57. “Τ. D.” Procure a copy of “Lectures on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit,” by W. Kelly (Broom, Paternoster Bow). A careful perusal of this volume will, with God’s blessing, greatly help you.
58. “C. H. C. W.,” Torquay. Acts 19:1-61And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (Acts 19:1‑6) proves beyond all question the distinction between being quickened and sealed. So also in Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13) we read, “In whom also, after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” It does not say how long “after;” it may be moments, months, or years; but clearly the two things are distinct.
59. “L. N.” We give you one sentence of Holy Scripture as an answer to your letter, namely, Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2), “Looking off unto Jesus.” If you could only lose sight of that troublesome, good-for-nothing, guilty, hell-deserving “I,” and rest in Christ and His full salvation, you would be able to write a very different sort of letter. Your letter reminds us of Romans 7., by the predominance of “I.” You must look simply to Christ. He has settled the entire question. You will never get aught but misery by looking at yourself, and reasoning upon what you find there. People are always sure to be full of doubts when they are occupied with “ I.” It must be so, for how could “I” ever furnish a ground of peace? You may rest assured, dear friend, that until you learn to look out of yourself, and rest simply upon Christ, you will never know what solid peace really is.
60. “W. S. G.,” Bermondsey. The Church forms no part of the ways of God with man on the earth. We belong to an unnoticed interval. As to the four empires of Dan. 2 and 7, we know that the Roman empire is the last. It was under the fourth beast that our Lord was put to death. But, as every reader of history knows, the Roman empire was dismembered, broken up, and succeeded by those great constitutional governments of modern times; under one of which we now live. There will, however, be a revival of the Roman empire, with its ten kingdoms. But, this is too vast a subject to enter upon here. We would beg of you to give yourself to the prayerful study of Daniel and the Revelation. May God’s Spirit lead us all into a deeper knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.’
61. We cannot refrain from giving our readers an extract from a letter received from a Correspondent in Surrey. “As one feeling much indebted to the good influence of books lent, allow me to say that believers might find ‘a more excellent way,’ if, in a wise and loving manner, they lent their own books to those who are weak and uninstructed. I can but think of a dear christian family at whose home my sister and I have often been taught the value and meaning of God’s blessed word; and of the exceeding kindness with which, on leaving, we have often been loaded with reading, which, at home, deepened the impression of what we had heard. Books we have wished to read, and were unable to purchase, or those we had never known of till introduced to them by those dear friends, who acted in this as though they counted not the things they possessed their own. In this way, we became acquainted with ‘Things New and Old,’ by the many bound volumes of it lent us. Indeed, God has so blessed such reading to us that it has taken away the taste for much that we used to find great pleasure in. And even, if a believer have but little means, and yet wishes to help on others in this way, it is wonderful how the Lord opens ways of doing so; for if everything is brought to the Lord, ‘There is much food in the tillage of the poor for others as well as for themselves; and ‘if the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light.’ Perhaps the Lord may guide you to make some suggestion on the subject to your christian readers, for it is a way of serving the Master open to many. It pains my heart to see believers with well stored bookshelves unused for the Lord. I fancy this is one way in which He is wounded in the house of His friends. We heartily commend the foregoing weighty words to the attention of our readers. May we all seek grace to act on them! It will, perhaps, be said that there is another side of the question to be considered. No doubt there is. Books, when lent, are very often not returned at all, or returned so soiled and mutilated as to be unfit to be seen. Hence, there is a word for the borrower as well as for the lender. Surely if grace should rule the conduct of the latter, righteousness at least should rule the conduct of the former. Still, fully admitting, as we do, the carelessness of many who get the loan of books, we should be very sorry indeed if this admission were suffered to blunt the edge of the most excellent suggestion of our Surrey Correspondent.