THE

CRY IN THE DESERT;

OR,

EARNEST WORDS OF WARNING ADDRESSED TO A SLUMBERING CHURCH, TO KNOW THE DAY OF HER VISITATION, AND TO PREPARE TO MEET HER GOD.

A MONTHLY TRACT.

III.

· THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS FIRST GIVEN AND DISTRIBUTED.

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."—Ephes. i. 13, 14.

"The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon "them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; "to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His com"mandments to do them."-Ps. ciii. 17, 18.

BEFORE we enter into the examination of the ways by which the new creation was propagated, and of the means by which its endowment with the Holy Ghost was distributed, after the day of Pentecost; let us first clearly observe, the spiritual state and condition of our Lord's Disciples and Apostles, before, and after that day.

The men who first received that mighty and wondrous gift from the glorified Son of the Virgin, did not then, for the first time, repent of their sins. Nor did they then, for the first time, believe in Him as their Saviour, their Lord, and their God. Most, if not all of them, had been previously Baptized with the Baptism of St. John; which promised remission of sins, to all who penitently confessed

them. They had already forsaken all and followed Him, as the only Being they knew in existence, who could satisfy the highest and deepest wants of their conscience-stricken hearts, and sin-burdened, heavy-laden souls; saying unto their Lord, "Unto whom shall we go? THOU hast the words of eternal life." God, the eternal Father, had long before revealed to them, that "HE was the Christ, the Son of the living God "-that HE was His beloved Son, in Whom He was well pleased, and unto Whom they should hearken." They had already been made clean through His gracious words: so comforting, enlightening, and true. They had seen the manifestations of His glory, in all His words, acts, and sufferings: so full of mercy, love, and power. They had even been called to share in the administration of such measure of power, as the Father gave unto Him while on earth; for they were commissioned and empowered to proclaim the coming kingdom, heal the sick, cleanse the leper, and to cast out devils. How WONDERFULLY AND MIGHTILY THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD DWELT WITH THEM! Yet they were not bidden to rest satisfied, but to go forward; longing and waiting for a still mightier and more glorious gift; a gift which should not destroy what they had already received from Him; but should confirm, strengthen, and perfect, all that had been given before;-a gift so wonderful and infinite, that in and by means of it, they should be made capablenot only of knowing Him and sympathizing with Him in all His earthly and fleshly life, of self-sacrifice, suffering, and woe; but also of sympathizing with, and of having a fellowship in, His resurrection, heavenly, and glorified life; yea verily, of having fellowship and communion with HIMSELF! And consequently, of having fellowship and communion with all that is in Him,-WITH ALL THAT HE IS AND HAS ;-with all that He Is and Has-now that "the Father hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name "which is above every name;"--setting Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, head over all things in this world, and in that which is to come. I say then, that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was not given them for their conversion, repentance, faith in or acceptance of Christ, as their only Lord and Saviour; but because they had already done so. Being His faithful followers and disciples already, He shed forth This which He had promised; in order that by it they might be lifted up, and exalted in heart and mind, to sit together with Him and in Him, in heavenly places; in order that " being quickened (made alive), and risen together with Him," they might set their affections on-know the real existence of and partake in," the things that are above, where He sitteth at the right hand of God."

Let us mark then the wonderful contrast between their spiritual strength, life, and light, before Pentecost; when the Holy Spirit by His holy influences and powers, did but dwell with them; and afterward, when He came down from the Father and the Son, that He might “DWELL IN THEM AND WALK IN THEM," EVEN UNTO ETERNITY ; that so the eternal God and Father, in the Son, and by the Spirit, might make them His resting-place and tabernacle, where He will dwell for ever.

See then the wondrous change manifest in them all, and especially those commissioned to be Apostles! See them before Pentecost, how stupid, foolish, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets had spoken; see them after;-how wise, quicksighted, clear, and comprehensive, as to the mind and purpose of God, hidden in all the Scriptures of the law and the prophets! They now saw light in God's light; and the profoundest mysteries therein concealed,-which before, their eye had not seen, their ear heard, nor their hearts conceived; were now discerned,-by the illumination of the indwelling Spirit,- -as is all outward nature, when the veil of night is drawn aside, and she appears gilded and enlightened by the light and gladness of a summer's dawning day. Observe again, before the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,-how all their sympathies with their Lord were of an earthly and fleshly kind; the very mention of His sufferings and death, was either an unmeaning tale to them, or a cause for offence and chiding. But behold them afterward! Now they glory in knowing a fellowship in His very sufferings ! Now they rejoice in tribulation! Now they glory in infirmities, distresses, and in all that constitutes the cross of Christ their Lord! They now rejoice that He bore it first for them;-not indeed that they may escape it, but that being one with Him, they may bear it after Him, with Him, and for His sake! They now rejoice to fill up that part of the sufferings of Christ which He had left behind, for His Church to fill up and consummate!! They did not, indeed, desire to suffer with Him, because they deemed their sufferings were like His, of expiatory value, but because in true allegiance and love to Him, they thus judged; that if He died for them, they ought no longer to live unto themselves, but should both live to, and if need be, die for, Him, who died for them, and is risen again. Before they were endued with power from on high,-mark their feebleness, cowardice, and fear: but afterward, behold, they are strong as Samson, heroic as David, and fearless as the children in Babylon's fiery furnace !! Before the promise of the Father fell upon them, how full they

