he men and women
in Cornelius' house were filled (Acts x. 44-47). "And ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost, for to you is the promise, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 39). What have you
done with your birthright? Have you claimed it? _Are you living at this
moment in the possession and enjoyment of it?_ Or, are you, Esau-like,
"despising your birthright"? (Gen. xxv. 34). Or, if not despising, are you
neglecting it? Esau's eyes were ultimately opened to his folly in parting
with his birthright for "one mess of meat," and he then desired to inherit
the blessing, seeking it "diligently with tears;" but alas! his awaking
came too late (Heb. xii. 16, 17). May every reader of these lines have the
desire graciously awakened (if it has not yet been awakened and satisfied),
to inherit their birthright blessing, while place of repentance is to be
found. May the prediction be fulfilled in our glad experience: "The house
of Jacob shall _possess their possessions_" (Obad. 17).

CHAPTER III.

_A COMMAND TO BE OBEYED._

But lest some one should think, "It is optional with me whether I claim
my birthright or not; no doubt it would be a very fitting thing for some
people to be filled with the Spirit, but _I_ need not trouble about
it"--in case any one should be tempted to speak and act like this, let us
learn that "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. v. 18) is a command to be
obeyed, a duty to be done. Many of God's people are acknowledging that
they did not know that "Be filled with the Spirit" was a command; _but it
is_, and there is no excuse for not knowing. You will notice that in Eph.
v. 18 there is a double command, a negative, "Be not drunk," and a
positive, "Be ye filled." The positive command is as authoritative as the
negative, and was binding on _just as many_ of those Ephesian Christians
as was the negative command. Now what was true for those believers there
in Ephesus in the long-ago is equally true for all believers on God's
footstool to-day. Is it a sin for a believer to-day to disobey the
command, "Be not drunk"? and is it then a virtue to disobey the equally
authoritative command, "Be ye filled"? If it is a sin for a Christian to
be drunk, it is just as surely, truly, really, _a sin_ not to be filled.
We are commanded and expected to live a Spirit-filled life, to be filled,
not with wine, the fruit of the vines of earth, but with the new wine of
the kingdom, the fruit o