ering upon the consideration of his eternal ministry. What
the Spirit did before the incarnation of Christ, and what he may do
hereafter beyond the second advent of Christ, is a question hardly
touched upon in this volume. We have sought rather to emphasize and to
magnify the great truth that the Paraclete is now present in the
church: that we are living in the dispensation of the Spirit, with all
the unspeakable blessing for the church and for the world which this
economy provides. Hence, as we speak of the ministry of Christ {viii}
meaning a service embraced within defined limits, so we name this
volume the "Ministry of the Spirit," as referring to the work of the
Comforter extending from Pentecost to the end of this dispensation.

How deep a subject for a study! What prayer more becoming for those
entering upon it than the humble petition that the Spirit himself will
teach us concerning the Spirit! Deeply sensible of the imperfection of
this work, it is now committed to the use and blessing of that Divine
Person of the Godhead of whom it so unworthily speaks.

A. J. G.

BOSTON, Dec., 1894.

{ix}

INTRODUCTION

It is remarkable how many in these last days have been led to deal with
the sublime subject to which this treatise is devoted. Without doubt
the mind of the church is being instructed, and her heart prepared for
a recognition of the indwelling, administration, and co-operation of
the blessed Paraclete, which has never been excelled in her history,
and is fraught with the greatest promise both to her and to the world.

Each of these treatises has brought out some new phase in respect to
the person or mission of the Holy Spirit, but I cannot recall one that
is so lucid, so suggestive, so scriptural, so deeply spiritual as this,
by my beloved friend, Dr. Gordon. The chapters on the Embodying, the
Enduement, and the Administration of the Spirit seem specially fresh
and helpful. But all is good, and deserving of prayerful perusal. Let
only such truths be well wrought into the mental and spiritual
constitution {x} of God's servants, and there would be such a revival
of pure and undefiled religion in the churches, and such marvelous
results through them on the world that the age would close with a
world-wide Pentecost. And there are many symptoms abroad that this
also is in the purpose of God. Nothing else can meet the deepest needs
and yearnings of our time.

Christianity is beset with thre