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25 chapters
Foreword.
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
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Preface.
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
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Who Is He?
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
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Preparing His House
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
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Is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit a Third Blessing?
Is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit a Third Blessing?
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” There is much difference of opinion among many of God’s children as to the time and order of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and many who believe that entire cleansing is subsequent to salvation, ask if the baptism with the Spirit is not subsequent to cleansing, and, therefore, a third blessing. There are four classes of teachers whose views appear to differ about this subject. There are:- 1. Those who emphasise cleansing; wh
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The Witness of the Spirit
The Witness of the Spirit
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” How shall I know that I am accepted of God?—that I am saved or sanctified? The Bible declares God’s love and pity for sinners, including me, and reveals His offer of mercy to me in Jesus Christ, on condition that I fully repent of my sins, and yielding myself to Him, believe on Jesus Christ, and taking up my cross, follow Him. But how shall I know that I have met these conditions in a way to satisfy Him, and that I am myself s
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Purity
Purity
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” A minister of the Gospel, after listening to an eminent servant of God preaching on entire sanctification through the baptism with the Spirit, wrote to him, saying: “I like your teaching on the baptism with the Holy Ghost. I need it, and am seeking it; but I do not care much for entire sanctification or heart-cleansing. Pray for me that I may be filled with the Holy Ghost.” The brother knew him well, and immediately replied: “I
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Power
Power
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Just before His ascension, Jesus met His disciples for the last time, and repeated His command that they should “not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,” and reiterated His promise that they should be “baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Then “they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” They were still eager for an earthly kingdom. But “
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Trying the Spirits
Trying the Spirits
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Those who have not the Holy Spirit, or who do not heed Him, fall easily and naturally into formalism, substituting lifeless ceremonies, sacraments, genuflections, and ritualistic performances for the free, glad, living worship inspired by the indwelling Spirit. They sing, but not from the heart. They say their prayers, but they do not really pray. “I prayed last night, mother,” said a child. “Why, my child, you pray every night
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Guidance
Guidance
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide the people of God through the uncertainties and dangers and duties of this life to their home in Heaven. When He led the children of Israel out of Egypt, by the hand of Moses, He guided them through the waste, mountainous wilderness, in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, thus assuring their comfort and safety. And this was but a type of His perpetual spiritual guidance of H
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The Meek and the Lowly Heart
The Meek and the Lowly Heart
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” I know a man whose daily prayer for years was that he might be meek and lowly in heart as was his Master. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me,” said Jesus; “for I am meek and lowly in heart.” How lowly Jesus was! He was the Lord of life and glory. He made the worlds, and upholds them by His word of power (John i., Hebrews i.). But He humbled Himself, and became man, and was born of the Virgin in a manger among the cattle. H
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Hope
Hope
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Are you ever cast down and depressed in spirit? Listen to Paul: “Now, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans xv. 13). What cheer is in those words! They ring like the shout of a triumph. 1. God Himself is “the God of hope.” There is no gloom, no depression, no wasting sickness of deferred hope in Him. He is a brimming fountain and oc
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The Holy Spirit’s Substitute for Gossip and Evil-Speaking
The Holy Spirit’s Substitute for Gossip and Evil-Speaking
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” The other day I heard a man of God say: “We cannot bridle the tongues of the people among whom we live: they will talk”; and by talk he meant gossip and criticism and fault-finding. “You never can tell when you send a word— Like an arrow shot from a bow By an archer blind—be it cruel or kind, Just where it will chance to go. It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend, Tipped with its poison or balm: T
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The Sin Against the Holy Ghost
The Sin Against the Holy Ghost
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” God is love, and the Holy Spirit is ceaselessly striving to make this love known in our hearts, work out God’s purposes of love in our lives, and transform and transfigure our character by love. And so we are solemnly warned against resisting the Spirit, and almost tearfully and always tenderly exhorted to “quench not the Spirit,” and to “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby,” says the Apostle, “ye are sealed unto the day
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Offences Against the Holy Ghost
Offences Against the Holy Ghost
