Have You the Spirit?Have You the Spirit?

I take it for granted that you believe in the Holy Spirit. The number of people in this country who openly deny the doctrine of the Trinity, is happily not great. Most persons have been baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Many have been taught to repeat the Belief, or Apostles’ Creed, from their youth up. Your lips have probably said a thousand times the solemn words, “I believe in the Holy Ghost.” But notwithstanding all this, I wish you to con¬sider well what you know of the Holy Spirit be-yond His name. What experimental acquaintance have you with the Spirit’s work? What has He done for you? What benefit have you received from Him? You can say of God the Father, “He made me and all the world.” You can say of God the Son, “He died for me and all mankind.” But can you say anything about the Holy Ghost? Can you say with any degree of confidence, “He dwells in me, and sanctifies me?” In one word, Have you the Spirit? This is the question I press upon your attention. Reader, I believe the question to be one of vital importance at all seasons. I hold it to be one of special importance in the present day. I consider that clear views about the work of the Holy Spirit are among the best preservatives against the many false doctrines which abound in our own times. Suffer me then, at the beginning of a new year, to lay before you a few things, which, by God’s blessing, may help you to answer the inquiry,—Have you the Spirit?