INTRODUCTION.


I have been asked by the publishers to write a few lines introducing this
book to American Christians. I count it a privilege to be allowed to do so.

_The one thing needful_ for the church of Christ in our day, and for every
member of it, is to be filled with the spirit of Christ. Christianity is
nothing except as it is a ministration of the Spirit. Preaching is nothing,
except as it is a demonstration of the Spirit. Holiness is nothing except
as it is the fruit of the Spirit. These truths are so little taught or
emphasized as they should be, and the blessings they speak of are so little
experienced that one gladly welcomes every voice that draws attention to
them.

It is known that all do not perfectly agree as to the best answer to the
question: How to be filled with the Spirit? Some press that aspect of truth
which reminds us that the Holy Spirit _has been given_ to the church and
that He dwells in every believer, a fountain of living water. As there have
been fountains clogged by stones and earth, and only needing to be cleared
and opened up, so we have only to remove the hindrances, to yield ourselves
in perfect surrender to the Spirit in us, and the filling will come. We
must not ask God for more of the Spirit. God asks for more of us that the
Spirit may have us wholly.

Others, while admitting fully that the Spirit is in the believer, and that
He asks for a more entire surrender, yet urge that it is from God direct
that the filling of the Spirit must ever still be asked and received. God
cannot give His spiritual gifts apart from Himself, once for all. As the
divine and everlasting One, He gives unceasingly. The Spirit has not been
given as if He had left heaven. He is in God and in the church. It is from
God Himself that larger measures of the Spirit must ever be sought and
received.

Among those who hold this latter view, there is again somewhat of a
diversity in the representation of truth. On the one hand we are reminded
that it is "_by faith_" we receive the Holy Spirit, and that faith often
has to rest and to act without any conscious experience--has to walk in the
dark. Souls that are _fully surrendered_ to God are invited to claim the
promise and then to go and work in the full assurance that the Spirit is in
them, and will in His fullness work through them. On the other hand stress
is laid on the words "_we receive_ the Spirit" by faith. The difference
between believing and receiving is pointed out, and we are urged to wait
until we receive what we claim, and know that God has anew filled us with
His Spirit. "To be filled with the Spirit" is offered us as a definite,
conscious experience.

With still other Christians there is to be found what may be regarded as a
combination of these different views. They believe that a very definite,
conscious filling of the Spirit been received by some, and may be had
by all. Though from their own experience they cannot testify of it, they
still look for God to do for them above what they have asked or thought.
Meantime they know that God's Spirit is in them, and seek grace to know Him
better, and to yield themselves to Him more undividedly. They believe that
the Spirit within them is Himself leading them on to the Lord above them,
whose it is to fill with the Spirit. They have claimed in faith the
fullness; they have placed themselves to be filled; they look to their Lord
to fulfill His promise. Whether it comes in one swift moment or more
gradually, they know it is theirs.

I have written this with an eye to those who may not entirely agree with
the way in which the truth is presented in this little book. I wish to urge
all, especially ministers of the gospel, to give it a prayerful reading. I
feel confident it will bring them help and blessing. It will deepen the
conviction of the great need and absolute duty of being filled with the
Spirit. It will point out the hindrances and open up the way. It will stir
up faith and hope. And it will, I trust, bring many a one to feel that it
is at the footstool of the throne, in the absolute surrender of a new
consecration, that the blessing is to be received from God Himself.

And may this book stir up all its readers, not only to seek this blessing
for themselves, but to cry earnestly, "praying exceedingly day and night,"
"_for all Saints_," that God may throughout His whole church give the Holy
Spirit in power. It is when the tide comes in, that every pool is filled,
and all the separate little pools are lost in the great ocean. It is as all
believers who know or seek this blessing begin to pray as intensely for
each other and all their brethren, as for themselves, that the power of the
Spirit will be fully known. With the prayer that this Spirit-filled book
may be greatly blessed of God, I commend it to the study of His children.


ANDREW MURRAY.

_London, Dec. 1, 1895._





CONTENTS.




PAGE

Introduction--Andrew Murray 3

Author's Preface 9

Introduction to first Australian edition 13


CHAPTER I.

The Starting Point 17


CHAPTER II.

