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When the Holy Ghost is Come

C >> Col. S. L. Brengle >> When the Holy Ghost is Come



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WHEN THE HOLY GHOST IS COME.

BY

COLONEL S. L. BRENGLE,


Edited by BRAMWELL BOOTH.




FOREWORD.

The Salvation Army, contrary to what has often been thought by
surface observers, has owed its existence, its strength, and its
success chiefly to our careful attention to the profoundest
questions of the soul.

And still, as always, we wish to urge upon all the study of those
great practical truths, without the proclamation of which our
work for men would cease to have any abiding value. We glory in
the knowledge of Christ as a perfect Saviour just as much for
this, our own time, as for any past generation, or for any
generation yet to come. The pretence that this age has reached
some superior development, whether mental or moral, for which a
new kind of Saviour is needed, seems to us absurd. And we do not
believe it can long endure where Christ is really known.

To the most thoughtful, therefore, as well as to those who have
the least time for thought, I earnestly commend the words of
devout and practical men upon those great questions, which I hope
to see reproduced in the series of which the present volume is
the first. Prayerful reading of their messages cannot but lead to
immediate action, to a complete self-abandonment to God, and to a
realizing faith in His power to use every one of His sons and
daughters for the healing of the world's open sores and the
triumph of His Rule.

BRAMWELL BOOTH. LONDON, January, 1909.



CONTENTS.


PREFACE

I. WHO IS HE?
II. PREPARING HIS HOUSE III. IS THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY
SPIRIT A THIRD BLESSING?
IV. THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
V. PURITY
VI. POWER
VII. TRYING THE SPIRITS
VIII. GUIDANCE
IX. THE MEEK AND LOWLY HEART
X. HOPE
XI. THE HOLY SPIRIT'S SUBSTITUTE FOR GOSSIP AND EVIL-SPEAKING
XII. THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST
XIII. OFFENCES AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST
XIV. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND SOUND DOCTRINE
XV. PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT
XVI. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ANOINTED PREACHER
XVII. PREACHING
XIX. THE SHEATHED SWORD: A LAW OF THE SPIRIT
XX. VICTORY THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER SUFFERING
XXI. THE OVERFLOWING BLESSING
XXII. IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE AND EXPERIENCE OF HOLINESS TO
SPIRITUAL LEADERS
XXIII. VICTORY OVER EVIL TEMPER BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT




PREFACE.


It is no small pleasure to me to commend this book to all who
love God, and in particular to those who are labouring to serve
Him in the ranks of The Salvation Army. I believe that it will
prove useful in the most important ways--in its bearing, that
is, upon many of the practical difficulties and problems of daily
life.

The writer, Colonel Brengle, gives us not only of the fruit of an
orderly and well-stored mind on the great subject before us, but--
and this is the more important--he tells us of the actual work
of the Holy Spirit in the lives of ordinary men and women, as he
has witnessed the results of that work amidst his many labours
for the Salvation and Holiness of the people. It is for them he
writes. It is to them, living the common life, bound to others by
the obligations of ordinary social intercourse, toiling at their
secular occupations, and rubbing shoulders with the multitude in
the market-place, that his message comes. I venture to hope that
his words will make it plain to some of them that the highest
intercourse with the Divine is their privilege; that the special
province of the Holy Ghost is to lead men into the truest
devotion to God, and to the advancement of His Kingdom on earth,
even while they are carrying on the common avocations associated
with earning their daily bread.

The only purpose of God having a practical bearing on our lives
is His purpose to save men from sin and its awful consequences,
and make them conform to His will in this world as in the next.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to help us to achieve that
purpose. Without His help we are unable to overcome the
difficulties that are in the way, whether we consider them from
the standpoint of the world or of the individual. If anyone could
have looked at the state of the world at the time of our Lord's
death he would surely have regarded the work which the Apostles
were commissioned to attempt as the most utterly wild and
impracticable enterprise that the human mind could conceive. And
it was so, but for one fact. That fact was the promise of the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be the great Helper in the
undertaking.

