as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts, 10:44-48)." This was the crowning miracle of the whole transaction.

not

The conversion of Cornelius proceeded on perfectly natural lines except the miracle of the baptism in the Spirit, which was designed to forever demonstrate that "God is no respecter of persons." His conversion was brought about according to the Great Commission - by a preacher and by preaching. Let us review the ground. The angel told Cornelius that Peter should tell him what he ought to do receive, but do (Acts, 10: 1-6). The messengers told Peter that Cornelius sought him in order to hear words of him (Acts 10:22); nothing said about miracles. Cornelius told Peter on his arrival that the angel had assured him that when he came he would speak to him (Acts 10: 30-32). In Peter's defense, he rehearsed the whole transaction and said that the angel had said of him, Peter, "Who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved (Acts, II: I14)." Peter did preach. He did proclaim the gospel. He did tell them saving words. They heard it, believed it, obeyed it, just as they did on Pentecost. To Cornelius and his house personally the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only an incident; they were saved by the gospel through Peter's mouth according to Peter's testimony before the great convention at Jerusalem: "And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe; and God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Acts, 15:7-9)." With ascending emphasis, I declare Cornelius and his house were saved by the gospel - its facts, its commands, its blessings! But God "bare witness to them" and to the Jews by a miracle that they had found acceptance with and in Him.

This was the second baptism of the Holy Spirit and the last, and Peter used this as an argument in favor of baptism in water: "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts, 10: 46, 47)." How like Pentecost: "Then said Peter unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)." One Savior, one gospel, one way of salvation!

The day of Pentecost, the inauguration of the Kingdom among the Jews, has never been duplicated and never will be. The incidents at the house of Cornelius, the inauguration of the Kingdom among the Gentiles, has never been duplicated, and never will be. The gospel will be preached and heard and obeyed, but the miracle of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, either at Pentecost or at the house of Cornelius, will be seen no more. Peter, in his defense before the brethren, lays the cap-sheaf on the argument: "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at the beginning, then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, for as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God (Acts, 11:15-17)?" This silenced all criticism, for: "When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life (Acts, 11: 18)."

The conclusion is resistless that the Holy Spirit having endowed the apostles and having through them revealed all God has to say in this dispensation, and having borne public and convincing testimony to the truth that God's philanthropy includes both Jew and Gentile the whole world— on the same conditions, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is no

longer needed in the administration of the affairs of the Kingdom.

The conclusion is also resistless that the Spirit, the Ghost" of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, having been sent to earth to abide perpetually, is still using the same gospel proclaimed on Pentecost and to Cornelius to save the world. Amen.

CHAPTER IV.

The Secondary Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

As we enter upon the study of this subject, a few explanatory words are necessary. We have fully seen that the Kingdom was inaugurated both among the Jews and Gentiles with a great and notable miracle, and that this miracle involved the endowment, enlightenment, and inspiration of the apostles as to the teaching of Jesus, and as to their duty to the Gentile world. This miracle resulted also in physical manifestations, signs, tongues and the performance of miracles by the apostles. This power came direct from heaven without human aid. For the sake of clearness

I will designate these as the first gifts of the Spirit.

Why were these first gifts necessary, and why were the secondary gifts necessary? To bring the matter fully before you, allow me to say that the first gifts of the spirit — miraculous were vouchsafed only to the apostles; the secondary gifts - also miraculous - were vouchsafed only to those on whom the apostles laid their hands. In other words, the apostles possessed the rare gift of transferring gifts to others, but they could not confer the power to pass these gifts on - the gifts stopped with the first receiver.

But to return to our question: Why were these gifts necessary, either as direct from heaven or through apostolic hands? Did you ever reflect on how difficult it is to plant a new thought in the mind of the world? Look at the Jews; for fifteen centuries God was training them for Messiah's day, but as a nation they rejected Him: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not (Jno., I:11)." The whole world is full of sin, prejudice, conventionality, conservatism, caste. The Lord knew the difficulties, hence some

means must be found to startle, to attract, to hold the attention, and the workers were so humble, so obscure, so wanting in influence, that some visible sign or act was needed to prepare the soil attention of the people for the planting of the seed of the kingdom. Jesus Himself was so obscure that His birthday was forgotten and He was so poor that He had no place to lay His head. With what infinite pathos He spoke of His poverty: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head (Luke, 9: 58)." And yet He came to establish a world-wide Empire of Love! He worked for a living, and many criticized Him because of His great wisdom and poverty-two things forever irreconcilable in the eyes of the world saying: "From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were all offended at him (Mark, 6:2, 3)." Again: "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (Matt., 11:25)." He had no wealth, no position, and His teaching was too deep and too spiritual to attract much attention, hence His miracles, to attract attention to the word and to confirm the word. He chose His ambassadors - apostles from the lower walks of life. The majority of them were without education. They, like their Master, were from the world's standpoint unlearned and ignorant; on the day of Pentecost the astonished multitude inquired: "Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born (Acts 2:7,8)?"

Ponder this thought well: Jesus came from God with a message of love; He passed it down to the apostles, and through them-inspired by His spirit to every land; this message once planted was able to take care of itself, and is