comparatively barren ministry. The change which came to them was so radical and so transforming in its effects upon their lives that, knowing nothing of two distinct stages in the Christian life, it seemed to them like the experience of conversion, whereas we judge that the difference in their ministry before and after this change, was quite like the dif ference between the ministry of Peter before the day. of Pentecost, and after that day. In other words, the event from which they dated such a change in their spiritual history we conceive to have been their enduement by the Spirit with power, rather than their conversion. This seems to us a much more rational and scriptural explanation of their experience than the view, that during all the period before this striking change they were lost souls and without part or lot in the salvation of Christ.

We give a single illustration of a transaction which we regard as belonging to this class. G. V. Wigram was held in great esteem in the body known as "The Brethren" for his rare gifts and remarkable consecration. For several years a communicant, and in the judgment of one who knew him intimately, "a quickened soul;" living

morally but without a conscious sense of the presence of Christ; there fell upon him one evening a powerful manifestation of the Spirit. He was kneeling at his bedside, absent-mindedly saying his prayers, when, he says:

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Suddenly there came on my soul a something I had never known before. It was as if some One Infinite and Almighty, knowing everything, full of the deepest, tenderest interest in myself, though utterly and entirely abhorring everything in and connected with me, made known to me that he loved myself. My eye saw no one, but I knew assuredly that the One whom I knew not and had never met, had met me for the first time and made known to me that we were together. There was a light, no sense or faculty my own human nature ever knew; there was a presence of what seemed infinite in greatness-something altogether of a class that was apart and supreme, and yet at the same time making itself known to me in a way that I as a man could thoroughly feel, taste and enjoy. The Light made all light, Himself withal; but it did not destroy, for it was love itself, and I was loved individually by Him. The exquisite tenderness and fullness of that love, the way it appropriated me myself for Him in whom it all was, while the light from which it was inseparable in Him, discovered to me the contrast I had been to all that was

light and love. I wept for a while on my knees, said nothing, then got into bed. The next morning's thought was, 'Get a Bible.' I got one and it was thenceforward * hand-book." my

This graphic experience we do not dwell upon in order to emphasize the marvellous element in it though it was so intense that its subject referred to it till his dying day with the deepest emotion. The fact on which we would lay special stress is that from that hour, this man was utterly given up to Christ. He laid his large fortune at the feet of Jesus, spending thousands yearly for the furtherance of the gospel, reserving nothing for himself but the pilgrim's portion, food and raiment. His spiritual gift was not that of evangelist, but of teacher, and in this office he greatly enriched all that sat under his instruction. ministry, says a co-laborer, "like the precious stones on Aaron's breastplate, sparkled with the varied beauties and glories of the person of the living and glorified Christ." And considering that this ministry, with its extraordinary consecration and light, dated from that single bed-side experi

* The Ministry of G. V. Wigram, Introduction.

His

ence when he knelt in tears before the Lord, it will not seem strange if we scrutinize that experience to discover if possible its true interpretation. However, let us say distinctly, and let us underscore the statement, that we have not brought forward any of these remarkable spiritual exercises as models for other Christians to copy. Only, it is needful sometimes in setting forth an obscure truth, to print our argument in illuminated text in order to win attention for it. Afterwards it will be easily read in common type. That is to say, it often requires the most vivid and powerful experiences to impress us with the reality of a certain doctrine; which, after we have once accepted, we can discover in its most ordinary manifestations. We believe that scores in our times have experienced the sealing of the Holy Spirit who can speak of no extraordinary emotion connected with the event. They have received the power from on high and the witness within, and yet they have hardly known when or where these came to them. What we would urge is that there is an anointing of the Spirit for service to which many of us are strangers, and that it is our privilege to seek it with all the heart. How large a proportion of pro

fessed Christians, if they were asked, would have to confess that they have never led a soul to Christ. And yet they are true believers and will doubtless be saved at last saved but unrewarded; fitted to "enter into life" but not to enter into the highest "joy of the Lord;" redeemed through the finished work of Christ, but having no finished work of their own, concerning which the Master can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

In view of the fearful possibility of being found in such a condition, we trust that our readers, instead of turning aside from the teaching of this chapter, and perchance condemning it as high or mystical or visionary, may be moved to pray with an open and hungry heart that if there be any deeper work and any mightier communication of the Spirit than they have known, it may be granted unto them. And we are most deeply assured, that if in all humility and self-surrender such a blessing be sought it will be found. Ecstacies and raptures the Lord may not choose to give us, nor are these needed. But his Holy Spirit's fullness and power he will give us if we reverently and patiently seek for it.