Under Peter's sermon "they were p.r.i.c.ked in their hearts." The truth pierced them as a sword until they said, "What shall we do?" They had been doubting and mocking a short time before, but now they were earnestly inquiring the way to be saved.

The speech may be without polish, the manner uncouth, and the matter simple and plain; but conviction will surely follow any preaching in the burning love and power and contagious joy of the Holy Spirit.

A few years ago a poor black boy in Africa, who had been stolen for a slave, and most cruelly treated, heard a missionary talking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and his heart hungered and thirsted for Him. In a strange manner he worked his way to New York to find out more about the Holy Spirit, getting the captain of the ship and several of the crew converted on the way. The brother in New York to whom he came took him to a meeting the first night he was in the city, and left him there, while he went to fulfil another engagement. When he returned at a late hour, he found a crowd of men at the penitent-form, led there by the simple words of this poor black fellow. He took him to his Sunday-school, and put him up to speak, while he attended to some other matters. When he turned from these affairs that had occupied his attention for only a little while, he found the penitent-form full of teachers and scholars, weeping before the Lord. What the black boy had said he did not know; but he was bowed with wonder and filled with joy, for it was the power of the Holy Spirit.

Men used to fall as though cut down in battle under the preaching of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, and others. And while there may not be the same physical manifestation at all times, there will surely be the same opening of eyes to spiritual things, breaking of hearts, and piercing of consciences. The Spirit under the preaching of a man filled with the Holy Ghost will often come upon a congregation like a wind, and heads will droop, eyes will brim with tears, and hearts will break under His convicting power. I remember a proud young woman who had been mercilessly criticising us for several nights smitten in this way. She was smiling when suddenly the Holy Spirit winged a word to her heart, and instantly her countenance changed, her head drooped, and for an hour or more she sobbed and struggled while her proud heart broke, and she found her way with true repentance and faith to the feet of Jesus, and her Heavenly Father's favour. How often have we seen such sights as this under the preaching of The General! And it ought to be a common sight under the preaching of all servants of G.o.d, for what are we sent for but to convict men of their sin and their need, and by the power of the Spirit to lead them to the Saviour?

And not only will there be conviction under such preaching, but generally, if not always, there will be conversion and sanctification.

Three thousand people accepted Christ under Peter's Pentecostal sermon, and later five thousand were converted, and a mult.i.tude of the priests were obedient to the faith. And it was so under the preaching of Philip in Samaria, of Peter in Lydda and Saron and in Caesarea, and of Paul in Ephesus and other cities.

To be sure, the preaching of Stephen in its immediate effect only resulted in enraging his hearers until they stoned him to death; but it is highly probable that the ultimate result was the conversion of Paul, who kept the clothes of those who stoned him, and through Paul the evangelisation of the Gentiles.

One of the greatest of American evangelists sought with agonising prayers and tears the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and received it; and then he said he preached the same sermons; but where before it had been as one beating the air, now hundreds were saved.

It is this that has made Salvation Army Officers successful.

Young, inexperienced, without special gifts, and without learning, but with the baptism, they have been mighty to win souls. The hardest hearts have been broken, the darkest minds illuminated, the most stubborn wills subdued, and the wildest natures tamed by them. Their words have been with power, and have convicted and converted and sanctified men, and whole communities have been transformed by their labours.

But without this Presence great gifts and profound and accurate learning are without avail in the salvation of men. We often see men with great natural powers, splendidly trained, and equipped with everything save this fiery baptism, and they labour and preach year after year without seeing a soul saved. They have spent years in study; but they have not spent a day, much less ten days, fasting and praying and waiting upon G.o.d for His anointing that should fill them with heavenly wisdom and power for their work. They are like a great gun loaded and primed, but without a spark of fire to turn the powder and ball into a resistless lightning bolt.

It is fire men need, and that they get from G.o.d in agonising, wrestling, listening prayer that will not be denied; and when they get it, and not till then, will they preach with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven, and surely men shall be saved. Such preaching is not foolish. The Holy Spirit makes the word alive.