are of earthly ambition, national prejudice, and selfish aggrandizement; but afterwards, behold! how heavenly they are in their words, thoughts, and aspirations! How humble, chastened, unselfish, and spiritual! The earthly is now swallowed up by the heavenly, the fleshly by the spiritual, and the Jewish by the comprehensive catholicity of the mind of Christ. Before the Spirit of the glorified Saviour fell upon them, how ignorant were they of the true nature and extent of their power and commission ;-how ignorant of the mysteries of that heavenly kingdom,-the keys of which were promised and given to them, because they were under their Lord, its chief Stewards and Ambassadors :-yea, and how unable both to hear, or to bear, many, very many things, which he had to say unto them! But when that Comforter was come, behold! what majestic conceptions of the glory, nature, and extent of their office and mission, and of the office and mission of the whole Church committed into their hands! What insight into the things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world! What vision of those profound secrets, which the Holy Spirit alone can search out and reveal; which He did reveal to them, and through them to the Church! Ah! and what a spiritual aptitude and capacity for receiving from their Lord, and delivering to His Church, all things so made known to them! What vital force and power are now felt and seen in all their words and acts! How unfleshly, and unearthly now, is their judgment and discernment of all things! How wise, manly, and discriminating is THEIR FAITH; which before was so weak, unintelligent and wavering! How clear, vivid, and all-engrossing is THEIR HOPE;-to see that same Jesus again,"—" to wait for Him from heaven,' "to look for Him a second time, without sin unto salvation,' -"to wait for His appearing again, when they should be like Him, and see Him as He is !!" "His power and coming was no cunningly devised fable" unto them;-no speculation or doctrine; BUT THE NEXT GREAT FUTURE FACT, which they longed for, and hastened unto: when they should be glorified together in, and with, His glory. THEIR LOVE! oh, how ardent was the flame! Now, no longer were they sons of thunder, calling down fire from heaven, for the destruction of the unbelieving and disobedient; but the love of Christ constrained them to use and exercise all their wondrous powers for salvation and edification, rather than for destruction. Though they can now control the lightning, and command the thunder of heaven; yet like their Lord, they now know and experience in the Holy Ghost, "WHAT SPIRIT THEY ARE OF." Divine

Love, shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, enables them now, with all gentleness and long-suffering, to entreat, beseech, and exhort, the gainsaying and disobedient. That Divine Love which seeketh not its own, and never faileth towards its object, enabled and empowered them to hope, believe, and endure all things. They were now willing to become living victims for Him and His Church, who had given Himself an offering and a sacrifice for them. Yea, they gloried in being able to cry out now,- "FOR THY SAKE are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the "slaughter." They loved Him and His, with a devouring love; counting not their lives even,much less life's ease, comforts, ambitions, pride, and possessions, dear unto themselves; but held it, and all it loves, as a devoted sacrifice for Him and them. The full Baptism of the Holy Ghost which they received from Him, shed abroad the very love of God in their hearts, and so inflamed them,→ that they not only loved God, but by His indwelling, THEY WERE CONSTRAINED TO LOVE LIKE GOD; and so to deny, sacrifice, and immolate SELF, for love of Christ, and the souls He had purchased with His blood. Before that Holy Spirit which dwells in Him in all His fulness, came to take up His abode in them also--they slumbered and slept, even during the hour of His bitterest agony; but now He becomes the vital cord to them of spiritual feeling, action, and suffering; binding and uniting them to Him, and to each other in Him. Yea, through His infinite presence in them and Him,-sight,-sense,- distance,-place, and time, are superseded and overcome! For He who dwells in them, dwells in Him, and in the Father; that He may make known His mind and feelings to them, and they theirs to Him, thereby. Oh! the wondrous communion of the one infinite Spirit of Jehovah, filling and inspiring the head and members-each-all, and altogether!! They knew, enjoyed, and experienced, full, con stant, and unutterable communion with the Father, in the Son, by the eternal Spirit; and were, therefore, seated in, and citizens of, the heavenlies; where their life was hid with Christ in God. Thus dwelling in God, and God in them; they overcame the world, with its time and place, conditions and desires; and could truly say, that "THEY WERE COME UNTO THE MOUNT ZION, AND “UNTO THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD-THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM,-and TO an innumerable company of "angels,-TO the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which "are enrolled in heaven, and TO God, the Judge of all, and TO "the Spirits of just men made perfect,-and TO Jesus, the Mediator