The document outlines the role of the Holy Spirit in providing guidance and wisdom to believers, emphasizing the importance of seeking God's counsel through prayer, obedience, and adherence to Scripture. It discusses how the Holy Spirit intercedes for individuals and helps them discern God's will, contrasting divine guidance with human wisdom, which can lead to catastrophe. The text also addresses common barriers to receiving guidance, including a lack of sincerity in seeking God's direction and disobedience to His commands.

1. HOLY SPIRIT GUIDANCE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
SOME WAYS THE SPIRIT GUIDES
Isaiah 63:11-14
Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses Where is He who brought them up
out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the
midst of them, Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided
the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, Who led them through
the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble.
1 Kings 18:12
"It will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you where I do
not know; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I
your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.
Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to
heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings
of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea.
Luke 4:1
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in
the wilderness
Matthew 4:1
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Mark 1:12
Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.
Acts 10:37-38
you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from
Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how
God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing
good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Acts 13:2
While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for
Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 15:28
"For it seemedgood to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than
these essentials:

2. Romans 8:14
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Galatians 5:18
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Isaiah 59:21
"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit which is upon
you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor
from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says
the LORD, "from now and forever."
Romans 8:26-27
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He
who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is
given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge
according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of
healing by the one Spirit.
Galatians 5:25
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Mark 13:11
"When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to
say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the
Holy Spirit.
Matthew 10:19-20
"But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will
be given you in that hour what you are to say. "For it is not you who speak, but it is the
Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
Luke 12:11-12
"When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not
worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the
Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
Acts 8:29
Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot."
1 Corinthians 2:13
which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by
the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

3. Acts 16:6-7
They passedthrough the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy
Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into
Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
John 16:13
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will
not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose
to you what is to come.
gotquestions.org
Question: "How can I receive divine guidance?"
Answer: The desire for direction and divine guidance is universal. In every culture, the
wise and learned are revered and their answers sought by those struggling with decisions.
Unfortunately, this wisdom is often the manmade variety and can lead to catastrophe, since
every human being is fallible and our wisdom often questionable (1 Corinthians 1:20).
When man seeks supernatural wisdom, he often turns to the spirit world by consulting
mediums, witches, or other avenues forbidden by God (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; Deuteronomy
18:14). However, Isaiah 8:19 says, “When someone tells you to consult mediums and
spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult
the dead on behalf of the living?”
So how do we receive answers from God? If our hearts are set to truly seek His wisdom,
how do we find it? Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me
with all your heart.” So God promises that those who seek His counsel with all their hearts
will find it. However, there are several factors that must be in place before we can claim
this promise:
1. We must do it God’s way. The Lord God Almighty is not a slot machine or a genie who
grants wishes. But often that is the subconscious attitude of those who claim to want His
guidance. Many live life as their own bosses, but, when faced with tragedy or heartache,
become temporarily interested in God. If we want direction from God, we must come to
Him the only way He provides for such relationship—through His Son. Jesus said, “I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John
14:6). Our only access to the Father is when we come through the sacrificial death and
resurrection of His Son. When we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we become the children
of God (John 1:12; Romans 10:9 HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2010.9%E2%80%9310"– HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2010.9%E2%80%9310"10). God’s promises in
Scripture are for His children. So when we come to Him in the way He has provided, we
can claim His promises for wisdom and guidance (Proverbs 3:5 HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%203.5%E2%80%936"– HYPERLINK

