rth. He brings the ruddy gift from heaven to
mortals, carrying it in the bruised reed of His humanity; and, in
pursuance of His merciful design, He is bound and suffers for our sakes,
but, loosed at last from the bands by which it was not possible that He
should be holden, and 'being by the right hand of God exalted, He hath
shed forth this.' His mighty work opens the way for the life-giving
power of the Spirit to dwell as an habitual principle, and not as a mere
occasional gift, among men, sanctifying their characters from the
foundation, and not merely, as of old, bestowing special powers for
special functions. He claims to send us the Comforter. We know but
little of such high themes, but we can clearly see that, while there may
be many other reasons for the full bestowment of the Spirit of God
having to be preceded by the gift of Christ, one reason must be that the
measure of individual and subjective inspiration varies according to the
amount of objective revelation. The truth revealed is the condition and
the instrument of the Spirit's working. The sharper that sword of the
Spirit is, the mightier will be His power. Hence, only when the
revelation of God is complete by the message of His Son, His life,
death, resurrection, and ascension, was the full, permanent gift of the
Spirit possible, not to make new revelations, but to unfold all that lay
in the Word spoken once for all, in whom the whole Name of God is
contained.

[2] Meyer.

However that may be, the main thing for us, dear friends, is this--that
Christ gives the Spirit. In and by Jesus, you and I are brought into
real contact with this cleansing fire. Without His work, it would never
have burned on earth; without our faith in His work it will never purify
our souls. The Spirit of God is not a synonym for the moral influence
which the principles of Christianity exert on men who believe them; but
these principles, the truths revealed in Jesus Christ, are the means by
which the Spirit works its noblest work. Our acceptance of these truths,
then, our faith in Him whom these truths reveal, is absolutely essential
to our possession of that cleansing power. The promise is of 'that
Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.' If we have no
faith in Jesus, then, however we may fancy that the gift of God can be
ours by other means, the stern answer comes to our fond delusions and
mistaken efforts, 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter.' Oh!
you