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THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT
by
A. J. GORDON, D.D.
With an Introduction by Rev. F. B. Meyer
Minister at Christ Church, London
Philadelphia
American Baptist Publication Society
1420 Chestnut Street
1894
Copyright 1894 by the
American Baptist Publication Society
To the
INHERITORS OF THE SPIRIT
{vii}
PREFACE
It is not claimed that in this little volume all has been said that
might be said upon the subject treated. On the contrary, the writer
has proceeded upon the belief that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit can
be better understood by limiting the sphere of discussion, rather than
by extending it to the largest bounds. For finite beings, at least,
presence is more intelligible than omnipresence. So, though the
subject of this book is in itself profoundly mysterious, we have sought
to simplify it by dwelling upon the time-ministry of the Holy Ghost
without entering upon the consideration of his eternal ministry. What
the Spirit did before the incarnation of Christ, and what he may do
hereafter beyond the second advent of Christ, is a question hardly
touched upon in this volume. We have sought rather to emphasize and to
magnify the great truth that the Paraclete is now present in the
church: that we are living in the dispensation of the Spirit, with all
the unspeakable blessing for the church and for the world which this
economy provides. Hence, as we speak of the ministry of Christ {viii}
meaning a service embraced within defined limits, so we name this
volume the "Ministry of the Spirit," as referring to the work of the
Comforter extending from Pentecost to the end of this dispensation.
How deep a subject for a study! What prayer more becoming for those
entering upon it than the humble petition that the Spirit himself will
teach us concerning the Spirit! Deeply sensible of the imperfection of
this work, it is now committed to the use and blessing of that Divine
Person of the Godhead of whom it so unworthily speaks.
A. J. G.
BOSTON, Dec., 1894.
{ix}
INTRODUCTION
It is remarkable how many in these last days have been led to deal with
the sublime subject to which this treatise is devoted. Without doubt
the mind of the church is being instructed, and her heart prepared for
a recognition of the indwelling, administration, and co-operation of
the blessed Paraclete, which has never been excelled in her history,
and is fraught with the greatest promise both to her and to the world.
Each of these treatises has brought out some new phase in respect to
the person or mission of the Holy Spirit, but I cannot recall one that
is so lucid, so suggestive, so scriptural, so deeply spiritual as this,
by my beloved friend, Dr. Gordon. The chapters on the Embodying, the
Enduement, and the Administration of the Spirit seem specially fresh
and helpful. But all is good, and deserving of prayerful perusal. Let
only such truths be well wrought into the mental and spiritual
constitution {x} of God's servants, and there would be such a revival
of pure and undefiled religion in the churches, and such marvelous
results through them on the world that the age would close with a
world-wide Pentecost. And there are many symptoms abroad that this
also is in the purpose of God. Nothing else can meet the deepest needs
and yearnings of our time.
Christianity is beset with three powerful currents, which insidiously
operate to deflect her from her course. Materialism, which denies or
ignores the supernatural, and concentrates its heed on ameliorating the
outward conditions of human life; criticism, which is clever at
analysis and dissection, but cannot construct a foundation on which the
religious faculty may build and rest; and a fine literary taste, which
has greatly developed of late, and is disposed to judge of power by
force of words or by delicacy of expression.
To all of these we have but one reply. And that is, not a system, a
creed, a church, but the living Christ, who was dead, but is alive
forevermore, and has the keys to unlock all perplexities, problems, and
failures. Though society could be {xi} reconstituted, and material
necessities be more evenly supplied, discontent would break out again
in some other form, unless the heart were satisfied with his love. The
truth which he reveals to the soul, and which is ensphered in him, is
alone able to appease the consuming hunger of the mind for data on
which to construct its answer to the questions of life and destiny and
God, which are ever knocking at its door for solution. And men have
yet to learn that the highest power is not in words or metaphors or
bursts of eloquence, but in the indwelling and out-working of the Word,
who is the wisdom and the power of God, and who deals with regions
below those where the mind vainly labors.
Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son of God, is the one supreme answer to
the restlessness and travail of our day. But he cannot, he will not
reveal himself. Each person in the Holy Trinity reveals another. The
Son reveals the Father, but his own revelation awaits the testimony of
the Holy Ghost, which, though often given directly, is largely through
the church. What we need then, and what the world is waiting for, is
the Son of God, borne witness to and revealed in all his radiant {xii}
beauty of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as he energizes with and
through the saints that make up the holy and mystical body, the church.
It is needful to emphasize this distinction. In some quarters it seems
to be supposed that the Holy Spirit himself is the solution of the
perplexities of our time. Now what we may witness in some coming age
we know not, but in this it is clear that God in the person of Christ
is the one only and divine answer. Here is God's yea and amen, the
Alpha and Omega, sight for the blind, healing for the paralyzed,
cleansing for the polluted, life for the dead, the gospel for the poor
and sad and comfortless. Now we covet the gracious bestowal of the
Spirit, that he may take more deeply of the things of Christ, and
reveal them unto us. When the disciples sought to know the Father, the
Lord said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. It is his glory
that shines on my face, his will that molds my life, his purpose that
is fulfilled in my ministry. So the blessed Paraclete would turn our
thought and attention from himself to him, with whom he is One in the
Holy Trinity, and whom he has come to reveal.
{xiii}
Throughout the so-called Christian centuries the voice of the Holy
Spirit has borne witness to the Lord, directly and mediately.
Directly, in each widespread quickening of the human conscience, in
each revival of religion, in each era of advance in the knowledge of
divine truth, in each soul that has been regenerated, comforted, or
taught. Mediately his work has been carried on through the church, the
body of those that believe. But, alas! how sadly his witness has been
weakened and hindered by the medium through which it has come. He has
not been able to do many mighty works because of the unbelief which has
kept closed and barred those avenues through which he would have poured
his glad testimony to the unseen and glorified Lord.
The divisions of the church, her strife about matters of comparative
unimportance, her magnification of points of difference, her
materialism, her love of pelf and place and power, her accounting
herself rich and increased in goods and needing nothing, when she was
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked--these things have not only
robbed her of her testimony, but have grieved and {xiv} quenched the
Holy Spirit, and nullified his testimony.
We gladly hail the signs that this period of apathy and resistance is
coming to a close. The Church which is in the churches is making
herself felt, is arising from the dust and arraying herself in her
beautiful garments. There is a widespread recognition of the unity of
all who believe, together with an increasing desire to magnify the
points of agreement and minimize those of divergence. The great
conventions for the quickening of spiritual life on both sides of the
Atlantic in which believers meet, irrespective of name or sect, are
doing an incalculable amount of good in breaking down the old lines of
demarcation, and making real our spiritual oneness. The teaching of
consecration and cleanliness of heart and life is removing those
obstacles that have restrained and drowned the Spirit's still small
voice. The fuller's soap and the refiner's fire have been largely
resorted to, with the best results. And as believers have become more
consistent and devoted, they have grown increasingly sensitive to the
indwelling, energy, and co-witness of the Holy Spirit.
{xv}
If only this glorious movement is permitted to achieve its full
purpose, the effect will be transcendently glorious. The church will
become as pliant to the Divine Tenant as the resurrection body of our
Lord to the impulse of his divine nature. And so the Lord Jesus will
increasingly become the object of human hope, the center around which
the concentric circles of human life shall circle.
That the Lord Jesus should be thus magnified and glorified through the
ministry of the Holy Spirit, and with this end in view, that the hearts
and lives of believers should be made more sensitive to and receptive
of his blessed energy, this treatise has been prepared; and I add my
testimony to the beloved author's, that in the mouth of two witnesses,
every word may be established; and my prayer to his that the yea of the
Spirit to the great voice of the gospel may be heard more mightily and
persistently amongst us.
{xvii}
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
THE AGE-MISSION OF THE SPIRIT. INTRODUCTORY, . . . . . . . . . 11