4. "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%203.5%E2%80%936"6; James 1:5).
2. We must know what God’s Word says. There is much guidance already given to us, and
we need only to read it in the Bible. We do not need to seek direction about whether or not
to sin. If God has already statedsomething in His Word, He will not contradict it. He will
not instruct us to murder someone, steal, or commit adultery. Prohibitions against such
things are already clearly stated in His Word, and He expects us to follow them (Mark
10:19; Luke 18:20). For example, many unmarried couples try to insist that “God
understands” the fact that they are sleeping together before marriage. Some evenclaim
that they “prayed about it and feel it’s OK.” This thinking is in clear defiance of God’s
stated commands against sexual immorality (Hebrews 13:4). To justify sin by saying that
God has made an exception to His own commands is to reveal one does not really want the
guidance of God.
3. We must be in continual fellowship with the Holy Spirit. God speaks not only through
His Word but through the confirmations of His Spirit within us. Romans 8:16 says, “The
Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” How does He
“bear witness with our spirit”? When we are born again (John 3:3), the Holy Spirit moves
into our hearts and changes us into “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our human
spirits that were once dead and under the control of our flesh are made alive with new
power and a desire that come from God Himself (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:5). As we
give Him more control over every area of our lives, He speaks within our spirits, convicting
of sin, guiding toward wisdom, and confirming His pleasure at our obedience (Psalm 16:11;
2 Corinthians 5:9; Colossians 1:10; Galatians 5:22).
4. We must ask for divine guidance. James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not
ask.” When our hearts are in right relationship to God, then James 1:5 assures us that we
can ask for wisdom and believe that we have received it. We can ask that He guide us into
all truth (John 16:13; Psalm 25:5). When we ask in faith, we can then move forward with
confidence in the direction that appears wisest, asking all the time for God to shut any door
that He did not open. We move ahead with eyes wide open, staying in prayer and seeking
God’s answer with a heart to obey.
5. We must be willing to obey when He gives us guidance. Often, when people say they
want to know God’s will, what they really mean is this: “I want to know God’s will—and
then I’ll decide whether or not I’m going to do it.” God already knows the deep things of
our hearts and many times will not reveal His plan to a stubborn heart who will not obey
(Psalm 51:10 HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2051.10%E2%80%9312"–
HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2051.10%E2%80%9312"12; Proverbs
1:28 HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%201.28%E2%80%9329"–
HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%201.28%E2%80%9329"29; John 14:24;
Isaiah 1:15 HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Isa%201.15%E2%80%9316"–
HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Isa%201.15%E2%80%9316"16). Surrender
must accompany any prayer request. He does not exist to do our bidding; we exist for His
pleasure and His glory. He desires to work in our lives to accomplish His purposes for us
(Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:16).

5. The Lord is a communicating God, and He delights in giving divine guidance to those who
seek Him (Proverbs 20:24). He wants to direct the heart surrendered to Him. When we
come to Him in the way He has provided for us, when we seek His wisdom with a heart to
obey (Proverbs 3:13), then we can walk in the confidence that He is directing our paths
(Proverbs 3:5 HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%203.5%E2%80%936"–
HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Prov%203.5%E2%80%936"6).
Question: "How can I recognize the guidance of the Holy Spirit?"
Answer: Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told His disciples that He would send one
who would teach and guide all those who believe in Him (Acts 1:5; John 14:26; 16:7).
Jesus’ promise was fulfilled less than two weeks later when the Holy Spirit came in power
on the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2). Now, when a person believes in Christ, the Holy
Spirit immediately becomes a permanent part of his life (Romans 8:14; 1 Corinthians
12:13).
The Holy Spirit has many functions. Not only does He distribute spiritual gifts according to
His will (1 Corinthians 12:7 HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Cor%2012.7%E2%80%9311"– HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Cor%2012.7%E2%80%9311"11), but He also comforts
us (John 14:16, KJV), teaches us (John 14:26), and remains in us as a seal of promise upon
our hearts until the day of Jesus’ return (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). The Holy Spirit also takes
on the role of Guide and Counselor, leading us in the way we should go and revealing
God’s truth (Luke 12:12; 1 Corinthians 2:6 HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Cor%202.6%E2%80%9310"– HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/1%20Cor%202.6%E2%80%9310"10).
But how do we recognize the Spirit’s guidance? How do we discern between our own
thoughts and His leading? After all, the Holy Spirit does not speak with audible words.
Rather, He guides us through our own consciences (Romans 9:1) and other quiet, subtle
ways.
One of the most important ways to recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to be familiar
with God’s Word. The Bible is the ultimate source of wisdom about how we should live (2
Timothy 3:16), and believers are to search the Scriptures, meditate on them, and commit
them to memory (Ephesians 6:17). The Word is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17),
and the Spirit will use it to speak to us (John 16:12 HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%2016.12%E2%80%9314"– HYPERLINK
"https://biblia.com/bible/esv/John%2016.12%E2%80%9314"14) to reveal God’s will for
our lives; He will also bring specific Scriptures to mind at times when we need them most
(John 14:26).
Knowledge of God’s Word can help us to discern whether or not our desires come from the

