The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-10-30

shalt lay har,,a on the sick, and they shall
recover" Heb. 9: Good also bearing
them witness. both with signs and Won
ders, and with divers miracles and gifts of
the HOW Ghost, according to His own
will" There is absolutely no limit to
Gods power; He can do all things.
There is very significant expression
heard voice from heaven saying unto me,
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their la
bors; and their works do follow them"
The Rev. #. B. Meyer thinks that this is
to be interpreted as Amen. saith the
Spirit" and that it is the Spirits APPROX:
Christ. 1t will be glad day for the church
when for every pastors work the Spirit
shall breathe "Amen;" for the service of
every elder. deacon and trustee He shall
say again "Amen;" when the living of all
the saints shall live so nearly according to
Gods will that at the close of each day
the Spirit shall say "Amen and amen"
But the filing Of the Holy Ghost is not
to he confined to those who are called
ministers of the gospel. Every deacon
ought to be filed Acts 6: 3, 4-"Where-
fore, brethren, look We out among you
seven men of honest report, full of the
Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may
dDpolHC over IniS business DUt we VIII
give ourselves continually to prayer, and
to the ministry of the word"
There was time in the history OF the
church when men were chosen to fill the
church's offices. not because of their social
position or their financial ability. but sim
ply. because they were men filled with the
Holy Ghost; so that there can be but one
real test of fitness for such an Office. L
feel very sure that we should expect
Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit of
God only when this principle is recognized.
If the Holy Ghost is the life of the
church-as we find in Scripture: Eph. 4:
81, 32-"Let all bitterness, and wrath and
anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be
put away from you, with all malice, and
be We kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another. even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you'-then we
are to be exceedingly careful with respect
to everything that would grieve Him in
the least. 1t is a new thought to some that
the presence of bitterness or wrath or an
ger would grieve the Spirit. Such is in
deed the case.
The. Holy Ghost is to work out in us
that which Christ has ACCOMPLISHED for us
on the throne. There can only be one him
drance to the working out of this plan of
God, and that is found in the church IT.
self There is a solemn warning for all the
"Ouench not tha Spirit" Acts =: So
"But Peter said. Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost
and to keen back part Of the price of the
land? Whites it remained. was it not thine
own? And after it was sold. was it not in
thine own power? Whv hast thou con-
ceived this thing in thine heart? Thou
hast not lied unto men: but unto God:
And Ananias hearing these words, fell
down. and gave up the ghost. and great
fear came all them that heard these
things And the Young men arose. wound
him up. and carried him out and buried
him. And it was about the space of three
hours after. when his wife. not knowing
what was done, came in. And Peter an
swered unto her, Tell me whether We sold
the land for so much? And she said. Yea.
for so much. Then Peter said unto her,
How is it that We have agreed together to
tempt the Shirt of the Lord? Behold,
the feet of them which have buried thy
husband are at the door, and shall carry
thee out" While men may not nowadays
have been stricken down as were Ananias
and Sapphire. yet it is true that because
Of the fact that we are living in a spirit
that is contrary to the Holy Ghost, we be-
come dead spiritually, if not physically.
and it is a possible thing to so nearly
ouench the Spirit that from the human
staadooint there will be no life at all.
Thus while the individual member of
the church may miss his reward and ''be
saved. yet so as by fire." the same thing
may be true of the church as whole. 1t
would be sad thing for the Bridegroom
to be disappointed in his bride.