Every Believer's Birthright 19


CHAPTER III.

A Command to be Obeyed 21


CHAPTER IV.

Something different from the new Birth--Proved from the Case of
(1) The Apostles--(2) The Samaritans--(3) Saul of Tarsus--(4)
The Ephesians--Unclaimed Deposits 23


CHAPTER V.

Everybody's Need 29


CHAPTER VI.

Preventive Against Backsliding 31


CHAPTER VII.

How long Between the New Birth and the Filling? 34


CHAPTER VIII.

Other New Testament Names for "Being Filled with the Spirit"--(1)
Baptized with the Holy Ghost--"Baptized into One Body,"
What it means--(2) Rivers of Living Waters--(3) The Promise
of the Father--(4) Pouring Forth--(5) The Gift--(6)
Receiving--(7) Falling--(8) Coming--(9) Sealed 36


CHAPTER IX.

How Obtained?--(1) Cleanse--(2) Consecrate--(3) Claim 47


CHAPTER X.

Wrong Motives 48


CHAPTER XI.

Cleansing--A "New Heart" not necessarily a "Clean Heart"--What is
a Clean Heart?--Not Sinlessness--Blameless, not Faultless--"I
was alone in the Twilight"--Cleansing a Crisis, not a
Process 49


CHAPTER XII.

Consecration: What is it?--(1) Sanctification--(2) Surrender--(3)
Transference of Ownership--(4) Enthroning Christ 72


CHAPTER XIII.

Claiming--(1) Prayer--(2) Laying on of Hands--Claiming and
Asking--Through Faith the Blessing Made Ours--Objections
Against This 87


CHAPTER XIV.

How Does it Come?--Aorist Tense: "Were Filled," Refilled, A
Crisis--Imperfect Tense: "Were being Filled," A
Process--Present Tense: "Full," the Normal Condition--Deacons
"Full of the Holy Ghost"--Illustration of Water
Trough--Illustration of Service Pipe 91


CHAPTER XV.

Its Effects--(1) Courage--(2) Fruit of the Spirit--(3) Reach the
Masses--(4) Persecution 104


CHAPTER XVI.
May One Know that he is Filled?--(1) From the Testimony of the
Word--(2) The Witness of the Spirit--(3) Signs
Following 117


CHAPTER XVII.

May One Say that He is Filled?--Testifying to
Forgiveness--Testifying to Full Salvation 120

CHAPTER XVIII.

May One Lose the Blessing?--By Disobedience--By Neglect of the
Word--It will be Found Where it was Lost 122





THE

SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE


BY THE LATE

REV. JOHN MACNEIL, B. A.


INTRODUCTION BY THE

REV. ANDREW MURRAY

_Be filled with the Spirit_--Eph. v. 18




Chicago

THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION

250 LA SALLE AVENUE



_Copyright 1896 by
Fleming H. Revell Company._




PREFACE.


I have written only for the "babes." The "full-grown," the "perfect," who
may read will kindly bear this in mind. A wide and more or less intimate
acquaintance with the Churches of Australasia has shown me the need for a
simple, homely talk, such as this little book professes to be. Many, oh! so
many of God's dear children are living on the wrong side of Pentecost,
living on the same plane as that on which the disciples were living before
they "were filled with the Holy Ghost;" and thus by their lives practically
making the sad confession, "We did not so much as hear whether the Holy
Ghost was given," or "whether there be any Holy Ghost." The object of this
little work is to call their attention to their Birthright, to the fact
that the Fullness of the Spirit is the Birthright of every believer. God
wants us to be living _this_ side Pentecost, not the _other_ side.

The substance of the following pages has been occasionally delivered as a
series of afternoon Bible Readings in connection with my Mission Services.
The frequent request that those who heard them might have them in a more
permanent form, coupled with the hope that the great blessing that has most
graciously been vouchsafed to them when spoken, might not be withheld from
them when being read, has induced me to commit them to writing.

I gratefully acknowledge help received from many sources, both in preparing
the Bible Readings, and in preparing them for publication; especially do I
owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved "fellow-worker in Christ Jesus," who
has now for many years been "a succorer of many, and of myself also," the
Rev.