6. Holy Spirit. We must test our inclinations against Scripture—the Holy Spirit will never
prod us to do anything contrary to God’s Word. If it conflicts with the Bible, then it is not
from the Holy Spirit and should be ignored.
It is also necessary for us to be in continual prayer with the Father (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Not only does this keepour hearts and minds open to the Holy Spirit’s leading, but it also
allows the Spirit to speak on our behalf: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for
us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind
of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will”
(Romans 8:26 HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%208.26%E2%80%9327"–
HYPERLINK "https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%208.26%E2%80%9327"27).
Another way to tell if we are following the Spirit’s leading is to look for signs of His fruit in
our lives (Galatians 5:22). If we walk in the Spirit, we will continue to see these qualities
grow and mature in us, and they will become evident to others as well.
It is important to note that we have the choice whether or not to accept the Holy Spirit’s
guidance. When we know the will of God but do not follow it, we are resisting the Spirit’s
work in our lives (Acts 7:51; 1 Thessalonians 5:19), and a desire to follow our own way
grieves Him (Ephesians 4:30). The Spirit will never lead us into sin. Habitual sin will cause
us to miss what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us through the Word. Being in tune with
God’s will, turning from and confessing sin, and making a habit of prayer and the study of
God’s Word will allow us to recognize—and follow—the Spirit’s leading.
STANLEY
How does the Holy Spirit guide us? How much does He control our actions? Does He still
speak to believers, or was personal communication only for Biblical times?
God does not want us to be confused about this vital area. In talking to His disciples about
the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all
the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will
speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come" (John 16:13, emphasis added).
Let’s consider four key truths about the leadership of the Holy Spirit:
1. The Holy Spirit will guide us.
Jesus doesn't promise that the Holy Spirit will control us. He says He will guide us.
Granted, there are times when I wish the Holy Spirit would control me. For instance, when
I am tempted. Or when I become so task oriented that I become insensitive. Or when it's a
beautiful Saturday afternoon and I need to study, but everything in me wants to grab my
camera and head for the mountains. Life would be much easierif the Holy Spirit would
take control of me.
But He is our guide, not our controller. We never lose our ability to choose to follow His
leading. As a result, we are always responsible for our words and actions.

7. 2. The Holy Spirit is a trustworthy guide.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, helps believers discern between what is true and what
is not; what is wise and what is foolish; what is best and what is simply OK. Each day is full
of decisions. Most of our decisions concern issues not clearly spelled out in the Scriptures,
for example, where to attend school, whether to hire a particular applicant, how much to
budget for vacation, on and on it goes.
As you are inundated with the details of everyday living, the Holy Spirit will guide you. He
will give you that extra on-the-spot sense of discernment you need to make both big and
small decisions. As you develop a greater sensitivity to His guidance, you will worry much
less about the decisions you make. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is a trustworthy guide.
3. The Holy Spirit is God's mouthpiece to believers.
The Holy Spirit does not speak on His own. Like Christ, this member of the Trinity has
willingly submitted to the authority of the Father. Everything He communicates to us is
directly from the Father: "He will not speak on His own initiative"
(http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13 HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.
biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=John%2016:13%22John%2016:
13"HYPERLINK HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.
biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=John%2016:13%22John%2016:
13" "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49 HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.
biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=John%2016:13%22John%2016:
13"& HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.
biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=John%2016:13%22John%2016:
13"search=John%2016:13" HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=John+16:13HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.
biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=John%2016:13%22John%2016:
13"John 16:13).
Our heavenly Father has chosen to communicate to His children through the Holy Spirit
(http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12 HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.b
iblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=Acts%2011:12%22Acts%2011:12
"HYPERLINK HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.b
iblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=Acts%2011:12%22Acts%2011:12
" "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49 HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.b
iblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=Acts%2011:12%22Acts%2011:12
"& HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.b
iblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=Acts%2011:12%22Acts%2011:12
"search=Acts%2011:12" HYPERLINK
"http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=Acts+11:12HYPERLINK%20%22http://www.b