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” One day, in a fit of boyish temper, I spoke hot words of anger, somewhat unjustly, against another person, and this deeply grieved my mother. She said but little, and though her sweet face has mouldered many years beneath the Southern daisies, her look of grief I can still see across the years of a third of a century. And that is the one sad memory of my childhood. A stranger might have been amused or incensed at my words, but
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The Holy Spirit and Sound Doctrine
The Holy Spirit and Sound Doctrine
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Is Jesus Christ divine? Is the Bible an inspired Book? Is man a fallen creature who can be saved only through the suffering and sacrifice of the Creator? Will there be a resurrection of the dead, and a day in which God will judge all the world by the Man Christ Jesus? Is Satan a personal being, and is there a Hell in which the wicked will be for ever punished? These are great doctrines which have been held and taught by His fol
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Praying in the Spirit
Praying in the Spirit
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” An important work of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how to pray, instruct us what to pray for, and inspire us to pray earnestly, without ceasing, and in faith, for the things we desire and the things that are dear to the heart of the Lord. In a familiar verse, the poet Montgomery says: “Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of the eye, When none but God is near.” And no doubt he
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Characteristics of the Anointed Preacher
Characteristics of the Anointed Preacher
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Since God saves men by “the foolishness of preaching,” the preacher has an infinitely important work, and he must be fitted for it. But what can fit a man for such sacred work? Not education alone, not knowledge of books, not gifts of speech, not winsome manners, nor a magnetic voice, nor a commanding presence, but only God. The preacher must be more than a man—he must be a man plus the Holy Ghost. Paul was such a man. He was
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Preaching
Preaching
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” asks Paul. And then he declares: “After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” What kind of preaching is this? He does not say, “foolish preaching,” but the foolishness of such a way as that of preaching.
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The Holy Spirit’s Call to the Work
The Holy Spirit’s Call to the Work
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” “THE Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me” (Isaiah lxi. 1), is the testimony of the workman God sends. God chooses His own workmen, and it is the office of the Holy Spirit to call whom He will to preach the Gospel. I doubt not He calls men to other employments for His glory, and would still more often do so, if men would but listen and wait up
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The Sheathed Sword: A Law of the Spirit
The Sheathed Sword: A Law of the Spirit
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Just as the moss and the oak are higher in the order of creation than the clod of clay and the rock, the bird and beast than the moss and the oak, the man than the bird and the beast, so the spiritual man is a higher being than the natural man. The sons of God are a new order of being. The Christian is a “new creation.” Just as there are laws governing the life of the plant, and other and higher laws that of the bird and beast,
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Victory Through the Holy Spirit Over Suffering
Victory Through the Holy Spirit Over Suffering
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Had there been no sin our Heavenly Father would have found other means by which to develop in us passive virtues, and train us in the graces of meekness, patience, long-suffering, and forbearance, which so beautify and display the Christian character. But since sin is here, with its contradictions and falsehoods, its darkness, its wars, brutalities and injustices, producing awful harvests of pain and sorrow, God, in wonderful w
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The Overflowing Blessing
The Overflowing Blessing
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” The children of Israel were instructed by Moses to give tithes of all they had to the Lord, and in return God promised to richly bless them, making their fields and vineyards fruitful and causing their flocks and herds to safely multiply. But they became covetous and unbelieving, and began to rob God by withholding their tithes, and then God began to withhold His blessing from them. But still God loved and pitied them, and sent
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Importance of the Doctrine and Experience of Holiness to Spiritual Leaders
Importance of the Doctrine and Experience of Holiness to Spiritual Leaders
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” A mighty man inspires and trains other men to be mighty. We wonder and exclaim often at the slaughter of Goliath by David, and we forget that David was the forerunner of a race of fearless, invincible warriors and giant-killers. If we would in this light but study and remember the story of David’s mighty men, it would be most instructive to us. Moses inspired a tribe of cowering, toiling, sweat-begrimed, spiritless slaves to li
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Victory Over Evil Temper by the Power of the Holy Spirit
Victory Over Evil Temper by the Power of the Holy Spirit
“Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Two letters recently reached me, one from Oregon, and one from Massachusetts, inquiring if I thought it possible to have temper destroyed. The comrade from Oregon wrote: “I have been wondering if the statement is correct when one says, ’My temper is all taken away.’ Do you think the temper is destroyed or sanctified? It seems to me that if one’s temper were actually gone he would not be good for anything.” The comrade from Mass
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