And equally in the work of uniting the individual soul with God's
purpose that Spirit is our Helper. In the work of righteousness
He is a Partner with us. In the life of faith and prayer He is
our unwavering Prompter and Guide. In the submission of our wills
to God and the chastening of our spirits He is the great Co-worker
with us. In the bearing of burdens and the enduring of trial and
sorrow He joins hands with us to lead us on. In the purifying of
every power from the taint of sin He is our Sanctifier.

All this is practical. It has to do with to-day--with every bit
of to-day. In fact, so far from the sphere of the Holy Spirit
being limited to the pulpit or the platform, or to the inward
experiences of the religious life, He is just as truly and
properly concerned with the affairs of the shop and the street,
the nursery and the kitchen, the chamber of suffering and the
home of penury, as with preaching the Gospel or healing the sick.

Now it is to lead its readers to a personal experience of all
this that this book has been written. No mere intellectual assent
to the truth it sets forth can satisfy its author, any more than
it can benefit his readers. What he seeks, and what I join him in
devoutly asking of God, is that you, dear friend, who may take
this little volume into your hands, may see what an infinite
privilege is yours, and may begin to act with God the Holy Ghost,
and to open your whole being to Him, that He may work with you.

BRAMWELL BOOTH.
LONDON, January, 1909.




I.

WHO IS HE?


"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you."

On that last eventful evening in the upper room, just after the
Passover feast, Jesus spoke to His disciples about His departure,
and, having commanded them to love one another, He besought them
not to be troubled in heart, but to hold fast their faith in Him,
assuring them that, though He was to die and leave them, He was
but going to the Father's many-mansioned house to prepare a place
for them.

But already they were troubled, for what could this death and
departure mean but the destruction of all their hopes, of all
their cherished plans? Jesus had drawn them away from their
fishing-boats, their places of custom and daily employment, and
inspired them with high personal and patriotic ambitions, and
encouraged them to believe that He was the Seed of David, the
promised Messiah; and they hoped that He would cast out Pilate
and his hated Roman garrison, restore the kingdom to Israel, and
sit on David's throne, a King, reigning in righteousness and
undisputed power and majesty for ever. And then, were they not to
be His Ministers of State and chief men in His Kingdom?

He was their Leader, directing their labours; their Teacher,
instructing their ignorance and solving their doubts and all
their puzzling problems; their Defence, stilling the stormy sea
and answering for them when questioned by wise and wily enemies.

They were poor and unlearned and weak. In Him was all their help,
and what would they do, what could they do, without Him? They
were without social standing, without financial prestige, without
learning or intellectual equipment, without political or military
power. He was their All, and without Him they were as helpless as
little children, as defenceless as lambs in the midst of wolves.
How could their poor hearts be otherwise than troubled?

But then He gave them a strange, wonderful, reassuring promise:
He said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray
the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you for ever" (John xiv. 15, 16). I am going away, but
Another shall come, who will fill My place. He shall not go away,
but abide with you for ever, and He "shall be in you." And later
He added: "It is expedient for you"--that is, better for you--
"that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come."

Who is this other One--this Comforter? He must be some august
Divine Person, and not a mere influence or impersonal force, for
how else could He take and fill the place of Jesus? How else
could it be said that it was better to have Him than to have
Jesus remaining in the flesh? He must be strong and wise, and
tender and true, to take the place of the Blessed One who is to
die and depart. Who is He?

John, writing in the Greek language, calls Him "Paraclete," but
we in English call Him Comforter. But Paraclete means more, much
more than Comforter. It means "one called in to help: an
advocate, a helper." The same word is used of Jesus in i John ii.
i: "We have an Advocate," a Paraclete, a Helper, "with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Just as Jesus had gone to be
the disciples' Advocate, their Helper in the Heavens, so this
other Paraclete was to be their Advocate, their Helper on earth.
He would be their Comforter when comfort was needed; but He would
be more; He would be also their Teacher, Guide, Strengthener, as
Jesus had been. At every point of need there would He be as an
ever-present and all-wise, almighty Helper. He would meet their
need with His sufficiency; their weakness with His strength;
their foolishness with His wisdom; their ignorance with His
knowledge; their blindness and short-sightedness with His
perfect, all-embracing vision. Hallelujah! What a Comforter! Why
should they be troubled?

