctuary. The unregenerate man is wholly dominated by soul and body. The regenerate man has his spirit (I) quickened, and (2) indwelt by the Holy Spirit, yet may he governed by soul and body because his spirit is compressed and bound. The spiritual man has his spirit liberated from bondage to the soul (Hebrews 4:12) to be the organ of the Holy Spirit in mind and body. It is then that, by the Holy Spirit’s power, his volition is brought into harmony with God in all His laws and purposes, and the whole outer man into self-control. Thus it is written "The fruit of the Spirit . . . is self-control" (Galatians 5:23). It is not only love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and gentleness, manifested through the channel of the soul--the personality--but in a true dominion over the world of himself, (1) every thought brought into captivity, in the same obedience to the will of the Father as was manifested in Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5); (2) his spirit "ruled" also from the chamber of the will, so that he is of a "cool spirit" and can "’keep back" or utter at his will what is in his spirit as well as what is in his mind (Proverbs 17:27), and (3) his body so obedient to the helm of the will, that it is a disciplined and alert instrument for God to energize and empower; that body an instrument to be handled intelligently as a vehicle for service, and not any longer master of the man, or the mere tool of Satan and unruly desires. THE CALL TO DECISIVE ACTION OF THE WILL All this is fully made clear in the New Testament Epistles. "Our old man was crucified with Him" is said of the work of Christ at Calvary, but on the part of the one who desires this potential fact made true in his life, he is called upon to declare his attitude of choice with decisive action, both in the negative and positive positions. The Apostle appeals again and again to the redeemed believer to act decisively with his will, as the following few passages show:-- Negative Positive "Cast off the works of darkness." "Put on the armour of light." Romans 13:12; Romans 13:12 "Put away the old man." "Put on the new man." Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:24 "Put off the old man with his doings." "Put on the new man." Colossians 3:9; Colossians 3:10 "Put to death your members." "Present your members unto God." Col 3: 5; Romans 6:13 "Put off the body of the flesh." "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh." Colossians 2:11; Romans 13:14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See also Ephesians 6:13; Ephesians 6:16 "Take up the whole amour. . . "Put on a heart of compassion." Colossians 3:12 "Put on the whole armour of God." Ephesians 6:11 All these passages describe a decisive act of the will, not toward exterior things, but toward things in an unseen, immaterial sphere, incidentally showing the effect in the spiritual sphere of a man’s volitional action. They also emphasize the effect of the decisive use of the will of man, when it acts in harmony with the liberating power of Christ. Christ has done the work on Calvary’s Cross, but that work is applied in fact through the action of the believer’s own will, acting as if he himself had power to "cast off" the invisible works of darkness, and finding with this action of his will, the co- working of the Spirit of God making the casting off effectual. In saving the man, God calls him into co-action with Himself, to "work out his own salvation," for it is God Who works with and in him, to enable him to will and to do His pleasure. GOD CALLS A MAN INTO CO-ACTION FOR HIS OWN SALVATION In the hour of his regeneration God gives to man the decisive liberty of will to rule over himself, as he walks in fellowship with God. And by this restoration of a will free to act in choosing for God, SATAN LOSES HIS POWER. Satan is the god of this world, and he rules the world through the will of men enslaved by him, enslaved not only directly, but indirectly, by his inciting men to enslave one another, and to covet the power of "influence," whereas they should work with God to restore to every man the freedom of his own personal volition, and the power of choice to do right because it is right, obtained for them at Calvary. In this direction we can see the working of the world-rulers of darkness in the realm which they govern, directly in atmospheric influence, and indirectly through men, in (1) hypnotic suggestion, (2) thought reading, (3) will controlling, and other forms of invisible force, sometimes employed for the supposed good of others. The danger of all forms of healing by "suggestion," and all kindred methods of seeking to benefit men in physical or mental ways, lies in their bringing about a passivity of the will, and mental powers, which lays them open to Satanic influences later on. THE BELIEVER’S RIGHT OF DECISION OF WILL The liberation of the will from its passive condition, and control by the prince of this world, takes place when the believer sees his right of choice, and begins to deliberately place his will on God’s side, and thus choose the will of God. Until the will is fully liberated for action, it is helpful for the believer to assert his decision frequently by saying, "I choose the will of God, and I refuse the will of Satan." The soul may not even be able to distinguish which is which, but the declaration is having effect in the unseen world, i.e., God works by His Spirit in the man as he chooses His will, energizing him through his volition to continually refuse the claims of sin and Satan; and Satan is thereby rendered more and more powerless, whilst the man is stepping out into the salvation obtained potentially for him at Calvary, and God is gaining once more a loyal subject in a rebellious world. On the part of the believer the action of the will is governed by the understanding of the mind, i.e., the mind sees what to do, the will chooses to do it, and then from the spirit comes the power to fulfil the choice of the will, and the knowledge of the mind. For example, the man (1) sees that he should speak, (2) he chooses or wills to speak, (3) he draws upon the power in his spirit to carry out his decisions. This means knowledge of how to use the spirit, and the necessity of knowing the laws of the spirit, so as to fully co-operate with the Holy Ghost. THE SPIRIT ENERGIZED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AT THE BACK OF THE WILL But the believer thus co-operating with God in the use of his volition, must understand that the choice of the will is not sufficient alone, as we see by Paul’s words in Romans 7:18 . "To will is present with me, but to do . . .is not." Through the spirit, and by the strengthening of the Holy Spirit in the "inward man" (the regenerate human spirit-- Ephesians 3:16), is the liberated will desirous and determined to do God’s will, empowered to carry out its choice. "It is God which worketh in you . . to will," i.e., to enable the believer to decide or choose. Then it is "God which worketh in you . . to do His pleasure" (Php 2:13), i.e., energizes the believer with power to carry out the choice. That is, God gives the power to do, from the spirit where He dwells, and by the believer understanding the using of his spirit, as clearly as he understands the use (1) of his will, (2) of is mind, or (3) of his body. He must know how to discern the sense of his spirit, so as to understand the will of God, before he can do it. THE DISTINCT ORGANISM OF THE SPIRIT That the human spirit is a distinct organism, as separate from the soul and body, is very clearly recognized in the Scriptures, as these few verses show. "The spirit of man." 1 Corinthians 2:11; "My spirit prayeth." 1 Corinthians 14:14 "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit." Romans 8:16; ". . .my spirit. . ." 1 Corinthians 5:4 "Relief in my spirit." 2 Corinthians 2:13 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 05.10. VICTORY IN CONFLICT ======================================================================== In a previous chapter we have seen the way of deliverance from possession by evil spirits. The great question here is, how to be victorious over the powers of darkness as a whole. How to have authority, and victory over the wicked spirits in place of their mastery over the believer; who, having learnt the devices of the enemy, and the way of deliverance, is now deeply concerned that others should be set free, and brought into the place of victory "over all the power of the enemy." For this he must now understand that the degree of Christ’s "authority" the Spirit of God will energize him to exercise over the spirits of evil, will be according to the degree of victory he has over them in the personal conflict, which he must now settle down to face in the sphere of the spiritual life into which he has emerged. DEGREES OF DELIVERANCE AND VICTORY The believer needs to have thorough knowledge and understanding of their ways and works, and of the laws of the spirit, and how to keep in mastery of spirit in all the vicissitudes of life. As there are (1) degrees of deception, and degrees of possession and deliverance from possession; so there are (2) degrees of victory over the devil; (3) degrees of temptation, and victory over temptation. The power to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in the wielding of Christ’s authority will also be in degrees, and gained according to the aggressive spiritual strength obtained by overcoming the devil in his various workings; just as victory over sin deepens in its strength as the man overcomes temptation to sin; and victory over the world (1 John 5:4-5) is increasingly known by faith in the Son of God. These degrees of overcoming power with the consequent degree of reward, are to be clearly seen in the Lord’s call to the churches recorded in the Apocalypse. Degrees also of the future authority in the reigning with Christ are indicated in His words in one parable, "Be thou ruler over ten cities . . over five . ." (Luke 19:17-19). The believer delivered from deception and possession by the spirits of evil, must now learn to walk in personal victory over the devil at every point, if he is to have the fullest victory over the powers of darkness. For this, just as he needs to know the Lord Christ in all the aspects of His Name and character, so as to draw upon His power in living union with Him, so the believer must learn to know the adversary in his various workings, as described in his names and character, that he may be able to discern his presence, and all his wicked spirits, wheresoever they may be, either in attacks upon himself, in others, or working as "world-rulers" of the darkness in the world. VICTORY OVER SATAN AS TEMPTER Victory over the Devil as a Tempter, and all his temptations personally, direct and indirect, must be learnt by the believer in experimental reality; remembering that all "temptations" are not recognizable as temptations, nor are they always visible, for half their power lies in their being hidden. A believer thinks that he will be as conscious of the approach of temptation, as of a person coming into the room, hence the children of God are only fighting a small proportion of the devil’s workings; that is, only what they are conscious of as supernatural workings of evil. Because their knowledge of the devil’s character and methods of working is limited and circumscribed, many true children of God only recognize "temptation" when the nature of the thing presented is visibly evil, and according to their limited knowledge of evil, so they do not recognize the Tempter and his temptations when they come under the guise of natural or physical, or lawful and apparent "good." When the prince of darkness and his emissaries come as angels of light, they clothe themselves in light, which, in their case, stands for evil. It is a "light" which is really darkness. They come in the guise of good. Darkness is opposed to light, ignorance is opposed to knowledge, falsehood is opposed to truth. Darkness is a term applied to evil morality and moral darkness. The believer may need to discern evil spirits in the realm of the supposed good. That which comes to them as "light" may be darkness. The apparently "good" may be really evil; the apparent "help" which they cling to may be really a hindrance. For instance, a difficulty in work may arise out of accepting a degree of weakness, which is really the result of demon possession; so while desiring strength the believer may fulfil conditions which make him weak. The devil then tempts him because he is weak, and he succumbs. There needs to be a choice between good and evil perpetually by every man, and the priests of old were specially called to discern and teach the people the difference between "the holy and the common," the "unclean and the clean" (Ezekiel 40:23). Yet is the Church of Christ to-day able thus to discern what is good, and what is evil? Does she not continually fall into the snare of calling good evil, and evil good? Because the thoughts of God’s people are governed by ignorance, and limited knowledge, they call the works of God, of the devil; and the works of the devil, of God, and they are not taught the need of learning to discern the difference between the "unclean and the clean", nor how to decide for themselves what is of God, or what is of the devil, although they are unknowingly compelled to make a choice every moment of the day. Neither do all believers know that they have a choice between good and good, i.e., between the lesser and the greater good; and the devil often entangles them here. VARIOUS KINDS OF TEMPTATIONS There are unseen temptations, and temptations in the unseen. Physical temptations, soulish temptations, spiritual temptations; direct and indirect temptations, as with Christ when He was directly tempted in the wilderness, or indirectly through Peter. The believer must not only resist the devil when he tempts visibly, or attacks consciously, but BY CONSTANT PRAYER HE MUST BRING TO LIGHT HIS HIDDEN AND COVERED TEMPTATIONS, knowing that he is a "Tempter," and therefore is always planning temptation for the believer. Those who thus, by prayer, bring to light these hidden workings, are by experience, widening their horizon in knowledge of his work as a Tempter, and becoming better able to co- work with the Spirit of God in the deliverance of others from the power of the enemy; for in order to be victorious over the powers of darkness, it is essential to be able to recognize what they are doing. Paul, on one occasion, did not say "circumstances," but "Satan hindered me" (1 Thessalonians 2:18), because he was able to recognize when circumstances, or the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6), or Satan, hindered or restrained him in his life and service. There are degrees also in the results of temptation. After the wilderness temptation, which settled vast and eternal issues, the devil left Christ, but he returned to Him again and again with other degrees of temptation (John 12:27; Matthew 22:15) both direct and indirect. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "TEMPTATION" AND "ATTACKS." There is also a difference between the "temptations" and "attacks" of the Tempter, as may again be seen in the life of Christ. "Temptation" is a scheme or a plot, or compulsion on the part of the Tempter to cause another to do evil, whether consciously or unconsciously; but an attack is an onslaught on the person, either in life, character, or circumstances, e.g., the devil made an onslaught on the Lord through the villagers, when they sought to hurl Him over the brow of the hill (Luke 4:29); when His family brought a charge of insanity against Him (Mark 3:21); and when He was charged with demon possession by His enemies (John 10:20; Matthew 12:24). Temptation, moreover, means suffering, as we see again in the life of Christ, for it is written, "He suffered being tempted" (Hebrews 2:18), and believers must not think they will reach a period when they will not feel the suffering of temptation, as this is a wrong conception, which gives ground to the enemy for tormenting and attacking them without cause. PRAYER BRINGING HIDDEN TEMPTATIONS TO LIGHT For perpetual victory, therefore, the believer must unceasingly be on guard against the Tempter, praying for his hidden temptations to be revealed. The degree of understanding his working will be determined by the degree of victory experienced, for "In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird." We have given in preceding chapters much knowledge needed by the believer, if he is to gain victory over every aspect of the Tempter’s workings, but especially does he require power of discrimination between what is temptation from the Tempter working upon the uncrucified "old man"; tempting through the things of the world (1 John 2:15-16; 1 John 5:4-5); and temptation direct from the spirits of evil. In temptation the crucial point is for the tempted one to know whether the temptation is the work of an evil spirit having gained access to him,or from the evil nature. This alone can be discerned by the experimental knowledge of Romans 6:1-23 as the basis of the life. Temptation from the fallen nature should be dealt with on the foundation of "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11), and practical obedience to the resulting command "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." In the hour of temptation to sin--to visible, known sin--the believer should take his stand on Romans 6:6, as his deliberate position of faith, and in obedience to Romans 6:11; declare his undeviating choice and attitude as death to sin, in death union with Christ. If this choice is the expression of his real will, and the temptation to sin does not cease, he should then deal with the spirits of evil, who may be seeking to awaken sinful desires (James 1:14), or to counterfeit them.For they can counterfeit the old nature in evil desire, evil thoughts, evil words, evil presentations, and many honest believers think they are battling with the workings of the old nature, when these things are given by evil spirits. But if the believer is not standing actively on Romans 6, the "counterfeits" are not necessary, for the old fallen creation is always open to be wrought upon by the powers of darkness. VICTORY OVER SATAN AS ACCUSER VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL AS AN ACCUSER: The difference between the accusation of the enemy and his temptations, is that the latter is an effort on his part to compel, or draw the man into sin; and the former is a charge of transgression. Temptation is an effort to cause the man to transgress the law, accusation is an effort to place the believer in the guilty position of having transgressed the law. Evil spirits want the man to be wrong, that they may accuse and punish him for being wrong. "Accusation" can be a counterfeit of conviction--the true conviction of the Spirit of God. It is important that the believer should know when the charge of transgression is made, whether it is a Divine conviction, or a Satanic accusation. (1) The devil may accuse when the man is truly guilty; (2) he may accuse when the man is not guilty, and cause him to think, and believe that he is guilty; (3) he may endeavour to pass on his accusations as a conviction, and cause the man to think that it comes from the evil nature, when he is not guilty at all. Evil spirits are able to infuse a sense of guilt. Sin itself comes from the evil nature within, but it is not forced into the personality from without, apart from the person. How can the believer tell if evil spirits are at the back of involuntary sin? If the man is right with God, standing on Romans 6, with no deliberate yielding to known sin, then any manifestation of sin coming back again unaccountably, may be dealt with as from evil spirits. The believer must therefore never accept an accusation--or a charge, supernaturally made, of having transgressed--unless he is fully convinced by intelligent knowledge and clear decision that he has done so; for if he accepts the charge when innocent, he will suffer as much as if he had really transgressed. He must also be on guard to refuse any compulsory drive to "confession" of sin to others, which may be the forcing of the enemy to pass on his lying accusations. BELIEVER SHOULD MAINTAIN NEUTRALITY TO ACCUSATIONS UNTIL SOURCE PROVED The believer should maintain neutrality to accusations, until he is sure of their real source, and if the man knows he is guilty, he should at once go to God on the ground of 1 John 1:9; and refuse to be lashed by the devil, as he is not the judge of God’s children, nor is he deputed as God’s