8. iblegateway.com/passage/index.php?version=49&search=Acts%2011:12%22Acts%2011:12
"Acts 11:12). He is God's mouthpiece to believers. When the Father chooses to speak
directly to you, it will be through the Holy Spirit.
When you think about it, this really makes perfect sense. After all, where does the Holy
Spirit reside? In you! And in me! Therefore, He is the perfect candidate for communicating
God's will to Christians. Living inside us, He has direct access to our minds, emotions, and
consciences.
4. The Holy Spirit speaks.
The question of whether God still speaks today is one that has spawned numerous books,
articles, and lectures. It is not my purpose to present a tightly woven argument about why I
believe He still speaks today. Suffice it to say, I do believe God, through the Holy Spirit,
communicates directly with believers. No, I don't write these revelations in the back of my
Bible and call them inspired. Neither do I run around telling everybody what "God told
me."
My experience is that the Holy Spirit, at the prompting of the heavenly Father, still
communicates with believers today. How does He do that? The Holy Spirit indwells me. He
doesn't need my ears. What He needs is a listening heart and a renewed mind.
The book of Acts records several occasions when the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul and Peter
(11:12; 13:2; 16:6; 20:23). It can’t be denied that those men had a special gift and call on
their lives. But the same Holy Spirit who indwelt those men indwells every believer. Just as
they needed divine direction at critical times in their lives, we need it today.
In his letters to the Christians in Rome and Galatia, the Apostle Paul refers to believers as
“led by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18). If we are going to be led by the Holy Spirit, we
can only assume that He is willing (and able) to communicate with us.
How does God communicate with us today? The Lord speaks through the voice of His
Spirit, who resides within us. We may have to seek His face for a season; other times, we
can sense His direction immediately. No matter what, the Holy Spirit is a trustworthy
guide.
Adapted from “The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life,” by Charles F. Stanley, 1992.
How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit
By: Michael Bradley
Last updated on: November 14, 2018
Since we have opened up this site, we have receivedmany questions from people all across
the world. If I had to rank one question that might be one of the most frequently asked
questions, it might be the actual title of this article – exactly how am I to be led by the Holy
Spirit – and exactly how does the Holy Spirit communicate to all of us in this life?

9. As we all know, the Bible very clearly says that the sons of God are led by the Holy Spirit in
this life. Once again, here is this most important verse:
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
Now that we know that the Holy Spirit will lead us in this life because the Bible now tells us
so, exactly how does He do this? This is where you have to take some other verses from
Scripture on this topic and put them all together like you would pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.
Once you put these additional Scripture verses all together on this topic, then you will see
very clearly the different ways that the Holy Spirit will use to help guide us and
communicate to us in this life.
For the record, based upon the revelation that are in these additional verses, we believe
there are 8 basic ways that the Holy Spirit will use to not only guide us in this life, but to
also directly communicate to all of us from time to time. In other words, you can learn how
to hear direct from the Holy Spirit Himself.
If the Bible calls the Holy Spirit our Guide and Teacher in this life, then this means He will
attempt to communicate to all of us from time to time. Otherwise we will never be able to
pick up from Him exactly what He is trying to teach us or tell us to do.
But before I get into these 8 basic ways that the Holy Spirit will use to communicate to us
and lead us in this life, I want to make one more comment on this subject matter. If there
are two subject matters that are rarely discussed in many churches today, it has to be in the
area of spiritual warfare like we discussed so many times in our articles in that section, and
in the area on how to hear from God and how to be led by the Holy Spirit.
My best guess on why most pastors do not attempt to educate their flocks on how the Holy
Spirit will lead us and communicate to us in this life is either because they themselves do
not have a full understanding on this subject matter, or they are too afraid to open up this
subject matter to their flocks for fear that it will open up a door to the spiritual realm, and
from there, they could possibly make contact with demonic spirits who will try to
masquerade as the Holy Spirit or God Himself.
In other words, they look at this subject matter as being a kind of pandora’s box. They are
afraid if they open up their flocks to supernatural communication from the Holy Spirit,
then they may also open them up to communication to demonic spirits as well.
Granted, this is a possibility, but just because demons can attempt to counterfeit what God
does, does not mean you have to throw out all of the supernatural ways that God will use to
communicate to His people.
For example – per the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, demons can counterfeit the gift of tongues.
But just because demons can counterfeit the gift of tongues does not mean that the gift of
tongues from the Lord is still not real and that many of His people can still receive it in this
day and age. We just have to be careful and learn how to discern when something is
coming in from God and when something is coming in from demons.
Demons can also give false visions, false dreams, false healings, false prophecies, etc. But
again, just because demons can do this does not mean that we should totally shut down God
in those areas of our life, and refuse to accept the supernatural ways that He still likes to
use to communicate to all of us.