They were weak, but He would strengthen them with might in the
inner man (Eph. iii. 16). They were to give the world the words
of Jesus, and teach all nations (Matthew xxviii. 19, 20); and He
would teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance
whatsoever Jesus had said to them (John xiv. 26).

They were to guide their converts in the right way, and He was to
guide them into all truth (John xvi. 13). They were to attack
hoary systems of evil, and inbred and actively intrenched sin, in
every human heart; but He was to go before them, preparing the
way for conquest, by convincing the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment (John xvi. 8). They were to bear heavy burdens and
face superhuman tasks, but He was to give them power (Acts i. 8).
Indeed, He was to be a Comforter, a Strengthener, a Helper.

Jesus had been external to them. Often they missed Him. Sometimes
He was asleep when they felt they sorely needed Him. Sometimes He
was on the mountains, while they were in the valley vainly trying
to cast out stubborn devils, or wearily toiling on the tumultuous,
wind-tossed sea. Sometimes He was surrounded by vast crowds, and
He entered into high disputes with the doctors of the law, and
they had to wait till He was alone to seek explanations of His
teachings. But they were never to lose this other Helper in the
crowd, nor be separated for an instant from Him, for no human
being, nor untoward circumstance, nor physical necessity, could
ever come between Him and them, for, said Jesus, "He shall be in
you."

From the words used to declare the sayings, the doings, the
offices and works of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, we are
forced to conclude that He is a Divine Person. Out of the
multitude of Scriptures which might be quoted, note this passage,
which, as nearly as is possible with human language, reveals to
us His personality: "Now there were in the Church that was at
Antioch certain prophets and teachers... As they ministered to
the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas
and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they
had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent
them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed
into Seleucia" (Acts xiii. 1-4).

Further on we read that they "were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the word in Asia"; and when they would have gone into
Bithynia, "the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts xvi. 6, 7).

Again, when the messengers of Cornelius, the Roman centurion,
were seeking Peter, "the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men
seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them,
doubting nothing: for I have sent them" (Acts x. 19, 20).

These are but a few of the passages of Scripture that might be
quoted to establish the fact of His personality--His power to
think, to will, to act, to speak; and if His personality is not
made plain in these Scriptures, then it is impossible for human
language to make it so.

Indeed, I am persuaded that if an intelligent heathen, who had
never seen the Bible, should for the first time read the four
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, he would say that the
personality of the Holy Spirit is as clearly revealed in the Acts
as is the personality of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. In truth,
the Acts of the Apostles are in a large measure the acts of the
Holy Spirit, and the disciples were not more certainly under the
immediate direction of Jesus during the three years of His
earthly ministry than they were under the direct leadership of
the Spirit after Pentecost.

But, while there are those that admit His personality, yet in
their loyalty to the Divine Unity they deny the Trinity, and
maintain that the Holy Spirit is only the Father manifesting
Himself as Spirit, without any distinction in personality. But
this view cannot be harmonised with certain Scriptures. While the
Bible and reason plainly declare that there is but one God, yet
the Scriptures as clearly reveal that there are three Persons in
the Godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The form of Paul's benediction to the Corinthians proves the
doctrine:--

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen" (2 Cor. xiii.
14).

Again, it is taught in the promise of Jesus, already quoted, "And
I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter...
the Spirit of Truth" (John xiv. 16, 17). Here the three Persons of
the Godhead are clearly revealed. The Son prays; the Father
answers; the Spirit comes.

The Holy Spirit is "another Comforter," a second Comforter
succeeding the first, who was Jesus, and both were given by the
Father.

Do you say, "I cannot understand it"? Neither do I. Who can
understand it? God does not expect us to understand it. Nor would
He have us puzzle our heads and trouble our hearts in attempting
to understand it or harmonise it with our knowledge of arithmetic.

Note this: it is only the _fact_ that is revealed;
_how_ there can be three Persons in one Godhead is not
revealed.

