Earlier text: THE TOUCH OF FAITHTHE PEACE OF GOD.
By Lyman Abbott
THE peace of God is the peace God gives to those who are trying to do God service, and so a peace we come into by faith; not by that miserable pretense of faith which consists in believing that God will do what we want him to do, but in that real faith which links us to God, and makes us one with him in the purpose and desire of our living. We come into peace when we rise above the tempest. We come into peace when we go down, following the figure of that beautiful poem of Mrs. Stowe—down beneath the storm line, where "the silver waves chime ever peacefully." Oh, it is possible so to live that the storm shall not, after all, disturb you, though you are in the midst of it. It is possible to rise above it in thought, in feeling, in aspiration, in power, in the experience of your heart and soul. I have stood on the top of the mountain, and have seen the clouds gather around its top, and have seen them settle down upon the valley below, and have heard the thunder muttering there, and have seen the lightning flashes playing below my feet, and have seen the birds come flying up through the clouds, singing on the mountain-top, while the thunder was threatening and the lightning was playing havoc in the valley. So learn to fly above these lower earthly storms that lie only in the hollows, and find that song always to be found in the mountain-top and in the sunlight. It is possible. We can do it. Men and women have done it. This peace that I have talked to you about this morning is not a peace from trouble; and when we try to find the peace from trouble we always fail. It is peace in trouble. It is hinted at in that word of Christ, "In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." We would have God lead us through no dark valley and shadow of death. But he gives us no promise of that kind. What he says is this: Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, my rod and my staff they shall comfort you. We come to the deep water, and shrink back, saying, "Not into that river, not into that river!" We come to the furnace of fire, saying, "Not into that flame, not into that flame!" But the answer is this: "Though thou walkest through the deep waters, they shall not overflow thee; thou thou walkest through the flame, it shall not consume thee." And so we are to find our peace, not by exemption from trouble, but by living in the midst of trouble. Yea, baring our breast to the trouble, yet rejoicing in trouble, for they that are exercised thereby are they that follow after peace and find it.—Lyman Abbott. What You Bring to the Bible
By Dr. Behrends
WHAT the Bible brings to you will depend in a large measure on what you bring to it. You may have a crumb, or a loaf, or a granary full to bursting, just as you choose.—Dr. Behrends. PERILS IN BOTH COUNTRY AND CITY.
By Editor
THAT not only indifference to spiritual things, but positive irreligion, is rapidly increasing throughout the land in both city and country, is a fact no longer to be disguised. Our readers are aware of the facts recently brought out in the conference of evangelical ministers in New York, relative to the deplorable spiritual condition of the cities; and it will be remembered that in the Syracuse convention one minister made the statement, which was not challenged, that the proportion of church-goers was no greater in the country than in the city. The following from the New York Christian Advocate is to the same import:— The eyes of philanthropists are turned to the cities as centers of corruption, presenting the chief obstacles in the progress of Christianity. It seems to be taken for granted that the country districts are comparatively safe. It is, doubtless, the case, that less flagrant vice and dangerous ignorance and lawlessness exist in the rural districts than in the cities. But changes are rapidly taking place in many parts of the country also. There are large districts where American farmers once tilled the soil and inhabited the villages, where now foreign populations are coming in and taking possession. Communities made up of Protestant Christians a few years ago, have given place to Roman Catholics and infidels. A Baptist paper says: "The other day we were told of a farming community near a thriving town in Iowa, where a certain road came to be known as 'Baptist Road,' because every farm on either side for four miles was owned by a good Baptist farmer. To-day not one of these farms is owned by a Baptist. And the trouble is that the people who have come to till these acres are not of a character easily reached by evangelical religion." The name of Wesleyville was given to a certain village in Western Pennsylvania many years ago, because the settlers in and about the place were generally Methodists, and a flourishing Methodist Church grew up there. The town still bears the name, and the church still occupies the old site, but it only maintains a precarious existence. The Methodist farmers have emigrated, and their places are filled by German skeptics and men who care not for religion. Country churches by scores have been abandoned of late years, because of these changes. While men are seeking to solve the problem of city evangelization, would it not be well to give more thought to the question of country evangelization? Among Methodists in early times there was no distinction made between the city and the country in the appointment of preachers. The rural districts enjoyed the ministry of the strongest men, and Methodism grew and flourished. It is useless to disguise the fact that a different policy prevails now, and it is needless to deny that baneful results are being realized in many places. SPIRITS IN PRISON.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
