_VISIONS AND DREAMS_

JOEL ii. 21-32.

And this old-world promise is good for me to-day. It is like some weather-stained well, whose waters have continued flowing throughout the generations, right down to my own time. Let me drink!

Holy inspiration will give me insight into the mind of my G.o.d. "_Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy._" The breath of G.o.d creates an atmosphere in which spiritual realities are clearly seen. It is like the Sabbath air in some busy city, when the fumes and smoke of commerce have been blown away. "Thou shalt behold the land that is very far off."

And so in my younger days holy inspiration will give me visions. "Your young men shall see visions." I shall be an idealist, and I shall see things as they exist in G.o.d's idea, even though at present they be maimed and imperfect. I shall see them "according to the pattern on the Mount."

And in my later days holy inspiration will give me dreams. "_Your old men shall dream dreams._" And what shall they dream about? Not like the Chinese, of a golden age in a distant past, but of a golden age to be.

Their dreams shall have a "forward-looking eye." They shall see "the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from G.o.d."

MAY The Twenty-sixth

_THE UNITING OF SUNDERED PEOPLES_

"_On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost._"

--ACTS x. 34-48.

And this is ever the issue of a true outpouring of the Spirit: sundered peoples become one. At "low tide" there are mult.i.tudes of separated pools along the sh.o.r.e: at "high tide" they flow together, and the little distinctions are lost in a splendid union.

It is so racially. "Jew and Gentile!" Peter and Cornelius lose their prejudices in the emanc.i.p.ating ministry of the Spirit. And so shall it be with English and Irish, with French and German, with Asiatic and European: they shall be "all one" in Christ.

It is so socially. "Bond and free!" The master and the servant shall discover a glorious intimacy and union. And so shall rich and poor, the learned and the illiterate, the many-talented and the obscure. The pools shall flow together.

It is so ecclesiastically. Our sectarianisms are always most frowning and obtrusive when spiritually we are at "low tide." When the tide rises, it is amazing how the ramparts are submerged. It is not round-table conferences that we need, but seasons of communion when together we shall await the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

MAY The Twenty-seventh

_RECEIVING THE HOLY GHOST_

ACTS ii. 37-47.

The sacred process by which the Holy Spirit is received is the same throughout all the years.

First there is _repentance_. And repentance is not a flow of emotion, but a certain direction of mind. I may repent with dry eyes. It is not a matter of feeling, but of willing. It is to lay hold of the aimless, drifting thought, and _steer it toward G.o.d_! It is a change of mind.

Second, there is a definite and avowed choice of my new Goal, my new Lord and King. The Christian life cannot be a subterfuge. It cannot be lived incognito. I cannot be the Christ's and wear the livery of an alien power.

There must be _confession_, a bold and clarion-like avowal that henceforth I am a soldier of the Lord.

And the spiritual experiences will be sure, as sure as the law-governed processes of the material world. There will be "_remission of sins_." The old guilt will fall away from my soul as the chains fell from Peter's limbs when the angel touched them. And there will be "_the gift of the Holy Ghost_." A new dynamic is mine! I enter into fellowship with the power of the ascended Lord.

MAY The Twenty-eighth

_THE SONS OF G.o.d_

"_For as many as are led by the Spirit of G.o.d they are the sons of G.o.d._"

--ROMANS viii. 9-17.

And how unspeakably wealthy are the implications of the great word!

If a son, then what holy freedom is mine! Mine is not "_the spirit of bondage_." The son has "the run of the house." That is the great contrast between lodgings and home. And I am to be at home with the Lord.

And if a son, then heir! "All things are yours." Samuel Rutherford used to counsel his friends to "take a turn" round their estate. And truly it is an inspiring exercise! The Spirit shall lead me over my estate, and I will survey, with the sense of ownership, "the things which G.o.d hath prepared for them that love Him."

I wonder if I have the manner of a king's son? I wonder if there is anything in my very "walk" which indicates distinguished lineage and royal blood? Or am I like a vagrant who has no possessions and no heartening expectations?

"Lord, I would serve, and be a son!"

MAY The Twenty-ninth

_MANY GIFTS--ONE SPIRIT_

1 CORINTHIANS xii. 1-13.

There is no monotony in the workmanship of my G.o.d. The mult.i.tude of His thoughts is like the sound of the sea, and every thought commands a new creation. When He thinks upon me, the result is a creative touch never again to be repeated on land or sea. And so, when the Holy Spirit is given to the people, the ministry does not work in the suppression of individualities, but rather in their refinement and enrichment.

Our gifts will be manifold, and we must not allow the difference to breed a spirit of suspicion. Because my brother's gift is not mine I must not suspect his calling. To one man is given a trumpet, to another a lamp, and to another a spade. And they are all the holy gifts of grace.

And thus the gifts are manifold in order that every man may find his completeness in his brother. One man is like an eye--he is a seer of visions! Another man is like a hand--he has the genius of practicality! He is "a handy man"! One is the architect, the other is the builder. And each requires the other, if either is to be perfected. And so, by G.o.d's gracious Spirit, the individual man is only a bit, a portion, and he is intended to fit into the other bits, and so make the complete man of the race.

MAY The Thirtieth

_FINDING THE DEEP THINGS_

"_The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of G.o.d._"

--1 CORINTHIANS ii. 7-12.