He brings it to the remembrance of the preachers in whom He abides, and He applies it to the heart of the hearers, lightening up the soul as with a sun until sin is seen in all its hideousness, or cutting as a sharp sword, piercing the heart with resistless conviction of the guilt and shame of sin.

Peter had no time to consult the Scriptures and prepare a sermon on the morning of Pentecost; but the Holy Spirit quickened his memory, and brought to his mind the Scriptures appropriate to the occasion.

Hundreds of years before, the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of the prophet Joel, had foretold that in the last days the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh, and that their sons and daughters should prophesy. And the same Spirit that spoke through Joel now made Peter to see and declare that this Pentecostal baptism was that of which Joel spoke.

By the mouth of David He had said: "Thou wilt not leave My soul in h.e.l.l, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption"; and now Peter, by the inspiration of the same Spirit, applies this Scripture to the resurrection of Jesus, and so proves to the Jews that the One they had condemned and killed was the Holy One foretold in prophecy and psalm.

And so to-day the Holy Spirit inspires men who receive Him to use the Scriptures to awaken, convict, and save men.

When Finney was a young preacher, he was invited to a country school-house to preach. On the way there he became much distressed in soul, and his mind seemed blank and dark, when all at once this text, spoken to Lot in Sodom by the angels, came to his mind: "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city." He explained the text, told the people about Lot, and the wickedness of Sodom, and applied it to them. While he spoke they began to look exceedingly angry, and then, as he earnestly exhorted them to give up their sins and seek the Lord, they began to fall from their seats as though stricken down in battle, and to cry to G.o.d for mercy. A great revival followed; many were converted, and a number of the converts became ministers of the Gospel.

To Finney's amazement, he learned afterwards that the place was called Sodom, because of its extreme wickedness, and the old man who had invited him to preach was called Lot, because he was the only G.o.d-fearing man in the place. Evidently the Holy Spirit worked through Finney to accomplish these results. And such inspiration is not uncommon with those who are filled with the Spirit.

But this reinforcement of the mind and memory by the Holy Spirit does not do away with the need of study. The Spirit quickens that which is already in the mind and memory, as the warm sun and rains of spring quicken the sleeping seeds that are in the ground, and only those.

The sun does not put the seed in the soil, nor does the Holy Spirit without our attention and study put the word of G.o.d in our minds. For that we should prayerfully and patiently study.

"We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word," said the Apostles.

"Study to show thyself approved of G.o.d, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed; rightly dividing the word of truth," wrote Paul to Timothy.

Those men have been best able to rightly divide the word, and have been most mightily used by the Holy Spirit, who have most carefully and prayerfully studied the word of G.o.d, and most constantly and lovingly meditated upon it.

4. This preaching is _healing and comforting._ Preaching "with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven" is indescribably searching in its effects. But it is also edifying, strengthening, comforting to those who are wholly the Lord's. It cuts, but only to cure. It searches, but only to save. It is constructive, as well as destructive. It tears down sin and pride and unbelief, but it builds up faith and righteousness and holiness and all the graces of a Christian character. It warms the heart with love, strengthens faith, and confirms the will in all holy purposes.

Every preacher baptised with the Holy Ghost can say with Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord G.o.d is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our G.o.d; to comfort all that mourn."

Seldom is there a congregation in which there are only those who need to be convicted. There will also be meek and gentle ones to whom should be brought a message of joy and good tidings; broken-hearted ones to be bound up; wounded ones to heal; tempted ones to be delivered; and those whom Satan has bound by some fear or habit to be set free; and the Holy Spirit who knows all hearts will inspire the word that shall bless these needy ones.

The preacher filled with the Holy Spirit, who is instant in prayer, constant in the study of G.o.d's word, and steadfast and active in faith, will surely be so helped that he can say with Isaiah: "The Lord G.o.d hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary" (Isaiah i. 4). And as with little Samuel, the Lord will "let none of his words fall to the ground" (1 Samuel iii. 19).