SOMEBODY, we do not know who, asks for an explanation of certain texts which he thinks seem to conflict with the doctrine of the sleep of the dead. We herewith answer the last text that he mentions; the others will receive attention at another time. He says:— "It has been suggested that the preaching to the spirits in prison, referred to in 1 Peter 3:19, 20, was done by Christ between his death and his resurrection. Please explain through the SIGNS OF THE TIMES." We wish first to say that a suggestion does not prove anything. The man who reads a plain declaration of the Scripture, and then listens to suggestions of doubt, will have all the opportunity that he desires for doubt. Satan is always ready with suggestions against the truth of God, and those who entertain them do so to their own ruin. If suggestions were to be considered as worthy of comparison with plain, positive proof, nothing could stand; for it is possible to suggest anything. Following are the verses referred to, together with the eighteenth:— "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [made alive] by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water." 1 Peter 3:18-20. Now let us read this carefully, to see just what it tells us. After stating that Christ, the Just One, once suffered for the sins of the wicked world, it tells us how he suffered—"being put to death in the flesh." Next it tells us that he was made alive by the Spirit; then it says that it was by this same Spirit that he went and preached to the spirits in prison; and lastly, it tells us when this preaching was done—"when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." There you have the whole story. There is not a hint that the preaching was done by Christ between his death and his resurrection. On the contrary, it is stated that the preaching was not done at all by Christ, but that he did it by the Spirit. Now turn to Gen. 6:3, and you will see that in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, the Spirit of God was working among the people: "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." The preaching, then, was done by the Spirit, the same Spirit which brought Christ again from the dead. But how about the spirits being in prison? How were they in prison? A few texts will answer this. First, we remember that the antediluvians were exceedingly wicked. The Bible says that "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. 6:5. But sin is a bondage, as the wise man says: "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins." Prov. 5:22. And the apostle Peter, speaking of those who by their deceitful wantonness seduce those who have escaped from the snare, says: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." 2 Peter 2:19. The work of Christ is to save men from the bondage of sin. Matt. 1:21; Gal. 1:4. Read also Paul's account, in the seventh of Romans, of his bondage to sin, and of his deliverance. And it is by the Spirit that this deliverance is effected. When Christ stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth, he read these words, which he said were fulfilled in him:— "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18, 19. In the passage from which Christ read (Isa. 61:1), it says plainly, "the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Bound with what? Why, with the cords of their sins. Read now Ps. 102:19, 20, where it says that the Lord "hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from Heaven did the Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners; to loose those that are appointed to death." From this we learn that those to whom the Spirit preaches deliverance are not dead, but are only "appointed to death." "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage." Whom did he come to deliver? Those who all their life-time were subject to bondage? How were they thus in bondage? Through fear of death? What is it that brings the fear of death? It is sin; for "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. So then, Christ came to deliver them who were held in the bondage of sin. This is just what he came for, and this he does by the Spirit, which both convicts and converts. It was this same Spirit by which the gospel of deliverance was preached to the antediluvians; but they rejected it, and so were lost. This is just what we learn from 1 Peter 3:18-20. It is Scriptural and reasonable. In an article in another column, entitled "Charging God Foolishly," we shall show how contradictory and dishonoring to God is the theory that the preaching referred to was done by Christ himself, in the interval between his death and his resurrection. W. A FALLACY EXPOSED.
By Editor
A SHORT time ago we heard one of the ministers of Oakland read an essay to his congregation on Sunday observance. It was one of a combination of discourses designed to stir the people up to see the necessity of a State Sunday law, but one of the illustrations used was most unfortunate. It is well known that the strongest plea for a Sunday law is on the ground that the workingman is ground down by soulless corporations. Pathetic stories are told of conscientious men who would like to keep Sunday, and who feel that they ought to, but who are not able to follow out their conscientious convictions lest they should lose their place. The preacher was showing how strictly Sunday ought to be observed, and how God's blessing follows its strict observance. He told of a man with whom he was acquainted in Chicago, who was forced to drive on a street-car for a living. When it came Saturday night his employers required him to work the next day, but he refused, saying that he could not work on "the Sabbath," and that he would throw up his job. The managers, however, concluded that so conscientious a man would be valuable, and did not discharge him, but gave him constant employment after that. He also mentioned the case of the young man who was discharged by Stephen Girard, because he refused to help load a ship on Sunday. The young man wandered around for several weeks in search of employment, and finally found an excellent place in a bank, to the managers of which he was recommended by Girard himself, as