If there is a God at all, there is nothing more reasonable than to
suppose that He can come into direct contact with the spirits of the
men whom He has made. And if that Almighty God is not an Almighty
indifference, or a pure devil--if He is love--then there is nothing
more certain than that, if He can touch and influence men's hearts
towards goodness and His own likeness, He most certainly will.
The probability, which all religion recognises, and in often crude
forms tries to set forth, and by superstitious acts to secure, is
raised to an absolute certainty, if we believe that Jesus Christ, the
Incarnate Truth, speaks truth to us about this matter. For there is
nothing more certain than that the characteristic which distinguishes
Him from all other teachers, is to be found not only in the fact that
He did something for us on the Cross, as well as taught us by His word;
but that in His teaching He puts in the forefront, not the
prescriptions of our duty, but the promise of God's gift; and ever says
to us, 'Open your hearts and the divine influences will flow in and
fill you and fit you for all goodness.' The Spirit of God fills the
human spirit, as the mysterious influence which we call life permeates
and animates the whole body, or as water lies in a cup.
Consider how that metaphor is caught up, and from a different point of
view is confirmed, in regard to the completeness which it predicates,
by other metaphors of Scripture. What is the meaning of the Baptist's
saying, 'He shall baptise you in the Holy Ghost and fire'? Does that
not mean a complete immersion in, and submersion under, the cleansing
flood? What is the meaning of the Master's own saying, 'Tarry ye...
till ye be clothed with power from on high'? Does not that mean
complete investiture of our nakedness with that heavenly-woven robe? Do
not all these emblems declare to us the possibility of a human spirit
being charged to the limits of its capacity with a divine influence?
We do not here discuss questions which separate good Christian people
from one another in regard of this matter. My object now is not to lay
down theological propositions, but to urge upon Christian men the
acquirement of an experience which is possible for them. And so,
without caring to enter by argument on controversial matters, I desire
simply to lay emphasis upon the plain implication of that word,
'_filled_ with the Holy Ghost.' Does it mean less than the complete
subjugation of a man's spirit by the influence of God's Spirit brooding
upon him, as the prophet laid himself on the dead child, lip to lip,
face to face, beating heart to still heart, limb to limb, and so
diffused a supernatural life into the dead? That is an emblem of what
all you Christian people may have if you like, and if you will adopt
the discipline and observe the conditions which God has plainly laid
down.
That fulness will be a growing fulness, for our spirits are capable, if
not of infinite, at any rate of indefinite, expansion, and there is no
limit known to us, and no limit, I suppose, which will ever be reached,
so that we can go no further--to the possible growth of a created
spirit that is in touch with God, and is having itself enlarged and
elevated and ennobled by that contact. The vessel is elastic, the walls
of the cup of our spirit, into which the new wine of the divine Spirit
is poured, widen out as the draught is poured into them. The more a man
possesses and uses of the life of God, the more is he capable of
possessing and the more he will receive. So a continuous expansion in
capacity, and a continuous increase in the amount of the divine life
possessed, are held out as the happy prerogative and possibility of a
Christian soul.
This Stephen had but a very small amount of the clear Christian
knowledge that you and I have, but he was leagues ahead of most
Christian people in regard to this, that he was 'filled with the Holy
Spirit.' Brethren, you can have as much of that Spirit as you want. It
is my own fault if my Christian life is not what the Christian lives of
some of us, I doubt not, are. 'Filled with the Holy Spirit'! rather a
little drop in the bottom of the cup, and all the rest gaping
emptiness; rather the fire died down, Pentecostal fire though it be,
until there is scarcely anything but a heap of black cinders and grey
ashes in your grate, and a little sandwich of flickering flame in one
corner; rather the rushing mighty wind died down into all but a dead
calm, like that which afflicts sailing-ships in the equatorial regions,
when the thick air is deadly still, and the empty sails have not
strength even to flap upon the masts; rather the 'river of the water of
life' that pours 'out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb,' dried up
into a driblet.
That is the condition of many Christian people. I say not of which of
us. Let each man settle for himself how that may be. At all events here
is the possibility, which may be realised with increasing completeness
all through a Christian man's life. We may be filled with the Holy
Spirit.