He will expect results, and G.o.d will make them follow his preaching as surely as corn follows the planting and cultivating of the farmer.

"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"

XVIII.

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S CALL TO THE WORK.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

"THE Spirit of the Lord G.o.d is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me" (Isaiah lxi. 1), is the testimony of the workman G.o.d sends.

G.o.d chooses His own workmen, and it is the office of the Holy Spirit to call whom He will to preach the Gospel. I doubt not He calls men to other employments for His glory, and would still more often do so, if men would but listen and wait upon Him to know His will.

He called Bezaleel and Aholiab to build the tabernacle. He called and commissioned the Gentile king, Cyrus, to rebuild Jerusalem and restore His chastised and humbled people to their own land.

And did He not call Joan of Arc to her strange and wonderful mission? And Washington and Lincoln?

And, no doubt, He _leads_ most men by His providence to their life-work; but the call to preach the Gospel is more than a providential leading; it is a distinct and imperative conviction.

Bishop Simpson, in his "Lectures on Preaching," says:--

"Even in its faintest form there is this distinction between a call to the ministry and a choice of other professions: a young man may _wish_ to be a physician; he may _desire_ to enter the navy; he would _like_ to be a farmer; but he feels he _ought_ to be a minister. It is this feeling of _ought_, or obligation, which in its feeblest form indicates the Divine call. It is not in the apt.i.tude, taste, or desire, but in the conscience, that its root is found. It is the voice of G.o.d to the human conscience, saying, 'You ought to preach.'"

Sometimes the call comes as distinctly as though a voice had spoken from the skies into the depths of the heart.

A young man who was studying law was converted. After a while he was convicted for sanctification, and while seeking he heard, as it were, a voice, saying, "Will you devote all your time to the Lord?" He replied: "I am to be a lawyer, not a preacher, Lord."

But not until he had said, "Yes, Lord," could he find the blessing.

A thoughtless, G.o.dless young fellow was working in the corn-field when a telegram was handed him announcing the death of his brother, a brilliant and devoted Salvation Army Field Officer; and there and then, unsaved as he was, G.o.d called him, showed him a vast Army with ranks broken, where his brother had fallen, and made him to feel that he should fill the breach in the ranks.

Fourteen months later he took up the sword, and entered the Fight from the same platform from which his brother fell, and is to-day one of our most successful and promising Field Officers.

Again, the call may come as a quiet suggestion, a gentle conviction, as though a gossamer bridle were placed upon the heart and conscience to guide the man into the work of the Lord.

The suggestion gradually becomes clearer, the conviction strengthens until it masters the man, and if he seeks to escape it, he finds the silken bridle to be one of stoutest thongs and firmest steel.

It was so with me. When but a boy of eleven, I heard a man preaching, and I said to myself, "Oh, how beautiful to preach!"

Two years later I was converted, and soon the conviction came upon me that I should preach. Later, I decided to follow another profession; but the conviction increased in strength, while I struggled against it, and turned away my ears and went on with my studies. Yet in every crisis, or hour of stillness, when my soul faced G.o.d, the conviction that I must preach burned itself deeper into my conscience. I rebelled against it. I felt I would almost rather (but not quite) go to h.e.l.l than to submit. Then at last a great "Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel," took possession of me, and I yielded, and G.o.d won. Hallelujah!

The first year He gave me three revivals, with many souls; and now I would rather preach Jesus to poor sinners and feed His lambs than to be an archangel before the Throne. Some day, some day, He will call me into His blessed presence, and I shall stand before His face, and praise Him for ever for counting me worthy, and calling me to preach His glad Gospel, and share in His joy of saving the lost. The "woe" is lost in love and delight through the baptism of the Spirit and the sweet a.s.surance that Jesus is pleased.

Occasionally, the call comes to a man who is ready and responds promptly and gladly. When Isaiah received the fiery touch that purged his life and purified his heart, he "heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"

And in the joy and power of his new experience, he cried out, "Here am I; send me!" (Isaiah vi. 5-8).

When Paul received his call, he says, "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. i. 16), and he got up and went as the Lord led him.