a model of conscientious honesty. If this proves anything, it proves that the talk about a Sunday law being a necessity in order that the laboring man may keep Sunday in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience, is all cant. It proves that there is no necessity whatever for any Sunday law. Everybody who wants to keep Sunday can do so without a law, and nobody can hinder him; while those who do not want to keep Sunday will not thank those who make a law compelling them to. The only necessity there is for a Sunday law is in the selfishness of those who are clamoring for it. "PAUL, a servant of Jesus Christ, . . . to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints; grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The first seven verses of the book of Romans constitute the introduction to the epistle—the salutation; but those who have read the preceding articles of this series will conclude, if they never thought of it before, that there is a world of thought conveyed even in one of the greetings of the apostle Paul. Not one word did he write in vain. The expression to which we wish to call especial attention in this article is, "called to be saints," or, more properly, "called saints." The word "saints," is used throughout the Bible to denote the people of God, both while they are in this world, and after they have been redeemed. Paul, when on his missionary journeys, gathered money for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Rom. 15:25, 26; 1 Cor. 16:1. He addressed the Corinthians as "called saints," the same as he did the Romans. 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1. Three other epistles he addressed respectively as follows: "To the saints which are at Ephesus" (Eph. 1:1); "to all the saints in Christ which are at Philippi" (Phil. 1:1); and "to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse." Col. 1:2. In short, it is generally used as synonymous with "Christian." This should serve to give us an exalted idea of what it is to be a Christian, rather than an inferior idea of what it is to be a saint. The Roman Catholic Church, with the arrogance characteristic of it, has assumed the prerogative of making saints. It holds that a saint is far different from the ordinary Christian, and confers the title of "saint" upon men long dead, much as a college will grant a post-graduate degree to one who since graduation has been particularly successful in certain lines of work or study. But this is wholly a perversion of the Bible use of the term, for it properly belongs to all who are in Christ. A saint is one who is sanctified. The two words have a common derivation. Paul addressed his first epistle to the Corinthians, "unto the church of God which is at Corinth; to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." 1 Cor. 1:2. Sanctification is not, as some imagine, a special grace bestowed upon certain Christians, but is the condition of all who are truly Christians. All who are in Christ Jesus are sanctified, and for this reason they are called saints. The modern idea that a man may live for years in a justified state before God, and still know nothing of sanctification, is but another phase of the Roman Catholic idea that a saint is an extraordinary Christian—something more than a Christian. To be sanctified is looked upon, not as a necessity, but as a privilege granted to a few; and the result is a lowering of the standard of simple Christianity. The word rendered "sanctified," means to consecrate, to devote to religious uses. The word rendered "saint," signifies the person or thing so devoted or set apart. I will quote the first definitions both of the Greek and the Latin words that are so87 rendered: "Hagios 'devoted to the gods,' (Latin, Sacer); and so 1. in good sense, Sacred, holy.'" Liddell and Scott. The Latin word sanctus, which is rendered "saint," is from the verb sancio, which is defined, "to render sacred or inviolable by a religious act; to appoint as sacred or inviolable." As used of legal ordinances, or other public proceedings, it meant, "to establish, appoint, decree, ordain; also to make irrevocable or unalterable." Harper's Latin Dictionary. These definitions will materially aid the reader in his understanding of sanctification, a subject which we can at this time scarcely more than hint at. In harmony with these definitions is the following comment by Dr. Barnes on the word "saints":— "The radical idea of the word is, that which is separated from a common to a sacred use, and answers to the Hebrew word Kadosh. It is applied to anything that is set apart to the service of God, to the temple, to the garments, etc., of the priests, and to the priests themselves. It was applied to the Jews as a people separated from other nations, and devoted or consecrated to God, while other nations were devoted to the service of idols. It is also applied to Christians, as being a people devoted or set apart to the service of God. The radical idea, then, as applied to Christians, is that they are separated from other men, and other objects and pursuits, and consecrated to the service of God. This is the peculiar characteristic of the saints." To be a saint of God is to be sanctified or consecrated to his service. The process is this: God calls all men. "The Spirit and the bride say, . . . Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. This call is extended to all men indiscriminately. The Spirit strives with every soul. At the door of every heart Christ stands and knocks. Some hear his voice, and open to him. This is an invitation for him to take complete possession. It is a surrender of self to God; a yielding to him to be his bond-servant. This surrender of self to God, that his will may be the rule in every act, word, and thought, is the act of consecration to God. It must be a voluntary act on the part of the individual, yet it is the love of Christ which constrains to the act. The individual, having counted the cost, has deliberately given up the world with its sinful pleasures, has renounced all purpose and desire to have his own way, and has accepted Christ as his sole Master. He is then devoted to the service of God, and is therefore sanctified, a saint of God. From this it appears that sanctification does not necessarily imply perfection of character, in the sense that the expression is commonly used. The individual at first has no Christian character; that is to be developed, built up in Christ. He has simply placed himself in the way of perfection. The character is not changed in a moment from imperfection to perfection; but the yielding of one's self to Christ, for him to work in the soul that which is good, may be the work of a moment. Old things are now passed away, and a new life begins. Although he does not attain at a single bound to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, he is not condemned, because all his acts are wrought in God. He is not sanctified because he is holy, but he is sanctified because he has put himself into the hands of God to be made holy. Perhaps the following criticism by Olshausen, upon the word rendered "saints," may make the matter more clear:— "The word in its immediate signification denotes no degree of moral perfection (the Corinthians, who were in so many respects deserving of blame, are called hagioi, saints), but refers to the separation of believers from the great mass of the kosmos, the Gentile world. Yet it doubtless also implies that Christians have been made partakers of the principle of a higher moral life, which, as in a course of development, is gradually to pervade the whole man, and produce perfect holiness. Now this principle is the Spirit of Christ, so that Paul's idea 'made us accepted in the beloved,' is also applied to the conception of hagios. Christians are holy on account of Christ who lives in them, and who is their true life." Says the apostle Paul: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:1-3. The phrase, "the higher Christian life," as applied to a condition higher than that of simple acceptance with God, is false and misleading. The Christian life is the highest life there is. It is a life in Christ, who sits at the right hand of God in Heaven. Less than this is not a Christian life. The object of this article is not to lower anybody's conception of sanctification, or saintship, but to elevate their conception of what it is to be a Christian; to impress upon the mind the fact that one who is not sanctified in Christ Jesus, and thus a saint of God, is not a Christian. Neither is it designed to discourage anybody. It would be false and cruel sympathy that would seek to encourage one by representing the Christian life as a low plane of living. The true way is to set forth the Christian life in its true light, and then point out the source of help. The Christian life is continual progression. The Christian is a disciple, a learner; he is one who is engaged in a warfare, continually fighting, continually gaining victories; he is one running a race, ever drawing nearer the goal, which is "the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." His Master in the school is Christ, whose yoke he has taken, and from whom he learns; his leader in the battle is Jesus Christ, who, as Captain of the Lord's host, has all power in Heaven and earth to impart to his faithful followers, so that they may be more than conquerors through Him who loves them; and in the race that is set before them, they are to run with perseverance, "looking unto Jesus." And so, "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18. THE WEEK OF PRAYER.
By C. P. B.
SOME two years since the Christian at Work suggested that the week of prayer should be transferred to Lent, or to use its own words, that it be given "a proper setting by postponing it to the Lenten season." The principal reason urged for the change was, that, "as at present instituted, the week of prayer comes right in the time of the world's season of festivities, which it not only antagonizes, but from which it suffers." It was also urged that as "five sixths of the world of Christians devote a specific time [Lent] to prayer and abstinence, it might be well for the other sixth to go so far over to the majority as to place its week of prayer at a time when the fashionable and religious world equally pause from their festivities." And now that paper again refers to the subject and says:— "The suggestion has been made heretofore that the week of prayer might better be merged into the Lenten season and observed by all evangelical denominations; it would be a splendid thing if the entire Christian Church could for a brief season make a break in the order of festivities, and by the practice of a measure of self-denial, reap some of the blessings that devout souls have found in the quiet Lenten season, with its respite from the all but senseless pursuit of pleasure or business or both." But think of it! "If the entire Christian Church could"—yes, if they only "could for a brief season"—mind you, only "for a brief season"—actually "make a break in the order of festivities"—yes, actually pause for a few days in their mad chase after pleasure—"and by the practice of a measure"—a small measure at that—"of self-denial reap some of the blessings that devout souls"—but why quote further? the thing is impossible. Says the apostle: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:15, 16. The idea of seeking pleasure all of the year, and making up for it by being pious during Lent, is contrary to every proper conception of true religion. But very likely if the week of prayer were appointed at a time when it was fashionable to be religious, very many who now pay no attention to it whatever would apparently be very devout for a few days and imagine that they were doing God service. It would not however be doing service to God, but it would be taking a step toward Rome. C. P. B. CHARGING GOD FOOLISHLY.
By w.