messenger to make the charge of wrong. The Holy Spirit alone is commissioned by God to convict of sin. The steps in the working of evil spirits in their accusations and false charges, are these, when the believer accepts their accusations:-- (1) The believer thinks and believes he is guilty; (2) Evil spirits cause him to feel guilty; (3) They cause him, then, to appear guilty; (4) They cause him then to be actually guilty through believing their lies, it matters not whether he is guilty or not in the first instance. Malicious spirits try to make the man feel guilty by their nagging accusations, so as to make him act, or appear guilty before others; at the same moment flashing, or suggesting to others the very things about which they are accusing him, without any cause. All such "feelings" should be investigated by the believer. Feeling wrong is not enough for a man to say he is wrong, or the Accuser to accuse him of being wrong. The man says he "feels" wrong. He should ask "Is the feeling right?" He may feel wrong, and be right; and "feel" right, and be wrong. Therefore he should investigate, and examine the question honestly, "Am I wrong?" "FEELINGS" INJECTED BY EVIL SPIRITS There are physical, soulish, and spiritual "feelings." Evil spirits can inject feelings into either of these departments. Their aim is to move the man by "feelings" to substitute these for the action of his mind, so that the believer is governed by the deceiving spirits through his feelings. Also to substitute feelings for the conscience in its recognition of right and wrong. If believers "feel" they can do a thing, they do it, without asking whether it be right or wrong, if it is not visibly sinful. For victory over the deceitful enemy, it is essential that the children of God cease to be guided by "feelings" in their actions. Again: If believers in any course of action "feel relief," they think that sense of relief is a sign that they have been doing God’s will. But a man gets rest when his work is done, not only in the spiritual, but in ordinary life. A "sense of relief" in any line of action, is no criterion that it is in the will of God. The action must be judged by itself, and not merely by its effects upon the doer of it. For instance, a believer says he "felt happy" after doing such and such a thing, and that it was "a proof that he was doing the will of God"; but peace and rest and relief are no proof at all of being in God’s will. Believers also think that if they do some action that the devil wants them to do, they will "feel condemned" at once, but they overlook the fact that Satan can give pleasant feelings. There are innumerable variations of feelings caused by evil spirits, from countless attacks, and countless false suggestions, which call forth all the spiritual discernment of the believer, and his understanding of spiritual things, to recognize them. NEED OF DISCERNING ACCUSATION FROM TRUE CONVICTION The devil as a Tempter very quickly becomes the Accuser, even if he does not succeed in getting the man to yield to his temptations. As we have seen, deceiving spirits can cause apparent "sin" to be manifested to the consciousness of a believer, and then lash and accuse the man for their own workings. They counterfeit some sin, which may be called with sadness, "my besetting sin," in the believer’s life; and as long as it is believed to be sin from the evil nature, no "confessing" or seeking victory over it, will cause it to pass away. They can also hide behind real sin. A sense of guiltlessness does not necessarily lead to absolute happiness, for even with the peace of conscious innocence there may be suffering, and the suffering have its source in some sin which is not known. Walking by known light, and measuring his guiltlessness by his knowledge of known sin, is very dangerous to him who desires a fathomless peace, for it leads only to superficial rest, which may be disturbed at any moment by the attacks of the Accuser, who directs his darts to a joint in the armour of peace, hidden from the believer’s view. For obtaining victory over the Deceiver’s accusing spirits, spiritual believers should, therefore, understand clearly whether any consciousness of sin, is the result of real transgression, or is caused by evil spirits. If the believer accepts the consciousness of sin, as from himself, when it is not, he at once leaves his position of death to sin, and reckons himself alive to it. This explains why many who have truly known victory over sin by the "reckon" of Romans 6:11, surrender their basis, and lose the position of victory; because the Accuser has counterfeited some manifestation of "self" or "sin," and then accused the man of it, with the taunt that " Romans 6 does not work," and by this device made him surrender his basis of victory, causing him to fall into confusion, and condemnation, as into a pit of miry clay and darkness. NEED OF UNFLINCHING WARFARE AGAINST SIN On the other hand, if the believer in the slightest degree is tempted to treat sin lightly, or attribute it to evil spirits when it is from himself, he is equally on false ground, and lays himself open to the old fallen nature regaining mastery over him with redoubled force. The warfare against Satan must be accompanied with a vigorous, unflinching warfare against sin. Any known sin must not be tolerated for a moment. Whether it be from the fallen nature, or from evil spirits forcing it into the man, it MUST BE CAST OFF AND PUT AWAY; on the basis of Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:12 Two misconceptions which give great advantage to the watching enemy are the thoughts in many believers’ minds, that if a Christian commits sin he will at once (1) know it himself, or (2) that God will tell him. They, therefore, expect God to tell them when they are right or wrong, instead of seeking light and knowledge according to John 3:21 Believers seeking victory over all the deceptions of the enemy, must take an active part in dealing with sin. Based upon a wrong conception of "death" they may have thought that God would remove sin out of their lives for them, with the result that they have failed to actively co-work with Him in dealing with evil, within and in their environment, in others and in the world. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 05.11. WAR UPON THE POWERS OF DARKNESS ======================================================================== In the path to freedom from deception and possession, the believer discovers the need of MAKING WAR AGAINST THE POWERS OF DARKNESS, for the undeceiving and the dispossession which follows, reveals to him the depths of the wickedness of Satan and his hosts of wicked spirits. The believer sees that he must (1) make war against their possession of him; (2) against all their works; and (3) against their deception and possession of others, as well as the need of a perpetual daily fighting against all their onslaughts, which come upon him apart from his giving them ground. The believer who is dispossessed is born into the war, and compelled to fight to maintain his freedom. Just as a child is born into the natural world, and must breathe to maintain life, so there is a birth into the warfare through the sufferings and pains of being undeceived, and delivered from the thraldom of Satan. Through his aggressive warfare against the foe, the believer understands the systematic workings of the forces of Satan. Through the knowledge gained by reading the symptoms of deception and possession in his own case, he is now able to read them in others, and see their need of deliverance, and finds himself compelled to pray for them, and work toward that goal. AGGRESSIVE AND DEFENSIVE WARFARE In war, whether natural or supernatural, there are two principles governing the warfare, viz.: aggressive and defensive, i.e., the attacking force must be able to defend itself as well as to take the aggressive against the enemy. Between the period of undeceiving and dispossessing, the believer learns to know his weak points, and vulnerable parts; and becomes able to recognize the methodical, planned and systematic attacks of the forces of the enemy upon those points. By these attacks, the knowledge of the active operations of the lying spirits, and of the need of unceasing warfare against them, is deepened in him. He knows that he must stand against them daily, or again be entrapped by their wiles, and fall a victim to their wicked devices; for he discovers that even the lesser attacks, which, before the time of his deception and possession, would be unfelt, quickly overwhelm him, and cause him to lose his equilibrium, or spiritual balance, immediately. He knows, therefore, by the lessons of his fight to freedom, that he must ever after be on his guard, and watch against the attacks of the subtle foe, whether they come through things around him, or directly--or indirectly--through others, the indirect onslaughts being often the most violent. During the period of his undeceiving, the eyes of the believer also become open to the supernatural operations of the forces of evil; for just as God is seen by His workings (John 14:10-11), so the powers of darkness are to be recognized by their activities. Both the Divine and Satanic workings are invisible to the physical eye, but the effects are perceptible to him who has the power to read the signs. The one who has been dispossessed, can see how much that others attribute to God’s sovereignty is nothing else but the results of the Satanic world-rulers’ work. He sees that the primary cause of the apathy and deadness of the Church is Satanic, and that much which has been put down to sin, or the evil nature, is nothing but the work of evil spirits. Hence he must war against the false teaching, which settles down to accept Satanic workings in the world as the "operations of God." Through his own undeceiving his old thoughts about things connected with God, and with Satan, fall to the ground as untested theories, and he receives two blessings through his undeceiving; i.e. (1) a purified "theology," (2) and a true demonology. SOME OF THE RESULTS OF THE UNDECEIVING The undeceived and dis-possessed believer also becomes intensely practical. He finds that God is "practical." The devil is practical, and man must be practical to join with the One against the other. The believer sees that one of the ways in which the Son of God destroys the work of the devil, is through the instrumentality of prayer, and that he must now live a prayer-life, since prayer is the mightiest weapon against the foe. Through his undeceiving, the undeceived believer has been made conscious of the actual force which the powers of darkness bring to bear upon and against his tripartite being, and thus learns that all the strength of his redeemed, renewed, and liberated powers--mental, spiritual and physical--must be set against them in order that he may keep at liberty. In the experience he has gone through, he has become more and more conscious of his own spirit, and the need of using it in strength, purity, and power against them. He has also discovered that in the perpetual war which the deceiving spirits wage against him, neither time, place, nor season, are exempt from their attacks. Therefore, wherever he is, whatever he does, whatever state he is in, he must wage equally persistent war upon them. If he finds himself in keen suffering and anguish, he knows that it is "the hour and power of darkness"; and learns by the suffering they cause that they are unmerciful, as well as evil; intensely evil; nothing but evil; aiming at nothing but evil, and with all the power they are able to wield, endeavouring to draw him into evil, doggedly, silently, persistently, wickedly, always at work; actuated by undying hatred and malice against the human race. Enemies they are, and will be. What they are they were, and what they were, they are still--evil, and evil only. Thus he learns and knows that he must resist them and, that the fight to keep his spirit strong, pure and buoyant for victory over them needs all the force of his being, in the power of God, to enable him to be victorious. THE BELIEVER FINDS HE IS AT WAR WITH ALL HELL In the discovery of the wickedness and hatred of the supernatural powers of evil against him, the believer learns he is not fighting against the intelligence of one supernatural being, but against principalities and powers, with vast resources at their command, and that IF HE STANDS VICTORIOUS AGAINST THEIR WILES, HE HAS CONQUERED, NOT ONLY ONE EVIL SPIRIT, BUT ALL HELL. He finds that the powers of darkness will not allow one single believer to be victor over them, until they as a whole (Ephesians 6:12) have failed to conquer him. Hence their onslaught on him who elects to be victorious over them all, in vital union with the Victor Lord, Who put them to open shame through His death on the Cross of Calvary. The believer is called to triumph over all the powers of darkness, but to reach the goal he must put on the whole armour of God, and lay hold of Divine strength, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, the mighty sword of the Scriptures, watchfulness and prayer. This armour, and the weapons belonging to it, will enable him to "stand against all" the wiles of Satan. If he stands, all heaven sees it; if he is defeated, all hell knows it. If he triumphs, the hosts of darkness are not only conquered, but discouraged, and rendered less effective in their schemes. The believer who would overcome such a disciplined and pertinacious foe, will never dare put his armour by, or give himself to careless work, for he finds that the foe is as tenacious and desirous to conquer as he himself is. But he who fully knows the foe and the warfare, and its eternal issues, finds his joy in the joy of war against an enemy devastating the earth, and the joy of victory, as a foretaste of the future triumph with the Lord Christ over all His foes. (Hebrews 10:13; 1 Corinthians 15:25-26). It is essential to study the powers of darkness from the point of view of their depraved nature. To be conquered, or to lose a point, is torment to them, for the fallen nature, both of men and angels, rebels against confessing itself vanquished. In the days of Christ, to be driven out of their hiding places, commanded to go, and thus be deprived of rest, was to demons "torment" before their time (see Matthew 8:29). They are being thus tormented by any truth made known about them to-day. The truth concerning them and their workings, with its consequent liberation of men from their power, is disturbing their rest at the present time, and what happened when Christ was on earth, will happen again when the casting out of evil spirits will become a recognized part of all Christian and ministerial activity. The Gospels record how Satan and his minions objected to Christ’s presence on earth, for He moved about as the Victor, and they were shown to be the vanquished ones. THE USE OF CHRIST’S AUTHORITY OVER THE POWER OF THE ENEMY The believer who has thus learnt, through fire, the real schemes and workings of the Satanic forces, and realizes that he must make war upon them for his own defense, as well as for the liberation of others, now discovers that Christ has given authority over "all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19) to all who will lay hold of it, as part of the finished redemption of Calvary. That in union with Him He gives the believer power to wield His Name, and in His name to have authority to cast out demons. This was one effect of the enduement of power upon the believers of the early Church. Christ said, on the eve of His Cross, "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name. " But after Pentecost they wielded the Name, and found the Spirit of God witness to its authority. "Such as I have, I give unto thee. In the Name . . rise . ." said Peter. "I command thee in the Name of Jesus . . come out . . " said Paul to the evil spirit (Acts 16:18). "In My Name shall they cast out demons . ." said Christ of His followers. "The spirits are subject to you . . " (Luke 10:20) must be true of all who are in actual experience "one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17) with the Lord. The authority of Christ is, therefore, open to the faith of all His children who are united to Him in spirit, even though they may not be wholly free, through ignorance, from the power of deceiving spirits in their outer man. THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST IS NOT INHERENT IN THE BELIEVER This is reasonably so, because the authority of Christ as Conqueror over the evil hosts of Satan, is not inherent in the believer, but is laid hold of by him through the power of the Holy Spirit, and is borne witness to by Him only in response to faith. Should, however, a believer by faith thus command evil spirits to depart they will make the most of any occasion he may give them, after he has dared to assert the authority of their Victor’s Name. This is to be explained by the facts dealt with in earlier pages of this book, that it is possible for the believer who is fully joined to Christ in spirit, and in whose spirit the Holy Spirit dwells, to have foreign spirits located, unknowingly, in mind and body, who have obtained a footing by deception. The Holy Spirit does not give up His Place in a child of God who has received Him, because an intruder, against the man’s real desire, and by guile, has gained admission. The entrance of a demon to a man, in any part of him, does not make him a demon, any more than the entrance of the Holy Spirit makes a man God. It is when the believer knows the truth, and will not take an attitude of refusal to the ground giving place to the enemy, and thereby clings to known sin and gives known ground to evil spirits, that his innermost life becomes seriously affected, just as known sin which the man will not part with, brings a cloud between him and God. God uses a man, so long as he is honestly true to known light, whilst glaring inconsistencies--unknown to himself--may stumble others. DEGREES IN THE RESULTS OF USING THE AUTHORITY OF THE NAME There are degrees in the manifestation of Christ’s authority through the believer, over the spirits of evil, according to the degree of his personal victory described in our last chapter. Two believers may have faith to wield the authority of Christ, and have different results because of the difference in their knowledge of the workings of the powers of darkness, and hence a difference in their discernment, and consequent diagnosis of the case before them; that is, if one believer apprehends that he can cast out evil spirits by "commanding" only, and he does not know how the GROUND should be dealt with, he will not find the same results as the one who knows that the ground must be dealt with, before the evil spirits are really cast out. Knowledge and discernment enables the believer to see where the Spirit of God would have him lay hold of the authority of Christ, and when to do so. For instance, authority over evil spirits to cast them out, is of no use in meeting their lies. Truth is the weapon of authority then. The truth of God, spoken with the authority of knowledge that it is the truth, will set the soul free. KNOWLEDGE A FACTOR IN AUTHORITY The degree of authority over evil spirits, then, depends not only upon personal victory, but also upon knowledge, and the believer who desires to know how to lay hold of the fullest authority over evil spirits for the sake of the deliverance of others, must set himself to understand their workings, as well as to be VICTORIOUS IN ALL, AND OVER ALL HE PASSES THROUGH. Let him note how much is said in the Scriptures about knowledge and understanding. The Apostle wrote to the Colossians about their being filled with "the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9), and the Lord said "This is life eternal, to know Thee. . . " (John 17:3); "If we walk in the light ... fellowship." To walk in the light is to know God, and knowing God, we in relative degree know the powers of darkness; for light makes manifest the works of darkness (see Ephesians 5:11-13). Those of full age in the spiritual life, have by reason o use, their "senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14; A.V.). The believer must be willing for the price of the knowledge necessary for discernment, for he cannot take an attitude of resistance to a thing he believes is of God, or is good, or towards which he is neutral. He must KNOW whether a thing is of God or no, therefore the degree of knowledge he has about the workings of the spirits of evil determines the degree of his (1) discernment, (2) resistance, and (3) authority over them in wielding the Name of Christ, whether exercised in "casting out," commanding to leave a person, or dispersing them by the light of truth. The believer must know their wiles, schemes, methods and accusations, weights on the spirit and their causes, and when hindrances and obstacles are brought about by the enemy, so as to be able to discern all these things, and resist them. EVIL SPIRITS SUBJECT TO THE BELIEVER JOINED TO THE LIVING CHRIST Knowledge also affects faith. The believer must KNOW that it is God’s will that evil spirits should be, not only potentially, but actually subject to him as one joined in vital union to the Holy One of God, Who was Victor over them all when He walked on earth, and gave His messengers authority over them through using His Name (Cf. Luke 10:17-24). Some of the expressions used in Scripture describing the attitude of the Church, and of individual members of Christ toward the powers of darkness, clearly show God’s will and purpose for His people. Paul said that God would "bruise" Satan under the feet of His children (Romans 16:20); the principalities and powers were to be "wrestled against" (Ephesians 6:12)--surely not with a view to their triumph over the Christian; to be "resisted" by a steadfast attitude of faith (1 Peter 5:8-9)--surely not by ignoring their presence and workings; "withstood" (Ephesians 6:13), in their onslaughts-- surely not by ignorance of such attacks; "devices" recognized to be guarded against (2 Corinthians 2:10-11); and "cast out" with the word of command by the authority of the Name of Jesus (Mark 16:17), as those who were compelled to go, when a believer identifies himself with their Conqueror, and acts in reliance upon the authority of His Name. Knowledge again affects the use of the will, in resistance to the enemy. How can the believer take an attitude of resistance to evil spirits in a meeting, unless he has knowledge whether the power in that meeting is Divine or Satanic? The senses also, when acute, are factors in knowledge. If they are dulled by possession, the knowledge necessary actually to read and discern the workings of the powers of darkness is hindered. KNOWLEDGE GOVERNS PRAYER. Abraham was seeking knowledge as to the conditions upon which God could spare Sodom, when he reverently questioned the Lord about the doomed city. He wanted to know God’s conditions, before he was able to pray for Sodom. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 05.12. REVIVAL DAWN AND THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT ======================================================================== We have seen that the period in the believer’s life wherein he receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the special time of danger from the evil supernatural world, and the Baptism of the Spirit is THE ESSENCE OF REVIVAL. Revival dawn, is, therefore, the great moment for deceiving spirits to find entrance into the believer by deception through counterfeits, resulting sometimes in the possession dealt with in preceding pages. The hour of Revival is a time of crisis and possible catastrophe. A crisis in the history of every individual, as well as in the history of a country, a church, or a district. A crisis for the unregenerate man, wherein he settles his eternal destiny, as he accepts, or rejects conversion to God; a crisis to those who receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit, and to those who reject Him; for to the believer who bends and receives the Holy Spirit, it is the day of the visitation of the Most High, but to others it means the decision whether they will become spiritual men or remain carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1); whether they will elect to remain in defeat in the personal life, or determine to press on as overcomers. Few go through the crisis without deception by the enemy in more or less degree, and only those who cling to the use of their reasoning faculties at this time, can hope to be saved from the catastrophe of becoming a victim to the subtle workings of evil supernatural powers. If the believer does become deceived by evil spirits at the time that he is baptized with the Spirit, almost immediately after the highest point of his experience, he begins through deception to descend into a pit which ultimately means depth of darkness, bondage and misery, until he is undeceived and returns to the normal path. Those who do not discover the deceptions, sink into deeper deception, and become practically useless to God and to the Church. REVIVAL THE HOUR AND POWER OF GOD Revival is the hour and power of God, and of the devil, for the descent of the Divine power brings the accompanying onslaught of evil supernatural powers. It means MOVEMENT IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM. Revival itself is the hour of God, when heaven is opened, and the power of God works among men, but when the Divine power appears to pass away, and evil supernatural powers manifest their workings in a man, or a church, or a country, then men marvel that the devil’s work should be where God had been so manifest, not knowing that the devil was planting his seeds, and DOING HIS WORK, FROM THE DAWN OF REVIVAL. Revival ebb began with its flow, but all unseen. In the hour and power of God in Revival, the "Tempter" appears to be absent, but he is present as the Counterfeiter. Men say there is "no devil," and yet it is his greatest harvest time. He is netting his victims, mixing his workings with the workings of God, and beguiling the saints more effectively than he was ever able to do with his temptations to sin. As a counterfeiter, and deceiver, the ever watchful foe uses his old methods of deception and guile on new converts, who, having victory over known sin, think the Tempter has left them, not knowing his new ways. His absence is only apparent, and not real. Satan was never more active among the sons of God. WHY REVIVAL STOPS The Devil’s great purpose is to stop the Revival power of God, and every Revival that has been given of God to awaken His people, has ceased after a time, more or less short, because of (1) the Church’s ignorance of the laws of the spirit for co-working with God; and (2) the insidious creeping on of the powers of darkness, unrecognized, and yielded to by the people of God through ignorance. Those who are born of the Spirit at such a period of the manifested power of the Holy Spirit emerge into a spiritual world, where they come into contact with spirit-beings of evil, OF WHOSE EXISTENCE THEY HAVE NO EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE. They become conscious of spiritual forces and things which they think must be of God, and they do not know of the possibility of workings mingled by wicked spirits with the things of God. This is the reason why Revival, which quickens the Church, and for a period manifests to the world the regenerating, uplifting power of God, produces as an aftermath a number of genuine Spirit-born believers who are said to have "religious mania," or are called "cranks." And this is why "Revival" is sooner or later checked and discredited, the testimony to the world destroyed, the sober section of the Church dismayed, and made fearful of its effects.. To put it in bluntest language, the Revival hour is the occasion for evil spirits to obtain "possession" of spiritual believers, and REVIVAL CEASES BECAUSE OF SUCH POSSESSION. The most spiritual believers, baptized with the Holy Spirit, and most fitted to be used of God in Revival service, may become deceived and possessed by evil spirits in their outer being THROUGH ACCEPTING THE COUNTERFEITS OF SATAN. Believers who are not so abandoned to the Spirit escape the acute "possession, " but in their contact with hitherto unknown workings from the spiritual realm, are equally open to deception which is manifested in a less recognizable way. What is called the "fanatical" spirit, which in some degree, follows Revival, is purely the work of evil spirits. At Revival dawn the ignorant are teachable, but through their "spiritual experiences," later on they become unteachable. Pre-Revival simplicity gives place to Satanic "infallibility," or an unteachable spirit. Dogged, stubborn obstinacy in a believer after Revival is not from the source of the man himself, but from evil spirits deceiving his mind, holding his spirit in their grip, and making him unbending and unreasonable. The scheme of the powers of darkness in Revival dawn, is to drive, or push to extreme, what is true. Their "push" is very slight and imperceptible at the beginning, in suggesting thoughts, or impelling to actions a very little contrary to reason, but as the "push" is yielded to, and the use of the reason is silenced, those who are thus deceived in due course become fanatical. The judgment of those believers impelled to unreasonable actions, may be against, and even resisting the things they are supernaturally urged to do, yet they are unable to stand against the supernatural power driving them, which they think and believe is from God. REVIVAL AND WAR ON SATAN All this, and much else already dealt with in preceding pages, together with the after history of all Revivals of the past, shows that REVIVAL MINUS WAR ON SATAN AND HIS WICKED SPIRITS, must always appear to end in partial failure through the mixed results, consequent upon Satanic counterfeits of the working of the Holy Spirit. The Church, therefore, sorely needs believers equipped with knowledge and discernment, to meet the Satanic counterfeits which invariably follow the advent of Revival, knowing the symptoms of Satanic deception and possession, and able to resist the powers of darkness, and teach the children of God the way of victory over them, as well as the aggressive warfare upon them. War upon the attacking spirits of evil is indispensable for maintaining the health, sanity and spiritual power of those who are revived. A PURE REVIVAL--free from the usual aftermath--IS POSSIBLE if the Church understood the truth about the powers of darkness, as well as the way of co- operation with the Holy Spirit. Apart from this same knowledge of the workings of Satan and his wicked spirits, so as to be able to recognize their presence under any guise, no one can with safety accept all the supernatural manifestations which accompany Revival, or believe all seeming "Pentecostal power" to be of God. A PURE Revival is Divine power in full operation, minus sin and Satan. It is not cold "belief," but life, and it has to do with the spirit, not the intellect. PRAYER FOR REVIVAL Apart from this same knowledge, those who pray for Revival do not clearly understand what they pray for, nor how to act when their prayers are answered; for they are not prepared to meet the Satanic opposition to their prayers; nor even the dangers attendant upon prayer for Revival. Why is there not yet world-wide Revival in answer to world-wide prayer? For the same reason that Revival subsides when it has begun, and that prayer meetings for Revival may end in catastrophe, or powerlessness. The check to Revival, both when it has begun, and in the prayer preceding its advent, is caused by the spirits of evil deceiving or hindering the praying ones. The hindrance to Revival, at the present time lies, not only in this opposition of the powers of darkness, but in the PRESENT CONDITION OF THE MOST SPIRITUAL SECTION OF THE CHURCH, through whom alone God can work in Revival power. These are the believers who know the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and were liberated in spirit in the Revivals of the last decade, but who are now driven back into themselves by the pressure of the enemy in the atmosphere, or else are in captivity to the foe through his counterfeits. Let these quenched or deceived believers be liberated once more, and THOSE WHO ARE NOW USELESS WILL BE PRICELESS IN VALUE for teaching and strengthening others when Revival is once more given. INSTRUMENTS FOR REVIVAL The Holy Spirit is still in those who were baptized with the Spirit, during the last Revivals. The mistake at the time of the Revival in Wales in 1904 was to become occupied with the effects of Revival, and not to watch and pray in protecting and guarding the cause of Revival. The Spirit baptized souls, at present locked up in spirit, or side-tracked through Satanic deceptions, are still those who would be the instruments through whom God could work, were they but set free. Useless now, but priceless in maturity, and experience and knowledge for the guiding and guarding of a Revived Church, when they are once more liberated for true co-working with the Holy Spirit of God. How, then, should the Lord’s praying ones pray at the present time? They should pray (1) Against evil spirits now blocking and hindering Revival. (2) For the cleansing and delivering of those who became possessed through deception during the time of later Revivals. (3) That when Revival is once more given it may be kept pure, and (4) For the preparation of instruments for Revival, trained and taught of God to guard against further inroads of the powers of darkness. In brief, let all who pray for Revival, pray for light to reach those who HAVE BEEN ENSNARED INTO BONDAGE TO THE DECEIVING POWERS OF DARKNESS, that they may be set free, and once more become usable in Revival service; then will the forces of evil be beaten back from the ground they have regained, which still belongs to God. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the essence of Revival, for Revival comes from a knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and the way of co-working with Him which enables Him to work in Revival power. The primary condition for Revival is, therefore, that believers should individually know the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This term being used as a convenient expression for describing a definite influx of the Holy Spirit which thousands of believers throughout the Church of Christ have received as a definite experience. Such an infilling of the Spirit was the cause not only of the Revival in Wales in 1904-5, but of all other Revivals in the history of the world. The fact that the counterfeiting work of Satan follows Revival through such an opening of the spiritual world as enables the evil spirit-beings to find access to believers under the guise of the Divine Spirit, must not hold back the children of God from seeking the true flood tide of the Spirit, for the bringing about of pure Revival, and the emancipation of the Church of Christ from the bonds of sin and Satan. WHAT IS A TRUE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT It is of primary importance to understand what is a true Baptism of the Spirit, the conditions for its reception, and the effects of obtaining it. Previous chapters will have thrown much light upon what it is not, and the dangers to be avoided in seeking it. It is not an influence coming upon the body, nor, according to the records in the Acts of the Apostles, does it result in physical manifestations, such as convulsions, twitchings and writhings of the human frame; nor does it rob a man of the full intelligent action of the mind, or ever make him irresponsible for his speech and actions. In brief, the place of the indwelling of the Spirit of God in man, gives the key to all the true manifestations connected with the Baptism of the Spirit, as well as the conditions for receiving it, and the results in personal experience and service. THAT PLACE IS THE HUMAN SPIRIT. Once let the believer understand that his SPIRIT is the organ through which the Holy Spirit carries out all His operations in and through him, he will be able to discern the true meaning of being filled with the Holy Ghost, and how to detect the counterfeit workings of Satan in the realm of the senses. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit may be described as an influx, sudden or gradual, of the Spirit of God into a man’s spirit, which liberates it from the vessel of the soul, and raises it into a place of dominance over soul and body. The freed spirit then becomes an open channel for the Spirit of God to pour through it an outflow of Divine power. The mind receives, at the same time, a clarifying quickening, and the "eye of the understanding" is filled with light (Ephesians 1:18). The body becomes entirely under the man’s complete control, as the result of the dominance of the spirit, and often receives a quickening in strength for endurance in the warfare service he finds he has emerged into. That the Spirit of God OPERATES THROUGH THE ORGAN OF A MAN’S SPIRIT, as shown in the epistles of Paul, needs to be kept in mind in reading the records of the working of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. THE INFLUX OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AT PENTECOST On the day of Pentecost, the 120 disciples--men and women--were filled in the spirit, as the Spirit of God filled the atmosphere, and their tongues were liberated, so that THEY THEMSELVES as intelligent personalities, could speak of the mighty works of God as the Spirit gave utterance, i.e., gave them power to speak. The record gives no hint that they became automatons, or that the Spirit spoke HIMSELF through them, or INSTEAD of them. From a spirit under the clothing of, and the afflatus of the Spirit of God, they themselves were given intelligent insight into, and utterance about, the wonderful things of God, as they were "moved" in spirit by Him. This influx of the Divine Spirit into their spirits, not only left their mental powers in full action, but clarified them, and increased their keenness of discernment and power of thought, as seen in the action and the words of Peter, who spoke with such convincing power that through his words--inspired by the Spirit, but spoken by him in intelligent clearness of mind--three thousand were convicted and saved, the true influence of God the Holy Spirit being manifested through him, not in "control" of those who heard him, but in a deep conviction in their consciences which turned them to God, not conquered by terror of God, but by a godly awe, which led them to godly sorrow and repentance. The "falling upon" of the Spirit (Acts 2:15), is therefore upon the spirit, clothing it with Divine light and power, and raising it into union of spirit with the glorified Lord in heaven; at the same time, baptizing the believer into one spirit with every other member of the mystical Body of Christ, joined to the Head in heaven. All who are thus liberated and clothed in spirit are "made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13)--the Holy Spirit--Who then, through the spirit capacity of each member of the Body, is able to distribute to each the gifts of the Spirit, for effective witness to the Risen Head, "dividing to each one severally even as He will." (See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11). THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALING CHRIST IN HEAVEN Another aspect of the true Baptism of the Spirit, having an important bearing upon the experiences of believers to-day, is to be found in the words of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, showing that the revelation of Christ given by the Holy Spirit at such a time, was of Christ as the glorified Man in heaven (Acts 2:33-34), and not in any vision or manifestation as a Person within. The same attitude to Christ as seated on the right hand of God, is uniformly to be seen in all the later records of the work of the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. The martyr Stephen sees the "Son of Man, standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56), and Paul on the road to Damascus is arrested by a light from heaven (Acts 9:3; Acts 22:6; Acts 26:13), out of which clothing of light the Ascended Lord spoke to him, saying, "I am Jesus . . . " The Holy Spirit fills the human spirit of the believer, and communicates to him the very Spirit of Jesus, joining him in one spirit to the Spirit of the glorified Lord, imparting to him the life and nature of Christ for the building up of a new creation in His likeness (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:2-13). Instead of being turned inward to a self-centred apprehension of Christ, he is, by the influx of the Spirit of God into his spirit, lifted, so to speak, out of the narrow limit of himself, into a spiritual sphere where he finds himself one spirit with others who are joined to the Living Head forming one Body--or spirit organism--for the influx and outflow of the Spirit of the Lord. REVIVAL DEPENDS UPON TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT This aspect of the true meaning of the Baptism of the