10. Again, if there is one major area that many Christians are weak on because they have
never been taught much about it, it has to be in the area of spiritual warfare, and in the
area on how to be led by the Holy Spirit and how to hear directly from God themselves.
If you really study the Bible from cover to cover, God was supernaturally communicating
to His people on a fairly regular basis. And if God is still the same today as He was
yesterday, then this tells us that He still wants to communicate to all of us in those same
supernatural ways.
We just have to learn what those different supernatural ways are – and then learn through
a process of trial and error when it really is the Lord communicating to us, when it is
demons, or when it is just our own natural imaginations and feelings talking to us.
I will break down these 8 specific ways God will use to communicate to all of us under the
following 8 captions so you can keepall of these different ways properly sorted out. But
before I do, I want to give you some very key verses from Scripture on the Holy Spirit
Himself so this part of the walk will not scare you or intimidate you.
Key Scripture Verses on the Holy Spirit
The following verses I will now give you are major key verses onthe Holy Spirit Himself,
and they will all set the stage for you to be able to receive direct supernatural
communication from Him from time to time.
Again, I know some pastors are afraid to open up this supernatural realm to their flocks,
but these verses all are all straight forward and they are meaning exactly what they are
saying.
As a result, I believe these verses should be taught by the churches so their people will at
least know what the Bible has to say about this subject matter, and from there, each person
can then make up their own mind as to whether or not they want to tread into these kinds
of deeper waters with the Lord.
If God did not want this kind of information and knowledge in our lives, then He would
have never put these kinds of verses in the Bible. But since He did, this tells me that He
wants His people to have access to this revelation and from there, they can then decide if
they want to try and develop this part of their walk with the Lord.
Now onto some very key Scripture verses on the Holy Spirit that will set this kind of stage
up for you.
1. You Can Developa Personal Relationship With the Holy Spirit
The very first thing you will need to know if you want to learn how to be led by the Holy
Spirit is that you can develop a direct personal relationship with Him just like you already
have with God and Jesus.
If the Holy Spirit is going to start to supernaturally communicate to you in a wide variety
of ways, then the first thing you are going to want to do is to make direct personal contact
with Him, since you are now going to be working very closely with Him if you want to
develop this part of your walk with the Lord.

