taught for doctrine, endeavoring to put out the light of God's truth in the souls of men. There is nothing that strong men, sincere men appear to the world, so narrow and bigoted as over tenets of theological belief.

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CHAPTER XIII

THE HOLY SPIRIT

O be holy is to be apart from sin. The word spirit means life, breath. In the original languages of the Scriptures the words from which these words are translated have the same meaning. The word holy probably comes from the same root as whole. At least there is a similarity of meaning in the two words. God is holy; he is the perfection, the whole of life. The holy spirit is perfect life, divine life apart from all sin.

God is the great fountain of all life. God as our heavenly Father begets his life in us. This is the true life of every man coming into the world. This is the life that makes us sons of God, and from which all that is noble comes. As this spirit is holy in us we are true men, and as it is unholy, we are short of being in the fullness of men. As the holy spirit is quick in men, they regard sacred things, they love the truth and live in righteousness before God. Paul exhorting the immoral Corinthians wrote, 1What know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy spirit, which is in you, which ye have of God? Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? Conscience is the voice of the holy spirit within, which when unfeignedly obeyed men walk in paths of truth.

Moses and the prophets spoke of this life as Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty; and commanded men in the name of Jehovah to be holy even as God is holy. God's almighty power is by the holiness of his life; and as the divinity in men

'I Cor. 3:16; 5:19.

is holy, they enter into almighty power with him. Because of the holiness of the spirit in Adam every herb and tree were meat for his body. Canaan was a land of milk and honey because of the faith of Abraham. It was the holiness of spirit in the Israelitic slaves, and the superior holiness of life in Moses, that delivered them from their bondage in Egypt. By the holiness of spirit in the people Joshua led the people into the Promised Land. It was by faith that the walls of Jericho fell down, and that Rahab the harlot perished not with the unbelieving people. All the supernatural works as recorded in the Scriptures were by the holiness of the spirits in men or embodied angels.

The Old Testament worthies were men mighty with God, but they did not attain to perfect holiness of spirit, and though in faith died, not having received the promise of everlasting life. In the New Testament there is a better revelation. Jesus did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Entering into the holy of holies he offered the sacrifice of a perfect man, receiving the promise of everlasting life, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for men, from the foundation of the world, the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

Men who swear profanely by the person of God, by the names of spirits, by sacred embodiments of the living truth, even Jesus the Christ, seldom if ever take the name of the great attribute of God the Father, the sacred life, the hope of men "the holy spirit" upon their unhallowed lips.

There was a fullness of life in the people of Palestine at the time when Jesus came, and upon which John the Baptist based his announcement, "The kingdom of God draws near." He called the people to repentance, baptizing them

with water as a record of their determination to do so, declaring that there was one coming after him, to whom he would give way, whose shoes he was not worthy to bear, whose fan would be in his hands to thoroughly purge the floor, gathering the wheat into the garner, and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire, for he would baptize them with the holiness of the spirit, in the cleansing power of fire. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven will be when men shall live by the holy spirit in them, instead of living by the life in their flesh. In a conversation with Nicodemus Jesus said; Except a man is born again, born from above, born of the spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God; that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. There are natural bodies, born of the flesh, as we have now; and there shall be spiritual bodies, born of the spirit, a thousand more real than we are now.

We impart an influence of life to others; even certain minerals by their presence have an influence over others that chemists cannot explain. In men possessing the higher powers of divine life the effects of this influence have been marked. Noah imparted character of life to each of his three sons, so that their posterity are the three great divisions of the human race till this day. Judah whose unselfish life was revealed in the devotion to his father when in the presence of Joseph (as a mighty monarch who was planning to rob the old man of his last earthly comfort) so impressed himself upon his posterity that they still live as one great family, dwelling among all the nations of the earth. Jesus at will imparted the power of the holiness of his life to his disciples. When he sent them out to preach, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he gave them power to open the eyes of the blind, to heal the sick, to cure all manner of diseases and to cast out

devils; which power remained with them, till they began boasting of their spiritual gifts.

All these manifestations by the holiness of the spirit in men, Jesus declared were but the beginnings of the rivers of life, which should flow from men after the glorification of his body. As soon as Jesus met his disciples after he had risen in his glorified body he breathed upon them saying, Receive ye the holy spirit, and it gave them such power that they could impart it to others at will. The saints in the graves about Jerusalem, when Jesus arose, awoke from their sleep of death, went into the holy city and appeared to many. The great Pentecostal revival was an outpouring of the holy spirit upon the people because Jesus had glorified his body.

Just before his ascension Jesus said to his disciples, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Jesus often spoke of himself as the power of life which his person manifested, i. e., all power is given unto me because of the holiness of the life in me, which has glorified my body. The Greek word from which all power is translated has the meaning of absolutely unlimited power. His words are the declaration of the infinite power in the holiness of spirit in men, with the living embodiment of it before them. All unrighteousness in the conduct of men will pass away before the rising holiness of spirit in the people. The drunken will become sober, the immoral moral, the dishonest honest, the untrue true, the selfish unselfish, the unkind employer generous, the shirking employee faithful to his task, and there is lasting hope in nothing else. Any movement among men that quickens their spirits in holiness will bear lasting fruits, but any movement that disregards the high integrity of men, and lowers the sacred regard for holy things, no matter what it promises, will in the end reap corruption.