Father has put in his own power. To work and to wait are ours, to promise and to perform are God's; and as surely as we do the first, so surely will he, at the best possible time, do the last.

There is a promise of the Father for which the whole earth groaneth and travaileth together in pain, until now. This glorious "manifestation of

the sons of God" will be the end of all toils and pains to the struggling and divided church of God. It is not to be wondered at that the weary heart will sometimes cry out in impatience, "How long, O Lord, how long?" It is then that this calm and commanding word "wait" comes clear and comforting to our souls. "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." The sublime outgoings of the eternal kingdom are governed by their own immutable laws, and these laws are be

yond our finite and feeble ken. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering."

But how must we wait? In idleness? In slumber? No; we must wait as the husbandman waits for the early and latter rains, who labours while he waits; wait as the watchman waits for the dawn, who watches as he waits; wait as the

wise virgins waited, who trimmed their lamps as they waited, and kept oil in their vessels with their lamps. We know how the disciples waited, and thus also are we to wait. They waited in prayer, not merely secret but social and united prayer, and so must we. They waited in labour, striving to do all that they could to be ready for the blessing, and so must we. They waited in love and united action, being all with one accord in one place, and so must we. They waited in holy seclusion from the world, wrestling with God for the promise, and so must we. They waited in faith, assuredly looking for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and so must we. Pentecostal prayer must always precede a pentecostal blessing.

These general principles are applicable to every promise of the Father, and every object of hope for which we are to wait in hope. Do we long for the conversion of our children? We must wait, but work and watch and pray while we wait. Is it for some personal blessing, some attainment in the divine life? We must wait, but wrestle while we wait, strive to subdue the besetting sin, and to draw down from God the promised blessing. Is it in some department of labour that we wait? The pastor, the elder, the teacher, the parent have often to wait long before they see the result of their labours. But they should wait as Israel waited for the fall of the walls of Jericho,

in simple obedience to the commands of God. Is it for a larger outpouring of the Spirit? We must wait as Elijah waited on Carmel, praying while we wait, and looking while we pray, and fainting not though the cloud be but as a man's hand, and afar off on the distant sea. Is it for the first great blessing in religion, a new heart, and a hope in Christ? Many wait for this in a very sinful way. They wait, hoping that God will do what they must do, and give them the conscious possession of a new heart before they submit themselves to Christ and cast themselves on his mercy. But they must wait in believing, wait in repenting, wait in praying, and wait in obeying, and they will not wait in vain. Man cannot make the seed sprout, but he may sow it, and he must sow it before he can expect it to grow. God must give the increase, but man must plant and water, or there will be no increase. Hence in every duty, difficulty, danger, perplexity, and sorrow, the rule is the same; we must wait, but wait in faith, hope, obedience, and labour, and we shall not wait in vain.

II. The promise of the Father.

That promise is fully explained. "For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." v. 5. "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." v. 8. The promise of

the Father is therefore the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was promised to Christ as a reward for his mediatorial sufferings, and that which the Father gave to the Son, the Son gave to the church and world, when he ascended on high, leading captivity captive, and obtaining gifts for men. In the form of the promise here given, there are several points of deep interest involved.

We learn something of the meaning of the ordinance of baptism. The contrast that Christ draws between baptism with water, and baptism. with the Holy Ghost, shows that he regards the one as symbolical of the other, and the water baptism to be the sign and seal of the work of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is here presented to us under three great emblems in scripture, air, fire, and water: air, implying life; fire, purity; and water, combining both in a certain sense, being equally necessary for life and purity of body.

As water both slakes the burning thirst of man and revives the parching fields, and also purifies whilst it cools and refreshes, so is the agency of the Spirit on the soul. Hence this outward application of water is designed to symbolize the inward application of the life-giving and purifying influences of the Holy Ghost. As the Lord's supper then symbolizes the work of the Son, baptism represents the work of the Holy Spirit, thus giving a complete exhibition of the great work

of redemption and regeneration, by which we are made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

We also learn something as to the proper mode of baptism. Without entering at large on this vexed question, we cannot avoid noticing the decisive facts of this passage. The influences of the Holy Spirit are very often represented as being "poured" on the recipient. The anointings of the Old Testament, which represented the influences of the Spirit, were made always by pouring oil on the head. (See Ps. cxxxiii. 2; Luke iv. 18, &c.) These influences are so represented always in the Old Testament, as in Isa. xxxii. 15, "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high." In the New Testament the same representation is uniformly given. The Spirit is said to "come" on the recipient, Acts i. 8; ii. 2; to be " poured," Acts ii. 1618; x. 45; to be "shed," Acts ii. 33; to "fall on,” Acts x. 44; xi. 15; and similar expressions, of the same import. Hence whatever might have been the usage of the world before this time, it is plain that they must have inferred that if baptism by the Holy Ghost was to take place by the pouring of the Holy Ghost upon the subject, baptism by water (which was to be exactly like it by the express words of Jesus) must be done by the pouring of water on the subject. When the resemblance between the two baptisms was presented so strongly,