The _how_ is a mystery, and is not a matter of faith at all;
but the _fact_ is a matter of revelation, and therefore a
matter of faith. I myself am a mysterious trinity of body, mind,
and spirit. The fact I believe, but the _how_ is not a thing
to believe. It is at this point that many puzzle and perplex
themselves needlessly.

In the ordinary affairs of life we grasp facts, and hold them
fast, without puzzling ourselves over the _how_ of things.
Who can explain _how_ food sustains life; how light reveals
material objects, how sound conveys ideas to our minds? It is the
fact we know and believe, but the _how_ we pass by as a
mystery unrevealed. What God has revealed, we believe. We cannot
understand _how_ Jesus turned water into wine; _how_ He
multiplied a few loaves and fishes and fed thousands; _how_
He stilled the stormy sea; _how_ He opened blind eyes, healed
lepers, and raised the dead by a word. But the facts we believe.
Wireless telegraphic messages are sent over the vast wastes of
ocean. That is a fact, and we believe it. But _how_ they go we
do not know. That is not something to believe. It is a matter of
pure speculation, and is unexplained.

An old servant of God has pointed out that it is the fact of the
Trinity, and not the _manner_ of it, which God has revealed,
and made a subject for our faith.

But while the Scriptures reveal to us the fact of the personality
of the Holy Spirit, and it is a subject for our faith, to those
in whom He dwells this fact may become a matter of sacred
knowledge, of blessed experience.

How else can we account for the positive and assured way in which
the Apostles and disciples spoke of the Holy Ghost on and after
the day of Pentecost, if they did not know Him? Immediately after
the fiery baptism, with its blessed filling, Peter stood before
the people, and said: "This is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh"; then he exhorted
the people and assured them that if they would meet certain
simple conditions they should "receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost." He said to Ananias, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to
lie to the Holy Ghost?" He declared to the High Priest and
Council that he and his fellow-Apostles were witnesses of the
resurrection of Jesus: and added, "And so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey Him." Without any apology
or explanation, or "think so" or "hope so," they speak of being
"filled" (not simply with some new, strange experience or
emotion, but) "with the Holy Ghost." Certainly they must have
known Him. And if they knew Him, may not we?

Paul says: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth" (I Cor. ii. 12, 13). And if we know the words,
may we not know the Teacher of the words?

John Wesley says:--

"The knowledge of the Three-One God is interwoven with all true
Christian faith, with all vital religion. I do not say," he adds,
"that every real Christian can say, with the Marquis de Renty, 'I
bear about with me continually an experimental verity, and a
fullness of the ever-blessed'Trinity. I apprehend that this is
not the experience of "babes," but rather "fathers in Christ."'
But I know not how anyone can be a Christian believer till he
'hath the witness in himself,' till 'the Spirit of God witnesses
with his spirit that he is a child of God'; that is, in effect,
till God the Holy Ghost witnesses that God the Father has
accepted him through the merits of God the Son.

"Not that every Christian believer adverts to this; perhaps, at
first, not one in twenty; but, if you ask them a few questions,
you will easily find it is implied in what he believes."

I shall never forget my joy, mingled with awe and wonder, when
this dawned upon my consciousness. For several weeks I had been
searching the Scriptures, ransacking my heart, humbling my soul,
and crying to God almost day and night for a pure heart and the
baptism with the Holy Ghost, when one glad, sweet day (it was
January 9th, 1885) this text suddenly opened to my understanding:
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"; and I was
enabled to believe without any doubt that the precious blood
cleansed my heart, even mine, from all sin. Shortly after that,
while reading these words of Jesus to Martha: "I am the
resurrection and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth on
Me shall never die," instantly my heart was melted like wax
before fire; Jesus Christ was revealed to my spiritual consciousness,
revealed in me, and my soul was filled with unutterable love. I
walked in a heaven of love. Then one day, with amazement,
I said to a friend: "This is the perfect love about which the
Apostle John wrote; but it is beyond all I dreamed of; in it is
personality; this love thinks, wills, talks with me, corrects me,
instructs and teaches me." And then I knew that God the
Holy Ghost was in this love, and that this love was God, for
"God is love."

