The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-05
THE SERMON.

guide you Into all the truth.-John xvi, l2, 10.
One of the greatest contributions of
modern thought to divine truth has been
the recovery of the great thought that
God is the God of the living as well as
the God of the dead; that God is Spirit
and that he lives and moves today in
the hearts and lives Of men, in the af-
fairs of the world; that his Spirit is a
real presence, not theological fiction,
and that he dwells as a real power
within the soul of man, leading him in
life, and, il he will but heed the voice,
leading him to the infinite heights of
truth.
What are some Of the lessons taught
in this profound utterance of Christ
concerning the Spirit and its work. It
is one of the strangest utterances of
Christ as well as one of the profoundest.
1t strikes us at once with its novelty. If
we have been led to understand that
Jesus made himself the complete revela-
tion to man, he declares that he does not
make the complete revelation of the
whole truth; that the revelation is to be
completed in the future by the Spirit of
truth, who will guide into the whole
truth. What is the significance of this
utterance to us?
THROUGH THE SPIRIT.
First-There is involved in it the fact
that all revelation is Of the Spirit. The
prophets of old spoke not of themselves,
but through the guidance of the Spirit.
God, VINO spoke to us through the proph-
cts of old, thus spoke to us in latter
days through his Son. Christ spoke not
Of himself, but of the Spirit. This
speaking did not cease with the death
of Christ, nor was any bounds set to its
future speaking. All revelation being
the work of the Spirit, we must under
stand that Bibliolatry is as low form
of idolatry as the worship of the sun or
of stone and silver and gold. The Bible,
however sacred it may be, however holy,
is not revelation; it is the history of
revelation, 1t is the literary record of
the revelation which God made through
the Spirit 1t is not the revelation itself.
1t must not be confused with it.
Second-The spirit is the supreme
manifestation of God to man, in man
and through man. The death of Christ
resulted not in any limitation of the
Spirit and its power, but rather from an
expansion Of its power. We live In the
glorious dispensation of the Spirit. We
are not to understand this to be uni
versal manifestation of enlarged power.
This kingdom of God cometh not with
observation. We must remember that
it is within, not without, that the king
dom comes. That it is within, not with
out, that the Spirit moves and works.
His wonderful offices lie within the soul
to reveal God, to convict of sin, to WOO
the soul to the love of God, to comfort
and to cheer, to lead and to guide. The
Spirit is the author of all salvation
the worker and mover in the great
work of redemption. The part that
man plays as teacher is comparatively
insignificant.
WHENCE WAS HIS PowER2
A man once held revival services
through the states of the south with re.
markable success. In North Carolina
he was arrested as horse thief during
the progress of one Of his meetings. It
was discovered that his confederates
were in the outskirts of the meeting in
the woods stealing horses while he held
tho people spellbound by his power.
During the progress of those meetings
many people were converted. Whence
this power? Was it through peculiar
enduement of the Spirit on the part of
this horse thief Was he filed with the
Spirit of power, and did this Spirit come
through him to the people?
A man in THIS state has been recently
convicted of n heinous felony. He called
himself minister and he has done much
work as a minister. Much of that work,
if we believe the testimony of creditabie
witnesses, resulted in the conversion of
souls.
Whence this power? The answer Is
simple. 1t comes through the power of
he.Spirit of truth that broods over every
conscious soul, leading, wooing unto the
Father. 1t may be produced by the elo-
luence Of the human voice, irrespective
IF the heart that may be back of the
voice. The chirp of cricket may waken
tn tho soul of man train of memories
and Of thought that may sweep that soul
by tho power of the Spirit into the king
dom of God. The whisper of the wind,
the rustic of the wind through the leaves
may move and touch the soul with its
music, and through the power of the
Spirit lead to life and salvation. The
colors of sunset may speak thus to the
soul of man. In other words, the Spirit,
silent, untiring, is ever at work. The
Spirit of truth and of God and life never
takes a vacation. In the depths of sin
and wickedness the rebound from dissi-
patton may, through the power of the
Spirit, sweep man into the kingdom of
God.
FOUND HIM IN A DEBAUCH.
Last summer, in Boston, man thus
overwhelmed in the midst of a debauch
went with swift feet and stricken heart
to find the way of life, never resting sat
istied until lie found peace in God. At
first sight we might think that there
must have been some outer voice to
preach to this man-and yet the Spirit
did its work through the rebound of the
soul under debauchery and dissipation.
Augustus Toplady attended a service
one Sabbath, in Ireland, In an old barn
at country place. Standing in that old
barn he felt the power of the Spirit of
God and was led into the kingdom.
Whence the power over that soul SO
sweetly strung with the chords of divine
music; heart tuned by the angels of
God himself; a heart that sung to the
world, Rock of Ages Cleft for MeF
Did the power come through that sery-
ice In that old, rude building, with its
crude surroundings and with its simple
peasant leader1 No. 1t was the Spirit
who touched the strings of his soul, the
Spirit from whose rhythmic heart came
that soul in the beginning that led him
back to the source of all music.
The Spirit, then, is tho reyealer of all
the truth. All the truth means much.
We must remember that all truth is di-
vine truth. There is no such thing as
separating truth, calling some truth d.
vine and others profane or secular. All