en, the one hundred and
twenty in the upper room, the rank and file as well as the apostles. "Ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to _all_ that are afar off" (Acts ii. 38, 39).
From Acts viii. 17 we gather that _all_ the converts in Samaria, without
any favor or distinction, "received the Holy Ghost." From Acts x. 47 we
gather that _all_ in the house of Cornelius "received the Holy Ghost"
while Peter was speaking. From Acts xix. 6 we gather that "the Holy Ghost
came on" _all_ the disciples to whom Paul was speaking. They _all_
received because they _all_ needed. Do not we _all_ need? why then should
we not _all_ receive? And if we do not receive we will suffer loss, the
Church will suffer loss, the world will suffer loss, and, above and
beyond all, Christ will suffer loss.

CHAPTER VI.

_PREVENTIVE AGAINST BACKSLIDING._

It is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early
Christians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be
"filled with the Holy Ghost." They knew no reason why weary wastes of
disappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the
Cross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God's will that forty years of
wilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land
(Deut. i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that
they were really turned to God, their _first_ concern was to get them
filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 15). When Ananias came to the
newly-converted Saul of Tarsus, his _first_ word was, "Jesus ... hath
sent me, that thou mayest ... be filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ix.
17). When Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, his first business
with them was to find out if they had "received the Holy Ghost" (Acts
xix. 2). These early teachers did not wait for a few months or years till
the young converts had become thoroughly disheartened because of the
disappointments of the way, thoroughly demoralized by encountering defeats
where they had been led to expect that they would come off "more than
conquerors;" neither did they wait until the novices had become more
established or more fully instructed in the things of God; but
straightway, at once, they introduced them to Fullness of blessing, taught
them the open secret of the overcoming, ever-victorious life, and they
did not leave them until the secret was their very own. Has modern
practice b