Oh, the rapture mingled with reverential, holy fear--for it is a
rapturous, yet divinely fearful thing--to be indwelt by the Holy
Ghost, to be a temple of the Living God! Great heights are always
opposite great depths, and from the heights of this blessed
experience many have plunged into the dark depths of fanaticism.
But we must not draw back from the experience through fear. All
danger will be avoided by meekness and lowliness of heart; by
humble, faithful service; by esteeming others better than
ourselves, and in honour preferring them before ourselves; by
keeping an open, teachable spirit; in a word, by looking steadily
unto Jesus, to whom the Holy Spirit continually points us: for He
would not have us fix our attention exclusively upon Himself and
His work _in_ us, but also upon the Crucified One and His
work _for_ us, that we may walk in the steps of Him whose
blood purchases our pardon, and makes and keeps us clean.

"Great Paraclete! to Thee we cry:
O highest Gift of God most high!
O Fount of life! O Fire of love!
And sweet Anointing from above!

"Our senses touch with light and fire;
Our hearts with tender love inspire;
And with endurance from on high
The weakness of our flesh supply.

"Far back our enemy repel,
And let Thy peace within us dwell;
So may we, having Thee for Guide,
Turn from each hurtful thing aside.

"Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And evermore to hold confessed
Thyself of Each the Spirit blest."

"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"




II.

PREPARING HIS HOUSE.


"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you."

JESUS said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit." And Paul wrote to the Romans
that, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His."

So it must be that every child of God, every truly converted
person, has the Holy Spirit in some gracious manner and measure,
else he would not be a child of God; for it is only "as many as
are led by the Spirit of God" that "are the sons of God."

It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, who makes us feel
how good and righteous, and just and patient God is, and how
guilty we are, and how unfit for Heaven, and how near to Hell. It
is the Holy Spirit who leads us to true repentance and confession
and amendment of life; and when our repentance is complete, and
our surrender is unconditional, it is He who reasons with us, and
calms our fears, and soothes our troubled hearts, and banishes
our darkness, and enables us to look to Jesus, and believe on Him
for the forgiveness of all our sins and the salvation of our
souls. And when we yield and trust, and are accepted of the Lord,
and are saved by grace, it is He who assures us of the Father's
favour, and notifies us that we are saved. "The Spirit Himself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God."
He is "the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

"And His that gentle voice we hear,
Soft as the breath of even;
That checks each thought, that calms each fear,
And speaks of Heaven."

It is He who strengthens the new convert
to fight against and overcome sin, and it is
He who "begets within him a hope of fuller
righteousness through faith in Christ."

"And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won,
And every thought of holiness,
Are His alone."

Blessed be God for this work of the Holy Spirit within the heart
of every true child of His!

But, great and gracious as is this work, it is not the fiery
pentecostal baptism with the Spirit which is promised; it is not
the fullness of the Holy Ghost to which we are exhorted. It is
only the clear dawn of the day, and not the rising of the day-star.
This is only the initial work of the Spirit. It is perfect of
its kind, but it is preparatory to another and fuller work,
about which I wish to write.

Jesus said to His disciples, concerning the Holy Spirit, that
"the world" (the unsaved, unrepentant) "cannot receive" Him,
"because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him"; because they
resist Him, and will not permit Him to work in their hearts. And
then Jesus added, "but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you...."
He had begun His work in them, but there was more to follow, for
Jesus said, "and shall be in you."

When a man is building himself a house, he is in and out of it
and round about it. But we do not say he lives in it until it has
been completed. And it is in that sense that Jesus said, "He
dwelleth with you." But when the house is finished, the owner
sweeps out all the chips and saw-dust, scrubs the floor, lays
down his carpets, hangs up his pictures, arranges his furniture,
and moves in with his family. Then he is in the fullest sense
within it. He abides there. Now, it is in that sense that Jesus
meant that the Holy Spirit should be in them. This is fitly
expressed in one of our songs:--

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