11. Here are two very key verses from the apostle Paul telling us that we are allowed to have
direct communication and direct fellowship with the Holy Spirit Himself:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)
“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of
the Spirit …” (Phillippians 2:1)
The two key words in these two verses are the words “communion” and “fellowship.” And
both of these two key words are being tied in direct to the Holy Spirit Himself. In other
words, the apostle Paul is telling us that we can have direct communion and direct
fellowship with the Holy Spirit Himself.
Put those two key words together and they spell one thing – personal relationship. Not only
can we develop a close personal relationship with both God the Father and Jesus Christ,
but these two additional verses are telling us that we can also develop a close personal
relationship direct with the Holy Spirit Himself.
These two verses will now set the stage for the next two verses.
2. The Holy Spirit is Our Personal Guide and Teacher in This Life
Before you can believe that the Holy Spirit can guide you, lead you, and teach you in this
life, you will need the specific Scripture verses showing us that He does have this kind of
personal ministry with all of us. And these next set of verses are going to give you that
specific revelation. Here they are:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you
all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26)
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth …” (John
16:13)
When the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will “teach us all things” and “guide us into all
truth,” this tells us that the Holy Spirit has the ministry with each one of us as being our
personal Guide and Teacher in this life.
And if He is going to be our personal Guide and Teacher in this life, then this means He
will start to communicate to us so He can teach us what He wants to teach us. And our part
will then be to learn how He will communicate to us so we can pick up that communication
when He does start to release it to us.
Put these two verses togetherwith the first two verses above about having direct fellowship
and direct communion with the Holy Spirit, and you can tell that God is letting all of us
know loud and clear that we can enter into this supernatural realm with the Holy Spirit.
If God is telling us that the Holy Spirit will be guiding us and teaching us in this life, then
we can comfortably enter into that realm with Him so He can then begin to do that kind of
deeper work with each one of us.
3. Do Not Resist, Rebel, Grieve, or Quench the Holy Spirit
These last set of verses I will now give you will put the icing on this entire cake. Not only
does God want us to establish a direct personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, along

12. with allowing us to be led and taught by Him in this life, but now God is going to take it one
more stepfurther.
These next set of verses are now going to tell us that we are not to resist, quench, rebel, or
grieve the Holy Spirit. In other words, once the Holy Spirit starts to become very active in
your life, and He then starts the process of guiding you and teaching you in this life, from
there, God will want you to work very closely with Him. God will not want you to resist
Him, quench Him, grieve Him, or rebel against Him.
Here are four key verses giving us these four specific words:
“But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an
enemy, and He fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10)
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is
good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22)
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit;
as your fathers did, so do you.” (Acts 7:51)
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealedfor the day of
redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)
When you really study the intense wording of these verses, youcan tell that God the Father
is telling all of us loud and clear that once the Holy Spirit starts to move in on you and your
life, that He will want us to work in cooperation with Him. God does not want us resisting
Him, quenching Him, grieving Him, or trying to rebel against Him. If you rebel and resist
the Holy Spirit, then you are rebelling and resisting God Almighty Himself and His Son
Jesus Christ. And that is not a place you want to be in with the Lord.
The other thing to pick up on these verses is that they are more proof that the Holy Spirit
does have a specific ministry with all of us and that He can become very active in our daily
lives.
If the Holy Spirit did not have the job and the ability to become very active in our daily
lives, then the Bible would not be using the words quenching, resisting, rebelling, or
grieving the Holy Spirit.
If you are quenching the Holy Spirit, then this means He is already moving in on you to try
and help you out. Otherwise, there would be nothing to quench. Same thing with the other
three key words – resisting, rebelling, and grieving. If the Holy Spirit was not becoming
very active in your daily life in the first place, then there would be nothing to resist, grieve,
or rebel against.
All 4 of these words are very strong words, once again showing that the Holy Spirit is not
only living on the inside of each one of us, but once He is in there, He wants to become very
active in our daily life so He can help us complete our divine destiny with the Lord, along
with helping us to become the kind of a person God wants us to become in Him through the
sanctification process He wants to do with all of us.
You cannot fulfill your true purpose and calling in this life, and become the true sanctified
saint God is wanting you to become in Him unless you have the Holy Spirit helping you out
with all of this. This is why the Holy Spirit is called “The Helper” in the Bible. This is why
Jesus has said that without Him, we can do absolutely nothing in this life.

