tles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down,
_prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost_ (for as yet He
was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus)." There was a great company of happy converts in Samaria, but
when Peter and John came down to inspect the work, they evidently felt
that there was something so essential that these young disciples had not
received that before they did anything else, they must see to it that they
received it. In a similar way we read in Acts xix. 1, 2, R. V., "And it
came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed
through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples:
and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?"
When he found that they had not received the Holy Spirit, the first thing
that he saw to was that they should receive the Holy Spirit. He did not go
on with the work with the outsiders until that little group of twelve
disciples had been equipped for service. So we see that when the Apostles
found believers in Christ, the first thing that they always did was to
demand whether they had received the Holy Spirit as a definite experience
and if not, they saw to it at once that the steps were taken whereby they
should receive the Holy Spirit. It is evident then that _the baptism with
the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary in every Christian for the service
that Christ demands and expects of him_. There are certainly few greater
mistakes that we are making to-day in our various Christian enterprises
than that of setting men to teach Sunday-school classes and do personal
work and even to preach the Gospel, because they have been converted and
received a certain amount of education, including it may be a college and
seminary course, but have not as yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
We think that if a man is hopefully pious and has had a college and
seminary education and comes out of it reasonably orthodox, he is now
ready that we should lay our hands upon him and ordain him to preach the
Gospel. But Jesus Christ says, "No." There is another preparation so all
essential that a man must not undertake this work until he has received
it. "Tarry ye (literally 'sit ye down') until ye be endued with power from
on high." A distinguished theological professor has said that the que