In the article entitled "Spirits in Prison," we have given the explanation of the words of Peter, that Christ was "quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." We saw that the preaching was done by the Spirit, when before the flood it strove with men who were in bondage to their own corrupt desires. We propose now to show the folly and the wickedness of the theory that the preaching was done by Christ between his death and his resurrection. We will first quote the words of two eminent theologians, which voice the popular sentiment concerning this text. Archdeacon Farrar, in "Early Days of Christianity," speaks of this text as showing that there is hope for those who die in their sins, and says:— "Of all the blunt weapons of ignorant controversy employed against those to whom has been revealed the possibility of a larger hope than has been revealed by Augustine or Calvin, the bluntest is the charge that such a hope renders null the necessity for the work of Christ. As if it were not this very hope which gives to the love of Christ its mightiest effectiveness! We thus rescue the work of redemption from the appearance of having failed to achieve its end for the vast majority of those for whom Christ died."—Chapter 7. Dean Alford also, in his comments on the text, says that the inference to be drawn from it, which with him is the same as Farrar's, "is one which throws light on one of the darkest enigmas of divine justice; the cases where the final doom seems infinitely out of proportion to the guilt which incurred it." And so man, in order to fathom the mind of God, will deliberately belittle sin, and will presume to judge how much punishment is due for the commission of certain sins! If the severest punishment that God ever inflicts is not justly due those who corrupted their way, and obstinately resisted his pleadings for a hundred and twenty years, each year growing more and more bold in their rebellion, we should like to know what sin would merit the vengeance of God, and everlasting destruction. Again, the view which we combat actually charges God with acting rashly, in punishing people who did not deserve it. For if there were some of the antediluvians who in the time of Christ were fit subjects for the preaching of the gospel, then they ought not to have been destroyed in the flood. It would seem as though reverence for God ought to be sufficient to deter his professed ministers from making such charges against him. It is said that "by the theory that Christ preached while in hades, we rescue the work of redemption from the appearance of having failed to achieve its end for the vast majority of those for whom Christ died." Who has the right to say that the gospel has not achieved its end unless everybody is saved? The Bible nowhere teaches us to expect that all will be saved. When one came to Christ and asked, "Are there few that be saved?" he replied:— "Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Luke 13:23, 24. In the sermon on the mount, he also said: "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:13, 14. Thus we see that the Lord himself teaches us that all men will not be saved. Why will men88do violence to a text, in order to draw from it an inference which contradicts the plain declaration of Christ? Note that the theory that Christ descended into hades to preach to the dead, does teach the doctrine of probation after death, and universal salvation. In fact, the doctrine of probation after death, inevitably runs into that of universal salvation. For if God, in order to be just, must grant another probation to those who remain impenitent at the close of the first, he must also grant another to those who remain impenitent at the close of the second, and so on until all have been converted. But this, as we have seen, contradicts the plain word of God. The theory of future probation, or probation after death, which is built almost solely on this false interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18-20, is nothing else than the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory, with its attendant prayers for the dead. For if we must pray for those who are on probation before death, as we assuredly ought, then it follows that we ought to pray for those on probation after death, if there were any such. Not only so, but we ought in that case to pray to them, in the sense that the Catholics pray to them, namely, to ask their intercession for us. For if the dead are on probation, they are in as good case as we are, who are also on probation; and since we are exhorted to pray for one another, we ought to ask the dead to pray for us, as well as to pray for them. In fact, there is no absurdity of Catholicism or Spiritualism which does not legitimately follow from the theory that Christ went after death to preach to people in hades. Finally, take notice that all these absurdities and false doctrines come from the unscriptural theory that the dead are conscious, and thus capable of listening to preaching. If men believed what the Scripture says, that "the dead know not anything," they could not take the position Farrar and Alford and so many thousands of professed Christians do, in regard to 1 Peter 3:18-20. We have already fully shown the fallacy of that theory; but we will in conclusion quote a few texts which, if men will adhere to them, will keep them from such false and unnecessary conclusions. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Eccl. 9:10. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps. 115:17. "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Isa. 38:18. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:3, 4. Let us hold to the plain statements of the Bible, and not be carried away with the suggestions of the enemy. "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." w. How often do we hear people ask the Lord to baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire! But they do not know for what they are asking. They connect in a vague sort of way Matt. 3:11 and Acts 2:3, and suppose the latter to be the fulfillment of the former. But even though the cloven tongues were as of fire, and although they were upon all, the disciples were not in any sense baptized with the tongues, or the fire. Baptize means to immerse, not to sit upon. They were on the day of Pentecost baptized in the Holy Spirit. The room in which they were, was filled with the divine, life-giving influence, and they were literally immersed in the Holy Spirit, and the tongues were but another manifestation of the same Spirit. There are two classes spoken of by John in Matt. 3:11. One class—the faithful—will be baptized with the Holy Spirit; the other—the wicked—will be baptized by fire; immersed in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15), and utterly burned up. Rev. 20:9. This application of Matt. 3:11, is shown to be correct, by the next verse: "He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Let no one pray, therefore, to be baptized with fire, unless he wishes the Lord to burn him with fire.