r, be
manifest at once in conversions. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit,
but as he witnessed in the power of the Holy Spirit for his risen Lord, he
saw no conversions at the time. All he saw was the gnashing of the teeth,
the angry looks and the merciless rocks, and so it may be with us. But
there was a conversion, even in that case, though it was a long time
before it was seen, and that conversion, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus,
was worth more than hundreds of ordinary conversions.

5. Another result of the baptism with the Holy Spirit will be _boldness in
testimony and service_. We read in Acts iv. 31, "And when they had prayed,
the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and they _spake the word of God with
boldness_." The baptism with the Holy Spirit imparts to those who receive
it new liberty and fearlessness in testimony for Christ. It converts
cowards into heroes. Peter upon the night of our Lord's crucifixion proved
himself a craven coward. He denied with oaths and curses that he knew the
Lord. But after Pentecost, this same Peter was brought before the very
council that had condemned Jesus to death, and he himself was threatened,
but filled with the Holy Ghost, he said, "Ye rulers of the people, and
elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the
impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, _whom ye crucified_, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him
doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 8-12). A little later
when the council commanded him and his companion, John, not to speak or
teach in the name of Jesus, they answered, "Whether it be right in the
sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts iv. 19,
20). On a still later occasion, when they were threatened and commanded
not to speak and when their lives were in jeopardy, Peter told the council
to their faces, "We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, _whom ye slew and hanged on a tree_. Him hath God
e