had been waiting some time
until then, but it was simply because they did not know that there was
such a baptism for them. And many may wait to-day because they do not know
that there is the baptism with the Spirit for them, or they may have to
wait because they are not resting in the finished work of Christ, or
because they have not put away sin, or because they have not surrendered
fully to God, or because they will not definitely ask and believe and
take; but the reason for the waiting is not in God, it is in ourselves.
Any one who will, can lay this book down at this point, take the steps
which have been stated and immediately receive the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. I would not say a word to dissuade men from spending much time in
waiting upon God in prayer for "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength" (Isa. xl. 31). There are few of us indeed in these days
who spend as many hours as we should in waiting upon God. The writer can
bear joyful testimony to the manifest outpourings of the Spirit that have
come time and again as he has waited upon God through the hours of the
night with believing brethren, but the point I would emphasize is that the
baptism with the Holy Spirit may be had at once. The Bible proves this;
experience proves it. There are many waiting for feeling who ought to be
claiming by faith. In these days we hear of many who say they are "waiting
for their Pentecost"; some have been waiting weeks, some have been waiting
months, some have been waiting years. This is not Scriptural and it is
dishonouring to God. These brethren have an unscriptural view of what
constitutes Pentecost. They have fixed it in their minds that certain
manifestations are to occur and as these particular manifestations, which
they themselves have prescribed, do not come, they think they have not
received the Holy Spirit. There are many who have been led into the error,
already confuted in this book, that the baptism with the Holy Spirit
always manifests itself in the gift of tongues. They have not received the
gift of tongues and therefore they conclude that they have not received
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. But as already seen, one may receive the
baptism with the Holy Spirit and not receive the gift of tongues. Others
still are waiting for some ecstatic feeling. We do not need to wait at
all. We may meet the conditions, we may claim the blessing at once on the
ground of God's sure Word. There was a time in