Spirit and its spiritual effect, has an important bearing upon Revival, and the reason why Revival does not come. Revival is an OUTFLOW OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD THROUGH THE ORGAN OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT LIBERATED FOR HIS USE. When the influx of the Spirit takes place into the spirits of many believers, and finds outlet through all, the unity which was so marked in the early Church is seen, and the united power becomes strong enough to overflow through all these liberated ones to others. But if the believer turns INWARD, either (1) through the pressure of opposition, (2) powers of darkness in the atmosphere, or (3) to worship and pray in a self-centred way; or is occupied in any degree with an inward experience, THE OUTFLOW OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HINDERED; the unity with other liberated believers is checked by an invisible barrier, which has come between, and the released spirit, which was kept dominant over soul and body so long as the man turned outward as a channel for the inflow and outflow of the Holy Spirit, sinks down into the soul-vessel, a "spirit in prison," so to speak, once more. "Revival" is then checked at its very birth, because believers who seek, and obtain a Baptism of the Spirit, do not clearly understand the conditions upon which the inflow was given, nor how to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in the purpose of His coming; which is to make them channels for the OUTFLOW of rivers of living water. THE TRUE REVELATION OF CHRIST The influx of the Spirit of God to a man’s spirit, means love, joy, and liberty, buoyancy, light and power. It means a revelation of Christ as the Risen and Ascended Lord, which brings joy unspeakable and full of glory; and an intimate sense of His nearness in fellowship and communion, which makes the "I in you" a living power. It is at this time that ignorance is dangerous. If the believer does not understand that all this is an EFFECT WHICH IS INWARD AS A RESULT OF THE UNION WITH CHRIST IN HEAVEN, and an effect which will continue only so long as he abides in the right attitude toward the glorified Christ in heaven, he will turn into and sink down into the soul, i.e., into himself; and then the deceiving spirits will counterfeit in the sense-sphere the true experiences which he had IN SPIRIT through the incoming of the Holy Ghost. These "experiences" then have little result beyond the circumference of the believer. When the true influx of the Holy Spirit to the spirit took place, there was (1) unity with others in the same spirit, (2) joy, (3) liberty of utterance, (4) power to witness to Christ, (5) effective and permanent results in the lives of others, and a heavenly "fire" from God in a burning, consuming white heat intensity of SPIRIT (Romans 12:11) in service to God. But when the sense counterfeit takes place, supernatural "experiences" frequently occur at the very same time that a wrong spirit is discernible, such as harshness, bitterness, pride, presumption, disunion, etc., showing either (1) that the "experiences" are not from the spirit, or (2) that the spirit is out of co-working with the Holy Spirit, and (3) the Holy Spirit is no longer able to bring forth the pure fruit of the Spirit through the believer’s spirit and life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 05.13. BRIEF NOTES ======================================================================== Thoughts of impatience, i.e. directly physical, not moral, and result of d.p. Remedy is regaining of normal condition, and refusal of d.p. as cause. Romans 6:11 must be kept as spiritual basis in all cases. Daydreams in meetings, Resist by active refusal of e.s. interference, and choosing to concentrate in attention. Assurance of safety may be deception, How then can a believer become sure? Only by seeking light from God, persistently, on all things, and definite reliance on Him apart from experiences. Weakness, Weakness is not given by e.s., but produced by them, by their counteracting man’s own strength or force coming into action. Terror of God; slavish fear, "Awe" and terror are distinct. God inspires reverence and awe, as well as filial fear, but no terror. The purpose of assertion, The believer must counteract lies with truth and he says a thing aloud to counteract impressions on his own mind. "Craving," It may be said generally that all cravings whether they be in the physical realm, i.e., for drink, or in the soul-realm, i.e., for love, fellowship, etc., are not from God. Self-discrimination, Every believer should discriminate or "judge" himself; the true "self," or person, must come to the bar of the man’s judgment. The basis of judgment must not only be the purpose of the will, or the desires of the heart, but ACTIONS and life. Perpetual discrimination, or self judgment, is not introspection. Cessation of action, The believer must never stop action for "God to act," i.e., stop the memory for God to remind. Men stop for e.s. to work, but never for God, who energizes the man to act. Sudden stoppage of mind is followed by mechanical words, caused by the interference of e.s., misnamed sometimes as "absentmindedness." Burdens, False burdens may be the result of d.p. and will not pass away as long as looked upon as pure spirit-burdens. They will, on the contrary, develop and grow, especially if the man prides himself on his "burdens," proving the evil of their character. If relief comes after getting rid of a burden, the inference cannot always be drawn that the burden was of God, because the enemy can give burdens, and when obedience is yielded to the purport of the burden, it goes. Identity of e.s. with believer’s personality,A letter speaks of a Christian worker with a "peculiar sense of not realizing her own identity, but feels like one in a dream." At times she would be thrown into "convulsions," yet is a devoted worker for Christ. Those who have this sense of no "identity," should definitely assert their personal experience. The e.s. in possession move such persons to constantly say "we" instead of "I". They should refuse temptation to plurality in thought and word. This sense of loss of personal identity can come about by constantly saying "not I" but Christ, until such a believer finds it difficult to use the personal pronoun at all. The suppression of personality in thought and language, gives place to e.s. to identify themselves with the person, since God does not identify Himself with believers in such a way as to make them automatons. Symptoms of insanity and d.p. indistinguishable, On account of this the person may be constantly accused by e.s. of "going mad." He must refuse such a thought at all costs. If there is natural ground, there is hope of its removal if e.s. are resisted in their attempts to drive the person to accept--or practically, by acceptance, give consent to their suggestion. The same may be said in regard to temptation to suicide. Healing by "suggestion," What is cured by suggestion was caused by suggestion. Fear in casting out, The refusal of all fear of evil spirits is absolutely essential for victory over them. There is no cause for true fear in view of the complete victory of Christ on Calvary, and His authority over all the emissaries of Satan. Any fear which cannot be got rid of is the result of obsession or possession. Keeping under the body, In some cases of d.p. "soul" manifestations dominate, and in others bodily ones. One form expresses every form of indulgence of the flesh, the other the utmost austerity and abstemiousness in food, sleep, and ordinary bodily comfort. Even in these cases the man is deceived in thinking all is under control, because the spiritual manifestations feed the senses in another form. Talkativeness, Dumbness or evil silence is a symptom of d.p. with the effect of periodical lack of control of speech, caused by passivity of the human speaking in order for God to speak. Counterfeit speaking of God, How the lying spirits counterfeit the speaking of God, was seen in one child of God who was suffering from what was though a "breakdown in health," but what she and her family afterwards knew was possession. Praying one night to know God’s will whether she was to recover, a soft and gentle voice said, "To-day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Answering so quickly her prayer, she took this as the "Voice of God" and yielded herself to it, when there came the suggestion to drink some poison at hand. Under the supernatural power her judgment and conscience became passive, and she was found at the moment of drinking the poison, and restrained. This lady is now delivered. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 05.14. TRUE WORKINGS OF GOD VS COUNTERFEITS ======================================================================== "Knowledge and all discernment; so that ye may prove the things that differ, that ye may be sincere and void of offence. . . ." Php 1:9-10 True vs Counterfeit. True 1. The Baptism, or Fullness of the Spirit: An influx of the Spirit of God into the human spirit, which liberates the spirit from the soul (Hebrews 4:12), so as to become a pliable organ or channel for the outflow of the Spirit through the believer, manifested in witness to Christ and in aggressive prayer service against the powers of darkness. It is a true baptizing into the Body of Christ, and oneness with all the members of the Body. Its special mark and result is known in power to witness for Christ, and in conviction of sin in others, and their turning to God. The highest manifestation of the Fullness of the Spirit is co-existent with the use of the faculties and self-control. There is but one reception of the Holy Spirit: with many succeeding experiences, developments, or new crises, resultant on fresh acts of faith, or apprehension of truth; various believers having varied degrees of the same Infilling of the Spirit, according to individual conditions. The enduement of power for service is often a definite experience in many lives. Counterfeit 1. Counterfeit workings of evil spirits may accompany a true reception of the Fullness of the Holy Spirit, if the believer "lets go" his mind into "blankness," and yields his body up passively to supernatural power. As a "blank mind" and "passive body" is contrary to the condition for use required by the Holy Spirit, and is the primary condition necessary for evil spirits to work, the anomaly is found in the Holy Spirit responding to the law of faith, and filling the man’s spirit, at the same time that evil supernatural powers respond to the law of passivity fulfilled in mind and body. They then can produce in the senses manifestations, which seem to be the outcome of the Holy Spirit’s entry to the spirit. The results of the counterfeit manifestations are varied, and wide in their ramifications, according to individual conditions. The abstract result is great "manifestations" with little real fruit; "possession" by evil spirits of the mind and body in varied degrees; a spirit of division from others, instead of unity, etc., etc. True 2. The Presence of God: Known in and by the human spirit, through the Holy Spirit. When He fills the atmosphere of a room the spirit of the man is conscious of it, not his senses. The faculties of those present are alert and clear, and they retain freedom of action. The spirit is made tender (Psalms 34:18), and the will pliable to the will of God. All the actions of a person moved by the true and pure Presence of God are in accord with the highest ideal of harmony and grace. Counterfeit 2. The counterfeit of the Presence of God is mainly felt upon the body, and by the physical senses, in conscious "fire," "thrills," etc. The counterfeit of the "Presence" in the atmosphere is felt by the senses of the body, as "breath," "wind," etc., whilst the mind is passive or inactive. The person affected by this counterfeit "presence" will be moved almost automatically to actions he would not perform of his own will, and with all his faculties in operation. He may not even remember what he has done when under the "power" of this "presence," just as a sleep-walker knows nothing of his actions when in that state. The inaction of the mind can often be seen by the vacant look in the eyes. True 3. God in and with man in the spirit: John 14:23 . The Father in heaven is realized to be a real Father (Galatians 4:6), the Son a real Saviour, the Holy Spirit a real Person; manifested as One in the spirit of the believer, by the Holy Spirit: with resulting effects as in Romans 8:9-11 . Counterfeit 3. Evil spirit’s counterfeit, as the occasion serves them, each Person of the Trinity, and can thus obtain access, and become in and with a man in manifestations given to the senses, in which the real spirit-sense may have no part. True 4. Christ manifested in the believer by His Spirit, so that He is known as a Living Person on the Throne in heaven, and the believer joined in spirit to Him there, with the result that Christ’s life and nature is imparted to him, forming and building up in him a "new creation," (Galatians 1:16; Galatians 4:19 . Colossians 1:27), the believer growing up into Him in all things. Counterfeit 4. Christ apparently manifested inwardly as a "Person," to whom the soul prays, or with whom he holds communion, yet there is no real evidence of the expression of the Divine nature, or true growth of the Christ life, with a deepening fellowship with the Christ in heaven. On the contrary the Christ in heaven seems far away. The counterfeit centres and ends in an "experience" which keeps the person introverted or self-centred (spiritually). True 5. Consciousness of God: Felt in the spirit, and not by the physical senses. Counterfeit 5. "Consciousness" of "God" in bodily sensations, which feed the "flesh" and overpower the true spirit-sense. True 6. The Holiness of God: when realized by the believer produces worship and godly awe, with a hatred of sin. On the ground of the Blood of Calvary God draws near to men, seeking their love, but His presence does not terrorize. Counterfeit 6. Evil spirits counterfeit this by giving a terror of God, which drives men away from Him, or forces them into actions of slavish fear, apart from the use of the mind, and volition, in glad voluntary obedience to Him. True 7. Surrender to God: Of spirit, soul and body, is a simple yielding or committal to Him of the whole man, to do His will and be at His service. God asks the full co-operation of the man in the intelligent use of all his faculties. Romans 6:13 . Counterfeit 7. Passive yielding of spirit, soul and body to supernatural power, to be moved automatically, in passive, blind obedience, apart from the use of volition or mind. Evil spirits desire "control" of a man, and his passive submission to them. True 8. Fellowship with the sufferings of Christ: The result of faithful witness for Him, and in such "suffering," the joy of the Spirit breaks forth in spirit. (Acts 5:41). The fruit of true conformity to Christ’s death in the "fellowship of His sufferings" is seen in life to others, and growth in tenderness of spirit, and Christ-likeness in character. 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 . Counterfeit 8. "Suffering" caused by evil spirits is characterized by a fiendish acuteness, and is fruitless in result--the victim being hardened instead of mellowed by it. The demons can cause anguished suffering in spirit, soul or body. "Possession" manifested in abnormal suffering, may be the fruit of (unconscious) acceptance of sufferings caused by evil spirits, often under the name of the "will of God." True 9. Trusting God: A true faith given of God in the spirit, having its origin in Him, without effort reckoning upon Him to fulfil His written Word. Co-existent with the full use of every faculty in intelligent action. "Faith" is a fruit of the Spirit and cannot be forced. Galatians 5:22; 2 Corinthians 4:13 . Counterfeit 9. "Trusting evil spirits" comes about through trusting blindly some supernatural words, or revelations, supposed to come from God, which produces a forced "faith," or faith beyond the believer’s true measure, the result being actions which lead into paths of trial never planned by God. True 10. Reliance upon God: An attitude of the will, of trust and dependence upon God, taking Him at His word, and depending upon His character of faithfulness. Counterfeit 10. Reliance upon evil spirits means a passive leaning upon supernatural help and experience, which draws the person away from faith in God Himself, and from active co-action with Him. True 11. Communion with God: Fellowship in the Spirit with Christ in the glory as one spirit with Him. The consciousness of this is in the spirit (John 4:24) only, and not in "feelings" in the senses. See for conditions of true communion with God, 1 John 1:5-7 . Counterfeit 11. "Communion" with evil spirits may take place by retiring within to enjoy sense communion, in "exquisite feelings" which absorbs and renders the soul incapable of the duties of life. The "flesh" is fed by this spurious spiritual "communion" as really as in grosser ways. True 12. Waiting on God: The spirit in restful co-operation with the Holy spirit, waiting God’s time to act, and a waiting for Him to fulfil His promises. The true waiting upon God can be co-existent with the keenest activity of mind and service. Counterfeit 12. A "waiting for the Spirit to come," in hours of prayer, which brings those who "wait" into passivity, which at last reaches a point of "séance" conditions, followed by an influx of lying spirits in manifestations. True 13. Praying to God: Having access to the Holiest of all, on the ground of the Blood (Heb. 10: 19). Penetrating in spirit through the lower heavens to the Throne of Grace. Hebrews 4:14-16 . True "prayer" is not directed toward God as within the believer, but to a Father in heaven, in the Name of the Son, by the Holy Spirit. Counterfeit 13. Praying to evil spirits comes about by praying to "God" in the atmosphere, or within, or possibly to "pictures" of God in the mind; instead of approaching the Throne of Grace according to Hebrews 10:19 . True 14. Asking God: An act of the will in simple faith, making a transaction with God in heaven, on the ground of His written Word. "Answers to prayer" from God are usually so unsensational and so unobtrusive that the petitioner often does not recognize the answer. Counterfeit 14. "Asking" evil spirits, by speaking to some supernatural presence in, or around the person. The "answers" are generally "dramatic," sensational, calculated to over-awe the person, and make him feel he is a wonderful recipient of favour from on high. By this means the demons gain control over him. True 15. God speaking: Through His Word, by His Spirit, in the spirit and conscience of the man, illuminating the mind to understand the will of the Lord. Counterfeit 15. Evil spirits speaking, wither puffing up, accusing, condemning or confusing the person, so that the is bewildered or distracted and cannot exercise his reason or judgment. The "speaking" of accusing spirits resembles the "thinking," or speaking to oneself, when the words are not uttered audibly. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 05.15. APPENDIX ======================================================================== "Tertullian says, in his Apology addressed to the Rulers of the roman Empire: . . Let a person be brought before your tribunals who is plainly under demoniacal possession. The wicked spirit, bidden to speak by a follower of Christ, will as readily make the truthful confession that he is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is a god. Or, if you will, let there be produced one of the god-possessed, as they are supposed--if they do not confess, IN THEIR FEAR OF LYING TO A CHRISTIAN, that they are demons, then and there shed the blood of that most impudent follower of Christ. "ALL THE AUTHORITY AND POWER WE HAVE OVER THEM IS FROM OUR NAMING THE NAME OF CHIRST, AND RECALLING TO THEIR MEMORY THE WOES WITH WHICH GOD THREATENS THEM AT THE HAND OF CHIRST THEIR JUDGE, AND WHICH THEY EXPECT ONE DAY TO OVERTAKE THEM. FEARING CHRIST IN GOD AND GOD IN CHRIST, THEY BECOME SUBJECT TO THE SERVANTS OF GOD AND CHRIST. SO AT ONE TOUCH AND BREATHING, OVERWHELMED BY THE THOUGHT AND REALIZATION OF THOSE JUDGEMENT FIRES, THEY LEAVE AT OUR COMMAND THE BODIES THEY HAVE ENTERED, UNWILLING AND DISTRESSED, AND BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES, PUT TO AN OPEN SHAME . . ." Justin Martyr, in his second Apology addressed to the Roman Senate, says: "Numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world and in your city, many of our Christian men--exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate--have healed and do heal, rendering helpless, and driving the possessing demon out of the men, though they could not be cured by all other exorcists, and those who use incantations and drugs." CYPRIAN expressed himself with equal confidence. After having said that they are evil spirits that inspire the false prophets of the Gentiles, and deliver oracles by always mixing truth with falsehood to prove what they say, he adds: "Nevertheless these evil spirits adjured by the living God IMMEDIATELY OBEY US, SUBMIT TO US, OWN OUR POWER, and are forced to come out of the bodies they possess. . . ." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Symptoms of Demon Possession. Gleanings from "Demon Possession," by Dr. J.L. Nevius. The one under demon-power is an involuntary victim. (The willing soul is known as a medium). The chief characteristic of demonomania is a distinct "other personality" within. (This is different to demon-influence, for in this men follow their own wills, and retain their own personality.) The demons have a longing for a body to possess (Matthew 12:43; Matthew 8:31), as it seems to give them some relief, and they enter the bodies of animals as well as men. There are distinctly individual peculiarities of the spirits. They converse through the organs of speech, and give evidence of personality, desire, fear. They give evidence of knowledge and power not possessed by the subject. In Germany, Pastor Blumhardt gives instances of demons speaking in all the European languages, and in some languages unrecognizable. In France there were some cases having the "gift of tongues," speaking in German, Latin, Arabic. The demon in possession of the body, entirely changes the moral character of those they enter, compelling them to act entirely contrary to their normal behaviour. Reserved, reticent men will weep, sing, laugh, talk, meek souls will rage, ordinarily pure-tongued men and women will speak of things not to be named among children of God, and act in manner and conduct contrary to their normal dignity and behaviour--all of which they are not responsible for whilst under "control" of this other personality within them. In brief, they will exhibit traits of character utterly different from those which belong to them normally. There are also nervous and muscular symptoms peculiar to demon possession in the body. There is also an afflatus of the breast, which is a special mark of demon possession, and Oracular utterances are given in jerks and sentences, quite unlike the calm coherent sequence of language seen in the utterances of the apostles at Pentecost. There is "levitation" of the body--well known by spiritists--when the subject will say he is quite unconscious of possessing a body--and there is invariably a passive mind. There is often a distinct voice which speaks through the lips of the subject expressing thoughts, and words unintentionally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demoniacal activity in later times. From "Spirit Manifestations." By Sir Robert Anderson. "The Gospels testify to the activity of demons during the ministry of Christ on earth; and the Epistles warn us of a RENEWAL OF DEMONIACAL ACTIVITY in the "latter times," before His return. "All Scripture is God-breathed"; but it would seem that sometimes the revelation was made with special definiteness, and this particular warning is prefaced by the words; "the Spirit saith expressly." And it relates not to any new development of moral evil in the world, but to a new apostasy in the professing Church, a cult promoted by "seducing spirits" of a highly sensitive spirituality, and a more fastidious morality than Christianity itself will sanction (1 Timothy 4:1-16) The Gospel narrative indicates that some demons were base and filthy spirits that exercised a brutalizing influence upon their victims. But the Lord plainly indicated that these were a class apart ("this kind" Mark 9:29). They were all "unclean spirits," but in Jewish use the word akatharios connoted spiritual defilement. That it did not imply moral pollution is proved by the fact that the Lord Jesus was charged with having a demon, though not even His most malignant enemies ever accused Him of moral evil. It was only by prayer that these filthy spirits could be cast out; whereas pious demons acknowledged Christ, and came out when His disciples commanded them to do so in His Name . . ." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The physiology of the spirit. Gleanings from "Primeval Man unveiled." By James Gall. "The natural body has its senses, the spirit also has its senses . . ." "There are busy senses within, examining and judging, approving and condemning, joying and grieving, hoping and fearing, after a fashion of their own, which no bodily sense can imitate . . ." "There is a spirit within which we call ourselves, and it is perfectly distinct from the body in which we dwell . . ." "If our spirits, which are generated in or with our bodies, are elaborated from immaterial substances into separate existences, constituting individual spirits . . . these individual spirits must be presumed to be composed of spirit substance or substances, and possessed of different faculties . . ." "Our very language implies that the human spirit is an organism composed of parts mutually related, which, though individually different, are generically the same . . ." It is a well established doctrine of Scripture, that the body is animated by an intelligent and immortal spirit, that feels and acts by means of its material mechanism, without being itself material . . ." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Demon Possession among Christians. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Case of a Christian Lady. Extracts from private letters, by an Evangelist of repute in Germany. ". . . In the Spring of this year (1912) [this servant of God] who was possessed, came here, and the spirits possessing her spoke through her in voices utterly unlike her own. They would utter through her the most awful blasphemies against God, and against our Lord Jesus Christ, and would prophecy concerning the Church . . . Much prayer has been made for her, and with her. When the frenzy comes upon her, she is fearfully shaken, dashes about the room, made to howl like a dog, and her hands clenched, her face drawn with horrible contortions, etc., etc. But the marvel to everyone is that, although the frenzy is upon her every day, and sometimes once, twice, or more in one day, her health is perfect, she sleeps well, and in the interval is the MOST LOVELY SPIRITED CHRISTIAN WOMAN . . ." Later. ". . . This sister is not one who has not got faith. She is well grounded in the same faith, and has the same light as we have; but we have here to do with a demon, the like of which I have never met before, nor read about . . . . It would also be an error if one were to think that PRAYER AND COMMANDING had not been of any use, for in these last three weeks God has done great and glorious things, so that we are full of adoration. The demon is still there, it is true, but he has broken down mightily, so that he cannot any more torment the sister. He is quite powerless in her, and she looks so radiantly happy with a heavenly gladness, fresh and strong. Also the demon has been divested of all power over her lips. Instead of the blasphemies and ravings, there is only a desperate and plaintive howling . . and that lasts all the time we pray." Later. "For about a fortnight now the demon has been silent. For eight days he did not speak a single word, only he cried out twice: ’THE AUTHORITY CASTS ME OUT!’ The only thing he does is howling and gnashing of teeth. Some days ago we prayed for about one-and-a-half hours. In this way it goes on now for ten or fourteen days--there is only this terrible crying, as if in great fear. There is not any blasphemy, nor cursing God, no more asserting threatenings, and all the sayings that he would not depart, that it would not suit him--all this has ceased. Instead of the dreadful ravings and outbursts of rage, there is now the desperate howling, often a dreadful screaming as if of fear, and the sister is almost free from his tormenting her . . . . The demon must have received a terrible blow from God, so that his blasphemies have been silenced. It was so last evening; when we prayed, the desperate cry began at once, and I felt once more the impulse to command the demon in the Name of the Lord Jesus to depart. He then gave a great start, he trembled, howled, stretched out both hands as if imploring mercy, and begging us not to do that, but he was not allowed to utter a single word . But there followed strong reaction and vomiting, and this was repeated as often as I spoke the command in the Name of the Lord Jesus to depart. Of course we have to go on praying just as earnestly, but as God has done such great things, and if we go on praying, also the last blow will be given. The demon will have to depart." Note: Further particulars of this case are given in "The Strong Man Spoiled," by A.R. Habershon. (id. Morgan & Scott, London). The lady is now quite set free, and has been able to return to her mission work. It is stated clearly that her mental faculties were unimpaired, and she was able to prepare all the accounts and balance sheet of the mission she was engaged in, not long before the attacks became manifested. In this book, the demon’s acknowledgment of the power and authority granted to those who commanded him, and the other spirits to depart, is striking. The spirit in possession said: "Oh, this authority, this authority which they have now recognized, is an awful thing for hell!" Pleading for mercy at another time the e.s. said, "Do leave off your commanding. For three weeks I have suffered unbearable torments because of it. Do not tell anybody that we had to yield to the authority . . . . Oh, these prayers of believers . . . they always pray, they are no longer afraid . . . ." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The working of evil spirits in Christian gatherings. 1. Supposed "conviction of sin" by deceiving spirits. ". . . I united with a number of brethren and sisters one whole week every month, in prayer to God to pour out more of His Spirit, gifts and power. After having done this for some time with great earnestness, such powerful and wonderful manifestations of God and His Holy Spirit (apparently) took place, that we no longer doubted God had heard our prayer, and His Spirit had descended into our midst, and on our gathering. Amongst other things this spirit, which we thought to be the Holy Spirit, used a 15-year-old girl as his instrument, through whom everyone belonging to our gathering, and having any sin or burden of conscience, had it revealed to the gathering. Nobody could remain in the meeting with any burden of conscience without it being revealed to the meeting by this spirit. For example: A gentleman of esteem and respect from the neighbourhood came to the meeting, and all his sins were exposed in the presence of the gathering by the 15-year-old girl. Thereupon he took me into an adjoining room, so broken down, and admitted to me, with tears, that he had committed all these sins which the girl had exposed. He confessed this and all other sins known to him. Then he came again into the meeting, but hardly had he entered when the same voice said to him, ’Ha! You have not confessed all yet, you have stolen 10 gulden, that you have not confessed.’ In consequence, he took me again into the adjoining room and said, ’It is true, I have also done this . . . This man had never seen this 15-year-old girl in his life, neither she him. With such events, was it astonishing that a spirit of holy awe came over all at the meeting, and there was one controlling note which can only be expressed in the words, ’Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’ Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. There was a most earnest spirit of adoration, and who could doubt when even the strong were broken down, and nobody dared remain in the meeting if they were a hindrance. And, yet we had to unmask this spirit which had brought about these things--and which we took to be the Holy Ghost--as a terrible power of darkness. I had such an uneasy feeling of distrust which could not be overcome . . . As I made this known for the first time to an older brother and friend . . . he said, ’Brother Seitz, if you continue to foster unbelief, you can commit the sin against the Holy Ghost which will never be forgiven.’ These were terrible days and hours for me, because I did not know whether we had to do with the power of God or a disguised spirit of Satan, and one thing only was clear to me, viz., that I and this meeting should not let ourselves be led by a spirit when we did not have clear light, and confirmation whether this power was from above or below. Thereupon I took the leading brethren and sisters to the uppermost room of the house, and made known to them my position, and said we must all cry and pray that we may be able to prove whether it was a power of light or darkness. As we came downstairs the voice of this power said, using the 15-year-old girl as his instrument, ’What is this rebellion in your midst? You will be sorely punished for your unbelief.’ I told this voice that it was true we did not know with whom we had dealings. But we wanted to be in that attitude, that if it was an angel of God, or the Spirit of God, we would not sin against Him, but if it was a devil we would not be deceived by him. ’If you are the power of God, you will be in accord as we handle the Word of God.’ ’Try the spirits whether they be of God.’ We all knelt down and cried and prayed to God in such earnestness, that He would have mercy upon us, and reveal to us in some manner, whom we had dealings with. Then the power had to reveal itself on its own accord. Through the person which he had been using as his instrument he made such abominable and terrible grimaces, and shrieked in such a piercing tone, ’Now I am found out, now I am found out . . . ." 2. Supposed unity for "Revival." For some time now it has been on my mind to try to put into language some of the things which it has been my painful experience to witness, and pass through, in connection with the workings of Satan as an "angel of light," but everything seemed so complicated and confused . . . . First, his attacks seem to be made upon the most spiritual souls--those who have made the fullest surrender to God, and who recognize a spiritual affinity, which they believe if broken, mars the whole purpose of God (1 Corinthians 1:10). The lying spirit insists on one mind, and judgment, and one expression. These souls thus "joined" form the "Assembly," so called, and claim Psalms 89:7 . Everything is brought into the "Assembly" for decision, the assertion being that no individual soul can get the mind of the Lord, based on Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 5:22, and Proverbs 20:18 . Hours were spent in bringing the tiniest details of daily life before the Lord. The leader spread each matter, asking that all might be brought to one mind. The response was then given by each one in some word of Scripture. The attitude taken to receive the supposed "word of the Lord," was the RESISTANCE OF ANY THOUGHT OR REASON, and LETTING THE MIND BECOME A PERFECT BLANK. If anyone ventured to give an opinion--or any judgment--they were ruled out of fellowship; the fact of reasoning being the proof of the "flesh-life." The discipline ministered to such was severe indeed. They were not allowed to speak to anyone, or to do any kind of work. In some cases this lasted for weeks, and even months. The effect upon the mind was very terrible. The only way back was by making a statement in the "Assembly" which satisfied them that there was true repentance. Proverbs 21:4; and Isaiah 59:3; are the words given for not working, and Romans 8:8 . Prayer and reading the word--all adds to sin--consequently the soul is shut up in torment and despair, being excluded from all meetings. Second. The "manifestation of the Spirit" in prophecy, prayer and travail. One person would often pray for an hour, and sometimes two hours, without a break. Messages, too, would often last for two hours, and the whole meeting for eight or nine hours. Anyone yielding to sleep or exhaustion, was at once pronounced "in the flesh," and a hindrance to the meeting. "Travail" was manifested by tears, groans and twisting of the body; and with some it was exactly like hysterics, and would last for hours. This was greatly encouraged as the means whereby God would work for the deliverance of souls--and those who did not come under this manifestation, were judged as preserving their own life, not willing to "let go"--lovers of themselves; and it was believed that when the whole company were unitedly under the so-called "manifestation of the Spirit" then God would break through in Revival. I might say here, that all this began with a nightly prayer meeting for Revival, with no limit as to time. The paralyzing fear of resisting God by any lack of submission, and evading the Cross by an unwillingness to suffer, just sways the soul; and it dare not yield to one thought contrary to the "mind of Christ" in the "Assembly . . ." 3. Supposed manifestations of the Holy Spirit. From a book recently published, said to contain the very words of the Lord Jesus, spoken THROUGH some of His children, and written down as spoken in the first person, the following brief extract is taken, showing the extract of the mediumistic control by deceiving spirits, which some are believed to be the work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus is supposed to have said:-- "The manifestations of the Spirit, in some things, are very strange. Sometimes He will twist the body this way, and that, and the meaning is dark to you. I want you to know some things about this part of the Spirit’s work. I want you to see that they are not useless. If you had spoken in your own tongue, when the Spirit came in, it would have graciously blessed you; but perhaps you might have thought it was yourself , as many have. So the Spirit comes in and speaks in an unknown tongue to you, that you might know that it was NOT YOURSELF SPEAKING . . . Your hands He has often lifted up, and again He has raised your fingers in various ways. Your eyes open and shut by the Spirit now, as they did not before. Your very head has been shaken by the Spirit, and you have not known why He did this. You have thought sometimes, it was just to show He was living there, and that is true, but there is more in it than that, and He will show you as well as He can, in a few words, what some of these things are . . . Some things in the manifestations are very peculiar to you. You have gone on wondering about them. Don’t think it strange that the Spirit works in you in many ways. His work is more than a two-fold work. It is manifold. This is puzzling many minds. They see the Spirit shaking. They hear Him singing. They FEEL HIM LAUGHING, and they are sometimes tried with His various twistings and jerkings, as though He would tear them to pieces. Sometimes it seems He is imitating the animals in various sounds and doings. This has been all a mystery to the saints. His work, I say, is manifold. He seeks, in some, to show them that they are all one with each other, in the whole creation . . . If He shows you, by making a noise as of some wild animal, and that you are like that, you must not despise His way of working, for the Holy Spirit knows why He does it. He makes these noises in the animals, can’t He make them in you? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: S. GOD REQUIRES ONLY HIMSELF ======================================================================== God Requires Only Himself By Jessie Penn Lewis "Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly beloved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God". - Ephesians 5:1-2 God can do such a work in us by His Spirit, that all that He commands us to do will come about naturally, and not because we feel we ought to do it. To make up our mind to praise God is good, but it is very much better to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that you cannot help praising! What God wants out of us He will first put in. The secret of power for living and service is to go to the Cross and get rid of the obstacles to the outflow of the spirit of God, and then ask God for the new life that will bring forth the new fruit. I often hear of things God’s children say and do which most grieve Him - and it seems hopeless to speak to them about it. The best thing is to ask God to put a new life and new spirit into them so that they will not do these things. If you have a little child and are constantly saying, " You must not, you must not," you will soon crush the personality of that child. You need to show him how to have a new life within, so that he will want to do what is right. God does not expect to get out of us one thing but what He has put into us! Do let us toil, dear fellow-workers, to lead His children into a life, and then let that Life manifest itself through their personalities. God does not want us to be all of the same pattern. He will express Himself through each individual in a different way. Just as there are not two faces alike, so He has not made two of us alike in any way, and we must take care that we do not try to mould ourselves or others after the pattern of any other human being. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: S. THE BATTLE FOR THE MIND ======================================================================== The Battle for the Mind By Jessie Penn Lewis (2 Corinthians 11:3, A.V.) "I fear lest, by any means, as the serpent, beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." THERE is a great battle to-day over the use and control of the mind, not only in the world, but among the children of God. 1. The fact of a "war " declared by Paul. First note the fact that the Apostle declares that there is. a "war" in which he is engaged. " My warfare ," he says, "is not waged according to the flesh." This is in accord with his statements in other parts of his writings. 2. The battle for the mind described. We see there is an aspect of the war described in this passage which has to do with the mind . "Thereby can I overthrow the reasonings of the disputer." In verse 4 (A.V.) we read of a "pulling down of strongholds ". The Apostle seems to infer that the mind is a "stronghold" which has to be pulled down, and every rebel thought in it made captive. A "stronghold" is generally held by an enemy , and truly there is an enemy holding the stronghold of the mind, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, where it says that the "god of this world" (age) has "blinded the minds of them which believe not". 3. The condition of the mind by nature. In various parts of the Pauline epistles we can gather very clearly the state of mind, when held by the enemy as a stronghold. It is described in some cases as a " reprobate mind " (Romans 1:28), a " blinded mind " (2 Corinthians 3:14), a darkened mind, causing men to walk in the " vanity of their minds " (Ephesians 4:17-19), intruding into things which the mind cannot fathom, "vainly puffed up" by a " fleshly mind " (Colossians 2:18). In Romans 8:7, the Apostle says, "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (A.V.). This is confirmed in Colossians 1:21, where those who are unregenerated are described as "enemies" in the " mind ", and therefore alienated from God. We therefore clearly see how, in the natural man, the mind is "darkened", "puffed up" by the flesh, empty and vain in its thoughts, carnal because governed by the flesh, and in all its activities-whether apparently "good" or visibly "bad"-at enmity with God. 4. The unregenerate mind the stronghold of Satan. The stronghold of the mind of man is therefore the strategic centre of the "war" with the "god of this age", because it is primarily through the mind that he holds his captives in his power, and through the mind of those captives transmits his - (1) Poison into the minds of others, and his (2) Plans and schemes for arousing those souls to active rebellion against God. The mind of the Christian is also the strategic centre of the "war on the saints" which Satan wages with ceaseless and fiendish skill. And for this reason the mind is the vehicle for the Spirit of God , dwelling in the spirit of the believer, to transmit to others the truth of God, which alone can remove the deceptions of Satan which fill the minds of all who are in the darkness of nature. If the Holy Spirit is dwelling in the regenerate spirit have you considered the question of His outlet ? If it were only by speech you would be an oracle! But there are no "oracles" on earth now. The " oracles of God " are the Scriptures. The Word of God is being displaced not only by the Higher Critics, but by many of God’s own people by their taking supernatural" revelations" as being of equal authority with the written Scriptures. There are wrecked lives because they have turned from the Word of God to what they call direct revelation. There is a direct revelation by God the Holy Ghost illuminating the Word of God, and putting it into the spirit, but not apart from the Scriptures. 5. The Holy Spirit and the mind of the believer. If the mind is the vehicle of the Spirit it is absolutely necessary that the Spirit of God should have full possession of it, with every "rebellious thought" brought into captivity to Christ. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in the spirit, needs the mind as a channel for expression, but it may be so blocked up, and filled with other things that He is unable to transmit all He desires to do. A "blocked" mind means the spirit unexpressed, and a spirit unexpressed is a stoppage of the outflow of the Spirit of God to others. 6. The mind of the Christian not fully delivered. This explains why numbers of God’s children are unable to hold the truth of God which they hear, or to apply it to their lives, or express it to others. The mind has never been fully delivered from the grip of the enemy . Shall I put it crudely, and say that many get new "hearts", but they keep their old "heads!" They do not realize that unless the hold of the adversary, which he has through the fallen nature of man, is removed from the mind, he has a position of vantage in the life of the believer, for attack and for hindrance in active service . How many there are who have "minds" that never "think a thing out". Devoted children of God, with hearts full of love, but "minds " full of all kinds of mixture-minds that have not been renewed and delivered from the interference of the enemy. Consequently they have a strange lack of spiritual perception. They may get "flashes of light", and follow the "flash" -which often like a will-o’-the-wisp leads them astray-but they are not intelligent in their spiritual vision. They do not know that God is able, not only to deliver the mind from the enemy’s grip but also to renew it, so that it becomes as clear as crystal, with "every rebellious thought brought into captivity." We have seen that one reason why the liberation of the mind is so important is because it is the vehicle of the spirit. Has it never struck you how extraordinary it is that the children of God can hear so much, and express so little? If you will ask one and the other to intelligently transmit something of what they have heard, they cannot do it. They have listened to volumes of truth for years, and yet they have no power to transmit, and help a soul in need. And many of these hearers will tell you that they have received a Baptism of the Spirit! The reason for this lies in the unrenewed mind . They may truly have received the Holy Spirit, but speaking reverently, He is "locked up" in the spirit, and cannot get through the blocked channel of the mind. One reason is that many children of God do not soak themselves, so to speak, in God’s thoughts. They think that to read a text in the morning is enough, and so they do not get the mind fully renewed. All the working of the old mind is emnity against God, and that is why you find people prejudiced over truth. Whenever you find a man prejudiced over some truth he does not understand, it always means that there is some activity of the old mind. The mind is like a seed plot. We do not realize what we are taking in, or sowing in the ground for future use. If you only make a remark about some person you have sown a seed , and if it is a critical thought, it is there ready to blaze into a "prejudice" at the first opportunity. All this is so true that it is easy to see now why the Apostle describes the "mind" as a stronghold which has to be taken for Christ, and brought into subjection to Him. It may not have occurred to us that much which we have looked upon as "natural" disability in the use of our minds is to some extent the work of the enemy, who pours into the mind which has never been fully taken out of his power, his own visions, thoughts, ideas and ways. 7. The need of the mind to be fully renewed. Now the question is, how can the mind become fully renewed, for if we are children of God, by the very entry of the truth of God, there has been a partial renewal. Conversion itself is described in the Bible as, in the first instance, a " change of mind ." This is the meaning of the word "repent." Repentance is "to recover one’s senses" and come to a "right understanding." So repentance describes on the one hand first a "change of mind", to be accompanied by a change of heart. 8. The Cross the place of deliverance. But for full renewal of the mind we have to go to the Cross, and learn its message that "our old man was crucified" with Christ. This is inclusive of the old carnal, darkened, fleshly mind. This comes out clearly in the words of Ephesians 4:22-23, as following the Apostle’s description of the darkened and empty mind in Ephesians 4:17-18. The "old man" crucified is here bidden to be "put off" by the believer so that he may be " renewed in the spirit of his mind. " The way of renewal, therefore, is VIA CALVARY. The first need is the knowledge of the state of mind by nature, and that a "change of mind" at conversion does not go deep enough to deliver the soul from the power of the enemy in his thought life, and mental activities. Then there must be a deliberate and definite "putting off" of the "old man" in the aspect of the old carnal mind, for the bringing captive to Christ of every thought. What is wanted, then, is to recognize that the un-renewed mind is part of the old creation that has to be put off at the Cross. Remember that God does just what you trust Him to do. We need to realize that what God wants is even a "cold-blooded" act of faith, as the believer says "I trust Thee to do this." We would like Him to do the whole work at once, but He has planned that we depend upon Him step by step for everything. Some of you have come to understand your position of being crucified with Christ upon the Cross. The Holy Spirit will now take you into the details of all that this means. He may throw light on the "circumference" to show where the old life is lodged, so that it may be dealt with. When Christ is your life, Christ is enthroned at the center. That new Center life ( Christ at the center) has to be worked out as you hold the position perpetually, "crucified." Then the Holy Spirit will throw the light upon every part of the circumference that is as yet un-dealt with. To-day we are dealing with the mind. Here you need to say "Lord I trust Thee to give me a renewed mind, and I agree to part with the old one." When someone speaks to you of another in a manner likely to cause a bias in your mind you say, "Please don’t. I have not met the person. I should like to meet him without any preconceived ideas about him." But supposing you to-day hand this old mind to the Cross, and trust God to give you a new one, do you think the enemy will give up his ground without a fight? Do you think that every "rebellious thought" is going to be brought into subjection easily? This brings us to the question of 9. The mind and its practical liberation. We must recognize that the "mind" continues to be the strategic battle ground, even when we have claimed the deliverance of Calvary. We must know how the liberation of the mind has to be actually worked out, and for this the Spirit of God needs our active co-operation. The believer needs to recognize that the attacks of the emissaries of Satan are primarily directed at the mind . Notice how Paul realizes this, and describes the mind of the Christian as the strategic battle ground for the enemy. " I fear," he writes to the Corinthians, " lest by any means ... your minds should be corrupted ...", and then he tells them how this would come about. "If he that cometh preacheth another Jesus ... or if ye receive another spirit," or "another Gospel " (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, A.V.). So the danger of the Christian is false teaching getting into the mind , and diverting him from the simple Gospel of Christ. It is to this end, that Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light. How few realize that Satan can give spurious light to the mind, even light about a "Jesus" who is not the Lord, and minister "another spirit" which is not the Holy Spirit, and through his instruments preach a "gospel" which is not the Gospel of the grace of God. The danger which the Apostle wrote about to the Corinthians is increased to-day a thousand-fold, because of the psychic forces that are at work in the world. Because, too, of the tremendous emphasis upon, and development of the mental life at the present time, and because the enemy is actively at work seeking to break down the mental powers of God’s children through the strain of the conflict of life. There are grave dangers all about us from counterfeit guidance, counterfeit visions and counterfeit plans, all coming from the enemy’s work upon the mind . Never was there a time when believers so needed the "helmet of salvation" to cover their heads from the foe. The air is full of the suggestions of the prince of the "power of the air", flashing thoughts and ideas into the minds of men. Take what is called the "Higher Criticism." Picture a man, who is without the knowledge of the new birth through the Cross of Christ, reading in his study. Wonderful "thoughts" which come into his mind, are given out as the result of his own thinking, and the world marvels at the "brilliance" of this scholar. Alas, the "brilliance" of a mind which the Word of God declares is blinded by the god of this age , and energized by the "spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience," is really darkness in the sight of God . What the un-renewed mind is capable of producing under the energizing of the spirits of Satan can be seen, for example in the Text Book of Christian Science, where words seem to be spun out as a spider spins his web, as empty as the gossamer threads composing it. The dangerous output of "minds" thus wrought upon by the prince of the power of the air, will increase as the dispensation hastens to its close, and the children of God will be caught in the meshes of these "fantasies" unless they have their own minds renewed, and kept sober by the truth of God. They need in the face of these dangers, to guard against overwork, which may bring about overstrain of the mind, making them incapable of sober judgment. 10. The practical way of victory. How is the mind of the child of God to be actually set free from the enemy’s control and renewed by the Spirit of God? We have seen that there is deliverance via Calvary , but there is also a practical line of action on the part of the believer. The first question to be faced is one concerning control. There may be a wrong thought about this which must not be overlooked. You are quite aware that your mind is out of your control, and you have been praying that God would "control" it independently of you. But all in vain. Sometimes your mind is full of wandering thoughts, and your imagination inflamed or it is heavy, passive or sluggish and unusable. It is practically out of your own control, and is uncontrolled by God . What is the reason? You may never have taken your "mind" out of the control of the enemy (2 Corinthians 4:4), and deliberately handed it to the death of the Cross, and trusted God to give you a new mind. Numbers of God’s people know that their minds are neither under God’s control nor their own. And it is often because the enemy has put a thought in their minds which has laid hold of the mind until it is mastered by it. Whenever you find" a person who can only talk of " one thing " it is best to shun them. It always tells the tale that the mind of that one is not under control. If God is controlling your thoughts and mind, you can choose what you think and when you will speak. But if you say, "If I don’t speak what is in my mind at once I shall lose it," then you had better "lose it." How many pour upon you their "thinks" and never heed what effect it will have upon you. Oh how we all need some sober light upon the realm of the mind. Recently a letter came to me in which I was told of a Christian man who said, "My wife was a most beautiful Christian. But suddenly the thought was suggested in the middle of the night that she had committed the unpardonable sin and now she is in a mental home and I can do nothing, and my little children are without their mother." The minister said to the poor man that it seemed to be of the enemy, so they knelt down and the minister asked that if Satan had shot this thing into the mind of the wife, the Lord would prove it to the husband, through the victory of Calvary. Praise God, within a fortnight she was back in her home. 11. The new mind and its characteristics. When the mind is renewed, the Spirit of God fulfils the promise of God, where He says, "I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them " (Hebrews 10:16). Thus we obtain the "mind" of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). What that "mind" is we read in Php 2:5-8. The practical life is changed only so far as we are "transformed" by the "renewing" of the " mind." Christ’s "mind" was to obey God, even unto the death of the Cross. That "mind" in us becomes armor. "Arm yourselves with the same mind " (1 Peter 4:1), i.e., Christ’s mind towards the Cross. " Christ suffered ," we say, and as our minds dwell upon His sufferings, and the Holy Spirit shows us the separation from sin which fellowship with Him brings about, we too choose to suffer, and we are "armed" by having His mind. Thus the new mind becomes "stayed upon God," instead of being tossed about by distracting thoughts. And a mind stayed on God means perfect peace. 