lind, healing for the paralyzed,
cleansing for the polluted, life for the dead, the gospel for the poor
and sad and comfortless. Now we covet the gracious bestowal of the
Spirit, that he may take more deeply of the things of Christ, and
reveal them unto us. When the disciples sought to know the Father, the
Lord said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. It is his glory
that shines on my face, his will that molds my life, his purpose that
is fulfilled in my ministry. So the blessed Paraclete would turn our
thought and attention from himself to him, with whom he is One in the
Holy Trinity, and whom he has come to reveal.

{xiii}

Throughout the so-called Christian centuries the voice of the Holy
Spirit has borne witness to the Lord, directly and mediately.
Directly, in each widespread quickening of the human conscience, in
each revival of religion, in each era of advance in the knowledge of
divine truth, in each soul that has been regenerated, comforted, or
taught. Mediately his work has been carried on through the church, the
body of those that believe. But, alas! how sadly his witness has been
weakened and hindered by the medium through which it has come. He has
not been able to do many mighty works because of the unbelief which has
kept closed and barred those avenues through which he would have poured
his glad testimony to the unseen and glorified Lord.

The divisions of the church, her strife about matters of comparative
unimportance, her magnification of points of difference, her
materialism, her love of pelf and place and power, her accounting
herself rich and increased in goods and needing nothing, when she was
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked--these things have not only
robbed her of her testimony, but have grieved and {xiv} quenched the
Holy Spirit, and nullified his testimony.

We gladly hail the signs that this period of apathy and resistance is
coming to a close. The Church which is in the churches is making
herself felt, is arising from the dust and arraying herself in her
beautiful garments. There is a widespread recognition of the unity of
all who believe, together with an increasing desire to magnify the
points of agreement and minimize those of divergence. The great
conventions for the quickening of spiritual life on both sides of the
Atlantic in which believers meet, irrespective of name or sect, are
doing an incalculable amount of good in breaking down the old lines of
dem