And the same holy power which works like the wind and water and fire comes also like a dove, as when He descended upon Christ at His baptism and annunciation, the Spirit of gentleness and peace, of brooding mother-love and help, full of sympathy and kindness, benevolent and benefi

cent.

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus Christ and filled and sustained Him, and He in all His words and works and ways manifested the Spirit's character and work, and never man spoke or acted or loved like Christ, whose gentleness made Him greater than king or hero or conqueror.

Again, the Spirit is called the Comforter or Paraclete, the Advocate, the Standby and Helper, who should take Christ's place and be to all the Church what He was to His disciples, present always with divine power to heal and help and comfort and save, by whom the Father and the Son would come to us and dwell in us, bestowing the peace of God.

As the Comforter He is very near and dear to the ignorant and erring and weak and faint and troubled disciples. Nor does He afflict willingly, but as a friend, wise and good, who knows how to comfort those in affliction with the comfort of God.

In this connection He is called the Spirit of Truth. He is the revealer and teacher of truth.

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THE HOLY COMFORTER.

And truth is only another name for the divine character and will in their unchangeableness, which is the basis of faith. His word is truth, and whether in law or prophecy, or Psalm or Gospel, is holy. And in precept and command and promise the Spirit verifies and sanctions it with sure rewards and penalties, magnifying His truth, above all His name.

And Christ is the Truth which is the power of the Spirit unto salvation, which He most delights to teach and verify. Christ is the one divine fact and reality and verity, so great that there is nothing else to be believed or known by the sinner, since to know Him is life eternal. He said of the Spirit: "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you"; "He will guide you into all truth"; "He shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you."

Again, and this shows what truth the world needs above all else: "And He, when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of. righteousness and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged."

He does not say smooth things and deceive or leave in sin to perish; but reproves and con

victs that He may bring to repentance, and also that He may show the righteousness of Christ without the law, and give peace to those who believe in Him. His comfort is true and abiding, helpful and saving unto eternal life to believers, upon whom He bestows His regenerating power and grace. He convicts of sin that sinners may know their sin and their need of Christ, and embrace Him. And the greatest sin of all in the eyes of the Spirit is their unbelief in Christ, when His death shows the exceeding sinfulness of their sin and their condemnation of God, in that the Son of God must die that the Spirit might come to them or do aught for them, so that every gracious manifestation of His holy power and grace is through Christ.

The Spirit's comfort is all in Christ, and while He can do nothing except in His name, He can wash and justify and sanctify in His name an idolater or blasphemer or drunkard, even the chief of sinners, making him a new creature in Christ Jesus. And this same holy power which is manifest in regenerating, quickening from death in sin, will also keep alive and strengthen and sanctify until the sinner shall be made complete in Christ, and be presented in His name without reproof and blameless and with exceeding joy, in the great day, saved evermore. By the power with which He delivered Jesus from

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THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.

Satan and raised Him from the dead, will He deliver His saints and raise them up with Him. Freed from sin, the death of the body shall not separate them from Christ, but rather bring them to His presence to behold and partake of His glory.

The power of the Holy Spirit in promoting holiness is like Christ full of grace and truth. To Him are committed all the benefits and blessings of the Father's love and the Son's sacrifice, so that as the promise of the Father and the gift of the Son without measure, He is indeed the Holy Spirit of Truth and the Comforter. Nothing shall separate us from the love and power of the Holy Spirit, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Whom He has justified and sealed as Christ's He will also sanctify and glorify.

Seeing, therefore, that all things of Christ and salvation are in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and that we now live under His divine administration, shall we not prize it, as the best and greatest of all our privileges and blessings, to have the personal acquaintance and friendship and love and communion of the Holy Spirit?

CHAPTER III.

THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT.

THERE are revealed in the Bible glimpses of the administration of the divine government, in the fall of the angels who left their first estate and were reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto judgment; in the covenant of redemption; in the councils of eternity; in the creation of the world; in the fall of man; in the incarnation of Christ; in the judgment of the great day and in the final glory of heaven.

The period of creation ended and that of redemption began when God rested from His labors; and ours is the day of salvation, the age of redemption, which shall continue until the consummation of the age in the glory of the general judgment.

God's ministration in nature was to the glory of the divine power and wisdom and goodness, but the ministration of redemption excels in the supreme glory of the divine grace. So far as we know, this is the crowning glory of the ages and kingdoms of God's eternity, and the last and highest revelation of His being; yet there may