12. The "new mind" as the vehicle of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:18, we read, "The eyes of your understanding" being "filled with light." Here is the mind illumined by the Spirit. It is the vehicle of light. You see with the mind, you feel with the spirit. David said, "My spirit made diligent search." The mind is filled with light from God in the spirit, illuminating the mind. This brings into action the perceptive faculty of the mind, whereby the believer is able to spiritually discern spiritual things. The various marginal readings of 1 Corinthians 2:13, show the new mind in use. It is able to "discriminate", " examine," "combine," "compare" and "explain" spiritual things which the "natural" man knows nothing about. The perceptive faculty of the mind renewed by the Spirit of God enables us more clearly to know how to prove the good and acceptable will of God "If a man walketh in the day he stumbleth not," said the Lord. In broad daylight a man does not need to fall over stones in his path before he sees them. And so it is spiritually. With a new mind filled with light by the Spirit, the believer sees the path wherein he should walk, and discerns the will of God clearly without the confusion and perplexities of the partially renewed mind. 13. The guarding of the new mind. There is no part of the renewed believer which does not require guarding. This is especially true of the mind which has been renewed. First there is a "girding" up of the "loins of the mind" (1 Peter 1:13), which is necessary. This means that you must never let the mind become "slack", or careless in its thinking, or it will soon fall a prey to the watching enemy. The "mind" should never be idle, or without "grist for the mill!" It must be active if it is in a normal condition. The Apostle also bids the believer see that he does not admit an "anxious" thought (Php 4:6), but at once to transmit any that come, to God. If he does this, the "peace of God" will garrison his mind, and keep it in peace. But he must do more, he must give the mind work to do , and let it have true, honest, just, pure and lovely things to "think" about (see Php 4:8). Then again, the believer with the new mind must "think soberly" (Romans 12:3) especially about himself. He must avoid dwelling on "high things" (Romans 12:16), and in the path of soberness take no step which is not the outcome of deliberate judgment and decision. Every "thought" led captive, means the deliberate weighing of every word and action in the light of God. Thus we shall be able to walk with God in these days of peril, and be sober when others are carried away by the spurious workings of the enemy. Do not follow or trust what we may describe as "flashes" of light to the mind, because the Holy Ghost in your spirit works out into the mind His light in calm, intelligent, deliberate, illumination from within. Because of the dangers to-day we cannot trust anything that comes from without . It is not that these "flashes" are necessarily wrong, but that you cannot trust them. Neither can anything said on the impulse of the moment be trusted. Supposing a thought comes, it should be turned over and over and pondered over in the presence of God. "Am I to take this thought as from Thee, if so please bring it back to me again and again, and shew me." Thus you will learn to walk carefully or accurately in the will of God. We need to be encased in the armor of Christ. God dwelling in our spirit, pouring the light into our mind, according to His Written Word, will enable us to carefully and prayerfully walk with Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: S. THE LEADING OF THE LORD ======================================================================== The Leading of the Lord The Leading of the Lord by Jessie Penn-Lewis A Spiritual Autobiography This is a testimony from a servant of God who had a fruitful through the Welsh revival and deeper Life devotional writings. She was born in 1861 in South Wales; even decades after her home-going, thousands of her books are sold yearly. In spite of her gender [in turn-of-the-century culture] and poor health, God used her to teach His Word in distant lands such as Russia, India, and North America. To what spiritual lessons did she attribute her usefulness to God’s Kingdom? What can we learn from her ministry? I was brought up in the very heart of the religious life of Wales, for my grandfather was a Welsh divine, well known throughout the Principality in his day; and my father’s house was a rendezvous for the ministers as they passed hither and thither on their Master’s work. My childhood’s memories gather round their visits and the great meetings of the Sunday-schools, when often I sat as a tiny child in the midst of the grave elders in the "big pew", listening with intense interest to the "howl" of the minister. "The mercy of the Lord is ... unto children’s children; but as it is often with children brought up in the midst of religious surroundings, the true inward change of heart did not come until I had married and moved away to England. Then it occurred without the aid of any human instrument, but the day -- New Year’s Day -- and hour are imprinted on my mind. Only a deep, inward desire to know that I was a child of God; a taking down of my (too little read) Bible from the shelf; a turning over the leaves, and the eye falling on the words, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" [Isaiah 53:6]; again, a casual turn of the sacred pages, and the words, "He that believeth hath eternal life"[John 6:47]. A quick facing out whether I did believe that God had laid my sins upon the Lamb of God on the Cross; a pause of wonderment that it really said that I had eternal life if I simply believed God’s Word; a quick cry of "Lord, I do believe" -- and one more soul had passed from death to life [John 5:24], a trophy of the grace of God, and the love of Him Who died. The Spirit of God instantly bore witness with my spirit that I was a child of God [Romans 8:16], and deep peace filled my soul. The new life bore fruit in that I sought to conquer my besetting sins, whereas hitherto I had found myself at their mercy, as I feebly attempted to restrain them. But my attempts still ended in abject failure, and the succeeding few months were a record of bitter repentance, and many tears over sins I could not conquer. At this point we removed to Richmond, Surrey, and found our way to Holy Trinity Church. The first sermon I heard from Rev. Evan H. Hopkins was an opening of heaven to my soul. I learned the secret of victory, and it was not long before I proved the power of God to deliver from the bondage of sin through the precious blood of Christ. Under the Spirit-lit teaching of Mr. Hopkins, and the earnest, loving help of his noble wife, I learned the joy of full surrender and the possibilities of a Spirit-filled life [Ephesians 5:18]. But active service for Christ seemed far away from me, for from childhood my health had been frail, and now winter after winter was spent in increasing suffering from bronchial and lung attacks. It seemed as if my life was slowly ebbing away. Nevertheless, in 1890, with apparently only a brief span of life before me, I ventured to take the hon. secretaryship of the Richmond Y.W.C.A. Institute -- "If only for six months", I said, for my whole heart was drawn out in service for the King. Gradually I learnt to draw upon the Lord for strength for His work, so that in spite of continued ill-health and suffering, I worked, and organised, and laboured incessantly. But after a time I became conscious that the spiritual results were not equivalent to the labour of the work. I began to question whether I knew the fulness of the Spirit. Without doubt I had received Him, and had "entered into rest" as concerned my own life and fellowship with God [Hebrews 4:10]; but, when I compared the small results of my service with the fruit given to the apostles at Pentecost, I could not but own that I did not know the Holy Spirit in the fulness of His power. My weekly Bible-class also was a great trouble to me, for I had no power of utterance. Organising work was much easier, but meetings were a sore trial. Self-consciousness almost paralysed me, and no practice ever made speaking less difficult. Others might have the gift of speech, but it was clearly not given to me, I said! "But did God promise to us to-day as full an indwelling and outworking of the Spirit as in the days of Pentecost?" was my question, and I began to read book after book on the subject, until I was more and more confused. Finally, I put all on one side, and threw myself upon God to teach me Himself to know the fulness of the Spirit in power for service, as I had known Him for sanctification of life. For months I prayed, until my soul became "a furnace of intense desire", and I was ready to count all things loss, if God would but grant me that which I desired. I did not know then that He was already beginning to answer my prayers, by preparing me for deeper surrender to all His will. The more I prayed, the more there seemed to be a blight upon my much-loved work; and I was greatly perplexed. The fulfilment of my petitions seemed further away than ever. Then the Spirit of God began to question me, and to bring to light the "thoughts and intents" of my heart [Hebrews 4:12]. Why did I desire the fulness of the Spirit? Was it for success in service, and that I should be considered a "much-used worker"? Would I desire the same fulness of the Spirit if it meant apparent failure, and becoming "the offscouring of all things" [1 Corinthians 4:13] in the eyes of others? This had not occurred to me before, and I quickly agreed to any conditions the Lord should please to set before me. Again came the question: Would I be willing to have no great experience, but agree to live and walk entirely by faith on the Word of God? This, too, was a new aspect, but I quickly answered "Yes". Then came the climax, when one morning I awoke, and, lo, I beheld before me a hand holding up in terrible light a handful of filthy rags, whilst a gentle voice said: "This is the outcome of all your past service for God" [Isaiah 64:6]. "But, Lord, I have been surrendered and consecrated to Thee all these years. It was consecrated work!" "Yes, My child, but all your service has been consecrated self; the outcome of your own energy; your own plans for winning souls; your own devotion. All for Me, I grant, but yourseIf all the same." Then came the still small voice once more, and this time it was with one little word -- "Crucified". "Crucified!" What did it mean? I had not asked to be crucified, but to be filled. But since the Spirit of God kept ringing the word "Crucified" in my heart, He must know best. As a little child, I rested on the word thus given; and then, "it pleased God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him" [Galatians 1:15-16], I knew the risen Lord. The Holy Spirit already dwelling in my heart had fulfilled His office, and revealed the risen Lord in full possession of His temple. "Glorious, indeed, is this Anointing! Where will it end? Waters to swim in -- no little trickling rivulet!" wrote Mrs. Hopkins to me on March 25, 1892. Immediately the living waters broke out as "torrents" in the work, and like a "tidal wave" lifted it, so to speak, on to a new plane, my fellow-workers coming into the tide with joy. The Bible classes were thronged; on all sides souls were convicted of sin, and brought to Christ. The converts became, in their turn, soul sinners. The dead prayer meetings were changed into times of blessed access to the Father. In such an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit none could be dumb. Answers to prayer rejoiced our hearts. Souls were won for Christ even at our social gatherings. The usual trouble over finances changed into records of sometimes romantic answers to prayer; we learnt that where the Holy Spirit was free to work He provided the funds, and deficits in our yearly balance-sheets were things of the past. We had sought to arouse missionary interest with difficulty, but in the atmosphere of the Spirit our hearts became enlarged. We began to pray for the whole world, and to ask that the living waters flowing amongst us might reach to the ends of the earth -- the Lord answering these prayers by the scattering of one and another to various parts of the world, whilst calls poured in upon me to carry the message of abundant life to other places in Great Britain. Two years had I laboured in my own strength without the anointing Spirit, and four happy years afterwards was I permitted to watch what He could do, when we consent to be "crucified", and to give Him right of way through us to souls. My "six months" had been prolonged into six years by the wondrous grace of God. Then came the wider service which God had purposed for me, and which I had not dreamed of, when I sought the fulness of the Spirit -- and which, from physical frailty, it seemed impossible ever could be mine. But by this time the knowledge of my resources in God had grown, and I was able to cast myself in utter abandonment upon Him, and find all-sufficiency for all my need, at all times and in all circumstances. In 1896 we removed to Leicester, and at once came a call to Sweden. Another crisis in my life had come. Raised from the grave, so to speak, for the Lord’s service, my husband felt, with me, that my life was a trust from God to be used only for the Master’s Kingdom. With one mind we yielded that life anew to Him Who claimed it, that He might make the fullest possible use of the frail vessel. Not disobedient to the heavenly vision, I crossed the North Sea to Stockholm for the first Scandinavian Conference of the Y.W.C.A. Delegates from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, gathered together, and the devotional meetings held in a beautiful hall were thrown open to the public. It was my first experience of speaking through an interpreter, and on the last day I saw the Holy Spirit move upon the large audience in a remarkable way; at the close of the afternoon meeting many broke out into prayer at the same time, each in his own language -- yet there was no discord. It seemed to me like the music of a rippling brook. Was it thus at Pentecost? The year after this came a call to Russia, where I went for a few weeks two winters in succession, visiting Finland for a few days, and Denmark, twice, on my way home. In 1898 I went for a second visit to Finland for a great Conference held at Helsingfors, when about eighty delegates were present from all parts of the country. Most of the devotional meetings were entrusted to me, and on the last day I gave the Lord’s message, morning, afternoon, and evening, with two translators -- Swedish and Finnish -- the power of God upon us making the message as clear and full as if it were the original language of the people. In the summer of 1900 the way opened for a brief tour in America, where I held meetings amongst the people of God in Canada and the United States, visiting Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, Chicago (Moody Bible Institute), Northfield, Philadelphia, and New York City. Again, during the early months of 1903, I visited Southern India, giving Bible-readings in Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Coonoor, and Ootacamund. WHAT HAS BEEN THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE WIDER SERVICE THUS GIVEN TO ME? The change in my own life as a Christian worker -- working without and with the fulness of the Anointing Spirit -- has been so definite and marked, that from the time of my own emergence into liberty, Christian workers have been the burden of my heart. From the hour the Spirit of God whispered "Crucified" to me, I also saw clearly the principle of death with Christ as the basis for the full working of God through the believer. It was as great a revelation to me as when at the first I saw my "iniquity laid upon Him" on the tree [Isaiah 53:6]. In one instant I understood that if my sins were there, they were not on me. In like manner when I was seeking, with all the intensity of my being, the fulness of the Holy Ghost, after the word "Crucified" came, I understood very quickly the key to the full possession and outworking of the blessed Spirit in co-operation with our surrender, trust, and obedience. "Crucified with Christ," there is room for Him to fill us; and we have only to consent to be out of His way on the Cross, and yield implicit obedience to His workings. How simple the plan, yet how deep, for it gives no place to the creature to glory before God [1 Corinthians 1:31]! The light given of God that day has never since been unseen or questioned. The Lord had revealed to me a principle which, if applied and acted upon, would lead out into unknown realms of blessing and undreamed of possibilities. We speak of "applied chemistry". What discoveries are made in the laboratory of the scientist as he applies the principles he knows! So in the spiritual realm. The Lord had mightily sealed His Word to me with a glorious out-flowing of the rivers of life; but this would not do to rest upon as a basis for future service. The "experiences" varied and changed, and passed away from my memory; but the principle upon which God would work out His purposes through me never changed. I found it "work" in every circumstance; every new test; every new aspect of life. Every fresh call to wider service was only a fresh occasion for proving the secret I had learned. When each "impossible" thing confronted me, or trial of any kind, I would simply appeal to God to prove His own Word that I was crucified with Christ, and then in childlike faith I would cast myself upon Him to undertake the service, or meet the need through me [2 Corinthians 4:10-11]. I found also that, as I thus "continued in the faith, grounded and settled" [Colossians 1:23], the Holy Spirit wrought deeper and deeper into my inner life, unveiling aspects of one’s being hitherto unknown; but all was met with the word "Crucified", and as I thus consented daily to be made conformable to the death of the Lord Jesus, I found richer and fuller outgoings of the Spirit of God to others [Php 3:10]. The words of Paul became aglow with light --"Death worketh in us, and life in you" [2 Corinthians 4:12]. Clearer and clearer grew the wondrous plan. Crucified with Christ, the risen Lord takes the inner throne, and leading us on into ever-deepening fellowship with Him in death, He manifests His life in glorious power, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight; fulfilling His promise that out of the depths of our being shall be poured forth torrents of living water [John 7:38]. Thus I was led on, until in the fulfilment of His greater purposes He took me again to the place called Calvary, and gave me such an unveiling of His death, that it eclipsed all the previous revelations of Himself. The Holy Spirit had whispered "Crucified", and revealed to me the Risen Lord; but now the glorious Risen One Himself poured the light upon His death, until my cross was lost in the sight of His. I could only cry, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world hath been crucified to me, and I unto the world!" [Galatians 6:14]. Then I knew the purpose of the wider service He had given me. I saw, as never before, the "Word of the Cross" to be the power of God, and determined henceforth to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified [1 Corinthians 2:2]. He had spoken the word "crucified with Him" [Romans 6:6], and I had proved the deliverance it brought to me; but now I saw what Calvary meant to Him, and yielded myself afresh to the Eternal Spirit for the special service of proclaiming the Cross and the passion of the Son of God, that He might see the fruit of His travail, and be satisfied [Isaiah 53:11]. From this time I was kept under the "burden" of this message, increased by watching the darkness that was slowly creeping over our beloved land at the very same time that the light of God in His people was burning brighter and brighter. The increasing darkness, on the one hand, seems to intensify the light on the other. Can it be possible that the Most High God will look on, without giving His people a renewed and mighty testimony to the Gospel of Calvary? May God the Holy Spirit lay upon every messenger of God to-day, at home and abroad, the supreme need of proclaiming the "Evangel" --the Gospel of the atoning death of the Son of God -- and clothe each one with the Holy Ghost to preach the Cross in all its aspects, as Paul the Apostle preached it, ere the Lord returns for His own. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us --unto HIM be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen." [Ephesians 3:20-21]. Written for "The Christian" 1903 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: S. THE LIFE-SIDE OF THE CROSS ======================================================================== The Life-Side of the Cross By Jessie Penn Lewis "Raised with Him." Colossians 2:12 Dr. Mabie says in one of his books: "in the thought of’ Scripture the reconciling death, and ressurection, have always been taken together. They are inseparable parts of a real Unity-TWIN PARTS OF ONE FACT". This is a very clear statement and true, but in experience, and in teaching, the danger lies in not giving the ’twin parts’ equal balance. This affects the practical results in the life, for you cannot have the ’positive’ life-power without the negative death-application. If there is too much ’negative’, that is death-then there is too little ’positive’ in the practical life. If you overemphasize the ’positive’, the ’life’ of the resurrection-then you do not get sufficient ’negative’ of the death-application to deal with the old-Adam life, which is in the way of the new-creation, and has to be dealt with by the ’death’ making room for the Christ-life. Therefore the two should have equal emphasis, and, so to speak, run together in the Christian life-death and life, Calvary and the resurrection-’twin parts of one fact’. Let me repeat again: In the experience of the believer, it is exactly in proportion to the experimental apprehension, and co-working of the Spirit of God in applying the ’negative’ side of ’death with Christ’, that he gets the actual, experimental, and ’positive’ impartation of the power of the resurrection. The two sides of these truths should evenly run together. It is for lack of seeing this that there are so many one-sided Christians. They are either so ’negative’, by dwelling much on the ’death’ side, that they have no activity of life; or, they are so anxious to avoid the ’negative’-the over-emphasis on ’death’-that they dwell too much upon the ’positive’ side of life, and in experience are in danger of calling the old life of nature, the life of the resurrection. We have need of the balance, so as to obtain a real impartation of the life of God. But it is so ’human’ to go to extremes! It is only as we know the danger, and rely upon God to guard us, that we can be kept spiritually sober, and balanced in truth. When we are conscious of the difficulties of it on account of our human limitations, we are less dogmatic in our statements to others about ourselves and our ’views’. We can always be sure of all that is plainly written in the Word of God, but not always so sure that we personally have the full knowledge of the meaning of His Word. Now let us turn again to Romans 6:1-23 and see in Romans 6:10-11 I how it gives not only what we may call the death-side of the Cross, but the key to the life-side of our union with Christ in His resurrection. "He died once, and once only, unto sin; but He lives [for ever] unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but living unto God IN CHRIST JESUS.’ In the three words "IN Christ Jesus" we have the key to the life of union with the Risen Lord. We have died with Christ on the Cross, so that we may ’live unto God’ in another sphere altogether, ’IN Christ Jesus’. If you look at Romans 6:13 it reads: "Give yourselves to God, as being restored to life from the dead, and your members to His service as instruments. . . ." Now what does it mean to be "in Christ Jesus" on the resurrection side of the Cross? Turn to Romans 7:4; "You ... were made dead to the Law, by [union with] the body of Christ; that you might be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead". In the margin of Schofield’s Bible the word is ’joined’. ’Dead’ is the ,negative’ side of the truth of death; ’joined’ to the Risen Lord is the ’positive’ side of the truth. Twin parts of one fact. Therefore there is no impartation of His Risen life apart from Himself Moreover the ’joining’ is a joining of spirit. ’He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:17)not one soul. Therefore the ’negative’ side of death with Christ means practically a breaking away, or severing, or cutting away, of that which prevents the joining of your spirit to the Risen Christ. The experimental outcome of the Cross is really a releasing of the spirit. It was held, so to speak, in the grip of the soul and of the ’flesh’. It was so entangled in the life of nature that it could not be fully joined to Him Who is a quickening Spirit. But how is the ’cutting away’ done? How does the Spirit of God apply the Cross, and bring about the death-severance whereby the spirit is free to be joined to Christ? This we find in Hebrews 4:12 - "The Word of God liveth and worketh, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. . . ." Here we have a dividing and something that is immaterial and intangible. The ’Word’ therefore is a spiritual weapon, acting like a sword in the spiritual sphere-as a sword cuts in the material realm-and actually ’dividing’ immaterial things. That part of the Word that does this is the Word of the Cross, ’dividing’ soul from spirit, first by giving the believer the distinctions between the two, and secondly, severing the two as the believer yields to the operation of the ’Word of the Cross’ telling of the death with Christ. It also says that the ’Word’ discerns and reveals the thoughts, because "all things are naked and opened in the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do". Notice that it is the Lord Himself using the sword to cut away the old lifeHim, with Whom we have to do. He alone knows how to wield the ’sword of the Spirit’, which will ’cut’ like a knife, so that the spirit is severed or ’disentangled’, as an old writer says, "from the embrace of the soul"! This is all psychologically and experimentally true. In Dr. Andrew Murray’s "Spirit of Christ", he gives in the Appendix a very clear explanation of the dividing of soul and spirit which has to be done in the believer. He explains how man fell from the ’spirit’ dominating his whole being, into the soul, and then again how the soul sank down into the flesh, so that at last God said of man "He is become flesh". He descended from spirit to soul, and from soul to ’flesh’. The spirit of man, says Dr. Murray, is that in us which is capable of knowing God-spirit-consciousness. The soul is the seat of the self-consciousness, and the body the seat of sense consciousness. An understanding of simple Bible psychology is necessary for any apprehension of the full life of victory through the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is more to be dealt with in us than what we call ’sin’, and more than ’sin’ which prevents our full knowledge of God. Now to know in real experience the life side of the Cross, we must know not only death to sin, but the Word of the Cross severing between ’soul’ and ’spirit’, so that the spirit is liberated to be joined to the Risen Lord. Then through the channel of your spirit, "joined to the Lord one spirit", the quickening life of Him Who is a quickening Spirit comes into the ’soul’ in resurrection power. For the ’soul’ is not destroyed, nor is the individuality of the believer destroyed. We do not become automatons, but the ’soul’-the personality-should be animated from the spirit, instead of from the lower realm of the life of nature. We may say the same words, perform the same acts, but with a different source of animating life at the back of them. When the spirit is thus ’one spirit’ with the Risen Lord, it is via the spirit, into the mind, we experience the leadings of the Spirit, and intimate knowledge of the personal Christ. It is through our spirits joined to Him by the Holy Spirit, that we ’know’ Him personally-for the whole purpose of the truth is that we should KNOW Him, as well as the power of His resurrection. Now turn to Colossians 2:6-7 for more light on the meaning of the words, "In Christ Jesus". "As, therefore, you first received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." When we first ’received’ Christ, by a simple act of faith, we were put into Him by the operation of the spirit of God. Christ is in us, and our spirits are joined to Him as the Risen One, but we are also to abide ’In Him’ as a sphere in which we are to walk day by day. As we began, so we are to continue-simply trusting and relying upon Him, and abiding IN Him. The life side of the Cross means to be ’alive’ to God-’In Christ Jesus’ "Having in Him your root," continues the Apostle. You cannot be ’rooted’ in one place to-day, and in another place the next. Therefore see to your roots. "Having in Him your root." "Thou bearest not the root, but the root thee"! "And in Him the foundation whereon you are continually built up, persevering steadfastly in your faith. . . ." This clearly shows the need of our understanding the Cross as the basic position from which we must never be moved. It is into His death that we are to be rooted. We cannot ever pass on into a life where we get past the Cross, or advance to any goal, leaving the Cross behind. To do so is like a ’tree’ refusing to ’root’ itself into the ground. We are to reckon ourselves ’dead indeed unto sin’ and living unto God, but it is ’IN CHRIST JESUS’. ’In Him’ we must be ’rooted’, and ’in Him’ have our ’foundation’, whereon we are continually to be built up; i.e., we must ever be striking our roots deeper into His death. Let us go back just here to John 3:16, and see how the being ’In Christ Jesus’ began at the initial stage of our new life. The words read, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth into Him" should have life. Why the translators of the Bible into English have used the word ’on’ instead of ’into’, I do not know. We do not merely believe ’on’ Christ, but we believe into Him. Newberry says, that the word ’into’ in the original has in it the thought of motion and thus is very suggestive, i.e., as you ’believe into’ Christ, you are taken in by the coaction of the Holy Spirit. And Calvary is the place where this is done. The Lord Christ preached His own Cross at the beginning of His ministry. He told Nicodemus of the necessity of the new birth and told him of His forthcoming death that sinners might have life. He said in John 3:14-15, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth into Him should ... have eternal life". We are put ’into’ Him in His death, and then ’into’ Him in His life, on the resurrection side of the Cross, "having in Him your root"! Therefore "persevere steadfastly in your faith . . ." i.e., when you first received Christ Jesus the Lord, you believed into Him, now stay in Him, be rooted in Him, have your foundation in Him, have all your spirit life built up in Him. Now turn to Colossians 2:9-11. "IN Him dwells all the fulness"! It is as we abide in Him we get the ’fulness’ of the Spirit. You say, "Oh, I want to be filled with the fulness of God"! Yes, but you can only hold, shall we say, a ’teacup’ full! Paul puts it quite another way-"In Him you have your fulness"! You have died with Him, now joined in spirit to Him, abide in Him, and you are in an ocean of life. "In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form, and in Him you have your fulness; for He is the Head of all Principalities and Powers. In Him, also, you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, even the off-casting of the whole body of the flesh." The ’flesh’ cannot be taken ’into Him’. It must be ’cast off’. "For with Him you were buried in your baptism [into death], wherein also you were made partakers of His resurrection, through the faith wrought in you by God, Who raised Him from the dead." Here again are the ’twin parts of one fact’. The severing work of the Cross takes place as we abide in Him; the cutting off of the ’flesh’, even the "off-casting of the whole body of the flesh" takes place as we abide in Him. It is a ’circumcision’ which is done without human hands, for it is wrought by the Holy Ghost as the believer consents, and trusts Him, to carry out in him the full work of the Cross of Christ. It is the Spirit of God who baptizes us into the death of Christ, and gives the believer the power to cast off all the ’body of the flesh’, and to carry this out in detail, so that he may live according to God in the Spirit. Now let us see two or three verses for the practical outworking in the life. "Whosoever, then, is in Christ, is a new creation; his old being has passed away, and behold, all has become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15)- ’In Christ’ nothing is made to depend upon any external thing. ’In Christ Jesus’ nothing avails, nothing is of any use, nothing is of any account, but a new creation. Going into the sphere of Christ, we leave outside the ’old’. Abiding in Him, we may conform to the externalities of religious things, but you do not rely upon them, or place undue emphasis upon them, or ever allow them to become a cause of division between you and other children of God. Thus you will never find a child of God that you cannot get into spirit touch with, for you will always recognize that you have one life in the Lord. Now turn to Ephesians 2:4-6. "God Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sin, called us to share the life of Christ.... And in Christ Jesus, He raised us up with Him from the dead and seated us with Him in the heavens." In Christ is our root and our foundation, from which we must never move, but here we see the outcome of that death position. joined to Him in spirit we are seated with Him in spirit ’in the heavens’. "Crucified with Him," we are called to share His life, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3)Resurrection power is uplifting power. Joined to the Risen One it can lift your spirit up, and keep it ’far above all’ in Christ, however deeply it may have been ’down’ under the bondage of the flesh, or mingled with the life of nature of the soul-we are ’seated with Him in the heavens’ by union with Him Who on His ascension ’sat down’. joined to Him, He holds us as we abide and rest in Him. Now finally as to the ’life-side of the Cross’ in service. Let us turn to the sixth chapter of Ephesians, verse 10. It is to those who are ’in Christ’ as set forth in the early chapters of the Epistle, that the Apostle now opens up spiritual service and warfare. He begins this closing passage, this summing up of the life he had been describing, with the word ’Finally’. "Finally ... let your hearts be strengthened in the Lord, and in the conquering power of His might. . . ." The Lord Christ, Paul said in chapter one, is above the Principalities and the Powers. He is not under them, and the believer is also seated with Him ’far above’. Now, let such a one be strengthened in the Lord, be confident, be sure, know for certain the position of victory, and be strong in the conquering power of His might. Also, in this place of assured victory, "Put on the whole armour of God" (verse 11). You know your position, now be established there, and put on the armour of God, "that you may be able to stand". But you were ’seated’ a moment ago! Yes, you cannot ’fight’ external foes if you have a conflict within! You must be ’sitting down’ inside! If you lose your inward peace you are at the mercy of the devil. For conquering warfare the believer must have the inward calm of God, and be strengthened, stablished, rooted in Him. Now ’put on the armour’ that you may be able to stand. And why need we ’stand’? Because of ’the wiles of the devil’. This is all his strategy, wiles, methods, planned to get you out of your victorious position. The wiles that you do not see are the most dangerous. They are planned against you from morning to night. You say that you do not want to be thinking about ’evil spirits’ all the time? But they will he thinking of you. You are only called to think about them to the end that you may be on the alert in perpetual prayer. The knowledge that they are perpetually planning to ensnare you, drives you nearer to God in prayer that their wiles do not succeed. As you do this your eyes will be opened to see their wiles, and you will keep steady and quiet when you discern them at work upsetting things in your home, to draw you out of your place in God. "Stand firm against the wiles of the devil,for the adversaries with whom we wrestle are not flesh and blood." It is strange, in the face of this, how God’s people perpetually see only ’flesh and blood’ as the cause of the conflict, and trouble in their lives. They will not recognize that there are spiritual foes. Or if they see some other cause than the flesh and blood, at the back of circumstantial troubles, they put all down to the ’will of God’. By some means or other, they will ignore the supernatural powers of evil. In the one case they have friction with the ones who injure them, or in the latter they submit, as they think, to the ’will of God’, and become actual victims of the forces of Satan attacking and seeking to injure every child of God. They do not know how to discern between what is really of God, and what is of Satan. The Apostle says, our real adversaries are not flesh and blood. These spiritual foes are in the aerial heavens. They roam in the air around our planet, seeking to do all the evil that they can. It is very manifest just now in Britain-not to speak of other lands. These powers are working upon the people in an intensified form, and arousing the fallen Adam in them. The wave of Spiritism has much to do with it. It is not possible to have thousands of people communicating with demons, under the deception of speaking with their dead relatives, without these demons influencing the atmosphere of the whole country. Our adversaries are not flesh and blood, but they are princes -"The Principalities, and the Powers, and the Sovereigns of this present darkness". We have three hierarchic ranks of Satan’s governmental powers described here. The ’Princes’ set over ’Principalities’, the ’Powers’ of those who are able to use the resources of the air; and the ’Sovereigns’-the kings or rulers, governing ’this present darkness’. Then last and lowest in rank, are the multitudes of ’spirits of evil in the heavens’ who carry out the behests of Satan their chief and the other ’rulers’ of their various spheres. In Daniel 10:1-21 the veil is lifted, and we are told about a ’Prince of Persia’and a’Prince of Grecia’ (Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:20), withstanding the heavenly messengers to Daniel. Is there not a ’Prince of England’ and a ’Prince of France’? In every land do not God’s people wrestle against the ’Princes’ of the Satanic forces? Then what about the ’Powers’ wielding for Satan the forces of the air? What resources they have to carry out their plans! We are only in this century learning about wireless telegraphy, and electricity, but the satanic ’Prince of this World’ knew about them-and other ’powers’ yet unknown to uscenturies ago. This is why ’lies’ spread like poisoned gas, and ’truth’ has to fight its way. This is why the Bolshevik spirit in Russia is able so quickly to reach Wales and England, and to lay hold of men and inspire them with delusions which, if allowed their way, will wreck others and themselves. There are ’waves’ of satanic delusions sent forth by the ’Powers’ in the invisible realm, like a wave of electric currents, invisibly spreading, and drawing people under its power. Then there are the ’Sovereigns’ of the ’darkness’. The Princes lead the fight like generals (Daniel 10:13), the ’Powers’ wield the forces of the air, but the ’Kings’ or rulers govern the darkness. Their work is to plan how to keep people in the dark; to prevent truth and light reaching them-in brief, not only to frustrate the Gospel but to hinder truth and all light that comes from truth, in every way they can. The ’spirits of evil’ are the multitudinous hosts of demons swarming about, and carrying out the personal attacks on individuals, for the fulfilling of the world-plans of their Prince. The standing against the wiles of these, as described in Ephesians 6:11, is the prelude to the aggressive war against them. The believer ’strong in the Lord’, on the defensive against the wiles, is called to the aggressive, and by the wielding of the weapon of Christ’s victory over them at Calvary, these foes can all be dislodged and driven from their strongholds, and the plans of their chiefs be frustrated, and broken up. The Apostle says this plainly, and tell us how. "Wherefore," he writes, "take up with you to the battle the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand (Gr. resist) them in the evil day, and HAVING OVERTHROWN THEM ALL, TO STAND UNSHAKEN". This clearly depicts an aggressive advance, with the sure and certain fact that they can be ’overthrown’, and by the Lord’s children in union with Him. There are ’evil days’, when the ’princes’ and ’powers’ and the ’rulers of the darkness’, come and besiege, say for instance, your church. Do not only stand on the defensive and protect yourself, but looking not at ’flesh and blood’, go up to that battle with the hosts of darkness , strong in the Lordanchored in Him with the eternal calm of God centred in your being-and ,overthrow’ the invisible hosts by the weapon of faith and prayer. Remember God is on the Throne, and when you are centred there in Him, you partake of His strength, ’rooted and fixed in God’. Strong ’in the Lord’, you can safely take the aggressive against principalities and powers, and go up to the battle with confidence, because your ’defensive’ is sure. "Having overthrown them all" writes the Apostle, you can then ’stand unshaken’. So there is a ’battle’-a specific onslaught upon you, or upon the church, described as ’the evil day’-and there is an ’overthrow’ of that specific attack of the enemy, and then a standing back in God in blessed victory. All this is part of the believer’s experience on the ’life-side of the Cross’. He is not only ’joined to the Lord one Spirit’ for sharing in His resurrection life, and for victory over sin and the ’flesh’, but he is joined to Him, to be sent forth by Him to ’overthrow’ the forces of darkness seeking to ’overthrow’ the church of God, and to frustrate or delay the Lord’s appearing. The great need of to-day is that the Lord’s children should apprehend the call to battle, and rise up in His strength to face the foe. It is not enough to simply ’endure’ -crying out "Oh Lord, how long?" The Lord must have those who work with Him to ’overthrow’ in glorious victory all the hosts of Satan, hindering his plans, until as victors they are caught away to meet the Lord. Twos and threes meeting together in prayer, can become strategic centres for the overthrow of Satan’s onslaughts on the people, and the work of God. If they only know how to ’pray’ against the foe! If they only know how to take their stand in God, and wield the weapon of Calvary’s victory! ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-penn/ ========================================================================