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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.

VI.

THE EFFECTS OF THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON THE CHURCH, IN HOLINESS AND POWER. IN GRACE AND GIFTS.

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Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He "hath given us." 1 John iii. 24.

The xiv., xv., xvi., and xvii. chapters of the Gospel according to St. John, contain the most comprehensive description of the effects and consequences of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, of any part of the sacred Scriptures. They are the last dying words, promises, and anticipations, of our adorable Redeemer,--after He had instituted the Eucharistic Memorial of His One, all-availing sacrifice; -in the Communion of His Body and Blood, before He suffered upon the Cross. They are therefore dear to us, by every tie of flesh and spirit. They are His last most affectionate and soul-stirring words of promise, love, and confidence. How very precious would they have been to us, had they been uttered by a dying friend, brother, or parent; but how infinitely more precious to us are they, when we consider that they were spoken at a time, when His full heart

was breaking, and His bosom heaving,-who is our Lord and Godwith the awful weight of the sin of this world. Let us then examine them, with that awe, veneration, and love, which such words, from such lips, and at such a time,-demand.

John xiv. 12.-" Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father." Now He is gone to the Father; and that very Nazarene Who had His Birth place in the stable-who was reputed for the Carpenter's Son-who was a worm and no man;-was smitten, beaten, mocked and scourged,— who was pierced, and nailed to the accursed Tree,-That same Individual that same Being, Is now, and for 1820 years Has been seen in the highest Heavens; occupying the very Throne of The Eternal Jehovah. He, Who was seen of Angels,-He, Whom they saw a Babe in Bethlehem-Whom they watched over as an Infant in Egypt-He, Who in Judea's Wilderness they saw tempted of the Devil-He, Whom they saw and ministered unto, as a bleeding, broken-hearted, visage-marred suppliant in Gethsemane; - He, Whose Tomb they kept as a Sacred Shrine, and over Whose dead body they kept the watch-He, Whose resurrection they announced, and at Whose ascension they were again beheld waiting upon His ascending steps-promising His Apostles He should so come again;-EVEN HE,-THAT SAME JESUS; is now seen by them sitting on Heaven's high seat of rule, CLOTHED WITH, AND DWELLING IN,-THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER! Whosoever hath faith now in Him, as He now Is; shall by fellowship with Him, through the Holy Ghost,do, not only the works that He did ;—but the works He is doing, and shall for ever do; even all those mighty and greater works, which through His Exaltation and presence with the Father, it is His glorious prerogative to do;-to do for ever; in, by, and through His one body, the Church, and all her myriads of members. These are those "greater works," which Christ's faithful members are called and privileged to work, now and for ever. They are works wrought and operated, by the dwelling and walking of God in them;-and they in God. The Church has the power, in and by which they are for ever to be wrought,—IN THE ONE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. John xiv. 16, 17.—“ I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you FOR EVER.” The Comforter abides; when given. HE ABIDES FOR EVER. He is no temporary gift,-no make-shift,-no coming and going

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guest,—no substitute; but an Everlasting, Eternal, and inalienable gift. He was given, and MANIFESTED His indwelling presence, at the first; but nothing has, or can, quench His abiding presence, and its accompanying and appropriate manifestations,-but unbelief, disobedience, and sin; for He was given by the Father and the Son, that He might abide with us for ever. As Atonement and Redemption were the effects and consequences of Our Lord's Earthly life and death, so the abiding, indwelling presence of the Eternal Spirit, in all the manifestations of such abiding presence is the consequence of His resurrection, ascension, and glorification. Despise the effects proceeding from either, and you despise its cause.

"Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it "seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know him: for He "dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.' There is but one Spirit of Truth;-The Holy Spirit. He only spake by the Prophets. He only inspires the Church, in all her organs and members," As one Body, and one Spirit." God never has used or commissioned holy Angels-to inspire men. Devils have done, and even now do possess and inspire men, thereby imitating and counterfeiting God. "There is truly a wondrous diversity of gifts-BUT ONE SPIRIT.” That one ever-blessed Holy Spirit, is to the Church militant—" A Comforter." But a Comforter,—is a speaking, acting, Person; not a sentimental impersonal influence. He is only "A Comforter

to the church and her members,--as they are now entering into sorrow, tribulation, Cross-bearing, and suffering. Those who are now rejoicing without Christ's presence, and are satisfied with the comforts, enjoyments, and honors of this world,-desire not, because they know not the need of, "The Comforter." To them He is an intruder; whose presence is felt to be disagreeable, unnecessary, and repulsive. The world and its children cannot receive Him; because they see Him not. Being sensual, they can only receive and appreciate what ministers to and gratifies their senses. Many are the modes of Divine acting, in and through the Holy Spirit. His modes of acting by the Holy Spirit, are both manifold and maniform. The one essential difference between all other modes of Divine acting, and that of His presence and acting in and by the Church, is this; that everywhere and otherwise, he dwelleth WITH MEN;-In Christ and His Church He dwelleth IN THEM for ever. INHABITATION OF GOD, THROUGH SPIRIT, is the glorious result of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

THE

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Let the reader observe the difference; and let him give God no rest, until he make His Church again, a praise in all the earth. John xiv. 19, 20.-" Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no 61 more; but ye see me because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." The inner, conscious apprehension and knowledge by the Church, of the Eternal union and communion of the Three Eternal Persons in One God, and of their relations to her for mutual indwelling, are necessary effects of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. When the world sees Christ no more,-in the vision of the Spirit, which is the light and vision of God,-she can see Him. Because He who died, lives again, yea, and is alive for evermore, in immortality and glory,—therefore she lives in, and with, the same sort of life also. Oneness of life, vision, knowledge, and consciousness; are results from the Baptism of the Spirit. In the power of the Anointing of the Holy Ghost, the Church is provided with faculties and perceptions, for spiritual vision, conception, insight, and consciousness, of which the world knows nothing; and can know nothing; because they are supersensual, supernatural, heavenly, and Divine. Ah! and the Church herself, and each of her members, ceasing to walk in the heavenly light, as Jesus is in that light,-lose the faculties of spiritual and heavenly discernment; and become twice blind; as also by Apostacy from Christ, they become twice dead, Oh! if the light that is in the church of God become darkness, how fearfully great-how awfully dense—is that darkness!! Indeed itmay be felt! The very breath of spiritual life, is stifled and suffocatedThrough that air with solid darkness stain'd,

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Like to the sand that in the whirlwind flies;" Oh! and it is no new sin in man, to become so perverted and oblivious, as to "call such darkness light; and such light darkness."

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John xiv. 21-23.-" He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." There is now a thick impenetrable veil between the heavenly and the earthly-between Christ and the world. Yet that veil, if not altogether withdrawn from before the eye of the loving and obedient members of Christ, is yet made so thin and luminous, by the indwelling Spirit, that Christ is able to "manifest Himself" to such from behind it. Through the inner light of the Holy Ghost, the Lord Jesus even now, is the "Sun of Righteousness ever present with the Church,-to gladden and illuminate her pilgrim way; but the intervening shadows and cloudy veils, do but soften and make