tells you that you are
suffering pain, but it does not tell you what produced that pain. This
must be decided by _reason_ or _faith_. If you find a thorn in the grass
where your limb was resting, _reason_ says the thorn _stuck you_; if you
find a bumblebee mashed in the grass, _reason_ will say the insect
_stung you_; or, if some one near you says a boy with a pin in his hand
ran away from you, _faith_ will say the boy _stuck you_. But in either
case it was reason or faith that decided the cause of your pain. Now,
when a man says, "I am conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit
within me," he simply means, "I am conscious of a _feeling_ within me
which I _have been taught_ was caused by the Holy Spirit." If the man
has been taught wrong, he assigns a _wrong cause_ for the feeling. What
is the feeling usually assigned for the presence of the Holy Spirit's
personal indwelling? It is a feeling of joy, peace and love. But can not
such feeling be excited by other causes? We know there are dozens of
causes that will produce such feelings. In the absence of clear
testimony, what right has any one to attribute such feeling to the
personal presence of the Holy Spirit? A man is found murdered. The
testimony shows that any one of a dozen men could have killed him. Is
there an intelligent jury in the land that would convict any one of the
men of being the murderer? What would you think of a jury that would
render such a verdict?

"Well," says one, "what of the great numbers who pray for a 'Pentecostal
revival'? Are they all wrong?" Not wrong in what they _want_, but wrong
in _what they call it_. All that those people desire, is to be filled
with a _genuine revival of religious enthusiasm_. Their mistake is in
calling it a "Pentecostal shower." A Pentecostal shower would lead every
preacher under its influence to say, with the apostle Peter, to
inquiring sinners: "_Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins_." This is what they are
careful _not to say_. It is a clear evidence that the Spirit which
guided Peter is not guiding them. I assert it to be a fact that
everything that is claimed to be effected by a personal indwelling of
the Spirit is as clearly accomplished by the Spirit acting through the
word of God.

I do not wish to rest content with asserting that statement, but I wish
to prove it. What are the things that might be accomplished by a direct
personal indwelling of