gift. "And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; _for_ the perfecting of the saints, _for_
the work of the ministry, _for_ the edifying of the body of Christ:
_Till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God_." This gift of the Spirit accompanied the baptism of the
Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

This brings us to a very-interesting question; viz., Was the promise of
the "gift of the Holy Spirit," referred to by Peter on the day of
Pentecost, a universal one to all who obey the gospel, or was it limited
to those of the apostolic church who received it that they might
manifest it in a supernatural way "to profit withal," or to the profit
of all?

There are some who claim that "the gift of the Spirit" is one that
belongs to all who obey the gospel to-day, that it is independent of the
instrumentality of the gospel, and is the peculiar heritage of those
who repent and are baptized for the remission of sins; that it performs
a work in them other than is performed by the Spirit operating through
the truth. There are others who claim that the "gift of the Spirit" was
a supernatural power and was conferred on persons to qualify them to do
a work or works peculiar to the age of miracles which obtained in the
apostolic church. The only way to settle this is by appealing to (1) the
consciousness of individuals, (2) to the Divine Word.

Before appealing to either of these tribunals, there are a few facts
that we must consider. (1) _This is the only passage in the New
Testament that connects "the gift of the Spirit" with obedience to the
gospel in the preaching of the apostles_. We have remission of sins so
connected on various occasions (see Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18,
etc., etc.), but nowhere else is this "gift of the Spirit" promised. If
it is to be as universal as "remission of sins," ought it not to have
the same prominence in apostolic preaching? This is an important factor
in settling the matter. (2) In the only instance in which it is promised
it is inexorably connected with _baptism for the remission of sins_. It
is promised to no others, and all others are ruled out by the explicit
terms of the promise.

With these facts before us, let us now _appeal to the consciousness of
the individual_. If we consider numbers, it is safe to say that
ninety-five per cent. of those who to-day claim "the gift of the Spirit"
have nev