13. Bottom line with these first three captions – the Bible is telling all of us very clearly that not
only do we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us as a result of accepting Jesus as
our personal Lord and Savior, but these verses are also giving us additional information
that the Holy Spirit has a specific ministry with all of us – and that specific ministry is to
guide us, lead us, and teach us in this life.
And if the Holy Spirit has the job of guiding us and teaching us in this life, then this means
He is going to try and supernaturally communicate to all of us from time to time. And your
job will then be to learn the different ways He will communicate to you – which will now
take us right into the next section – the 8 different ways that the Holy Spirit will lead us
and communicate to us in this life.
The 8 Different Ways the Holy Spirit Will Use to Communicate to Us
By: Michael Bradley
In part 1, I explained to you How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit.
Now I will list the 8 different ways that the Holy Spirit will lead us and communicate to us in
this life. So you can have all of them right at the top of this section, I will go ahead and list all of
them in a bolded, numbered format so you can have all of them at a quick glance.
• The Inner Witness – The Inner Knowing
• The Word of God
• Leadings
• Check in your Spirit
• Quickenings
• Visions
• Dreams
• Prophecies
Again, I know some people freak out once you attempt to step into this kind of supernatural
realm with the Holy Spirit. But this is where each Christian has to make their own choice as to
whether or not they want to tread into these kinds of deeper waters with the Lord.
You can either learn how to do all of this with the Holy Spirit, or you can choose to let this
supernatural realm go and just stay on the path that you are already walking on if you have never
had any of this kind of activity before with the Holy Spirit.
Many of you will know exactly what I will be talking about below, as you have already stepped
into this realm with the Holy Spirit and have learned how to play this kind of game with Him.
However, if this is all new to some of you because you have never been taught any of this in the
churches you have been raised up in, then you will need to make a decision with the Lord as to
whether or not you will want this supernatural realm opened up for you by God the Father.
If after reading the captions below you decide you would like God to open up this supernatural
realm for you, then all you have to do is go direct to God the Father in prayer and ask Him to
allow the Holy Spirit to become very active in any of these 8 different ways in which He uses to
communicate to us.

14. Tell God that He has a solid, green light from you to open up this realm if it will be His perfect
will to do so at your present level of spiritual development with Him.
If you put that kind of special request before God, then He will take you very seriously and He
will then very gradually lead you into this realm and from there, the Holy Spirit will start to
move in some of these different areas for you.
The Holy Spirit will also show you how to discern when it really is Him communicating to you
as versus when it is just your own emotions or imagination talking to you.
Now I will take you into the 8 different ways the Holy Spirit will use to supernaturally
communicate to us in this life.
1. The Inner Witness – The Inner Knowing
In my opinion, this is the number one way that the Holy Spirit will communicate to us in this
life. Here is the specific verse where this piece of revelation is being given to us by the Lord:
• “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God.” (Romans 8:16)
• “I tell you the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit …” (Romans 9:1)
The first verse is telling us that the Holy Spirit Himself bears witness in our human spirit that we
are children of God. And if the Holy Spirit can bear witness in our human spirits on that issue,
then I believe He can also bear witness in our spirits with other things as well.
And then the next verse will prove that to you. The apostle Paul gives us additional revelation
when he says that his conscience was also bearing witness in the Holy Spirit. In other words, the
Holy Spirit was bearing a good witness for Paul in his conscience, which I believe is part of our
human spirit.
The key word in these two verses is the word “witness.” The Holy Spirit is bearing witness to
something in our human spirits. And what exactly is a good “witness” when we do receive one of
these from the Holy Spirit?
Jack Hayford, in his excellent book, Hayford’s Bible Handbook, defines a witness or witnessing
as the following:
Giving evidence, attesting, confirming, confessing, bearing record, speaking well of,
giving a good report, testifying, affirming what one has seenor heard, presenting
the gospel with evidence
The first verse above where the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with our spirits that we are saved
lines up with some of the above definitions from Mr. Hayford such as confirming, attesting,
confessing, and bearing record. In other words, the Holy Spirit is confirming in our spirits that
we are saved and that we are now children of God.
When you really cut into this word as it is being used in the first verse above, another word for
the inner witness would be that it is an inner knowing.
The Holy Spirit will transmit the knowledge He wants you to have on something as a strong,
inner knowing.

15. I am sure you have all heard many people say, “I had a good witness on that pastor’s preaching
today.” Some people say that the inner witness is a “knowing without any shadow of a doubt.”
They will use the slang expression, “You know, that you know, that you know, without any
shadow of a doubt.”
Other people call this inner knowing an illumination, an enlightenment. All of a sudden you
receive supernatural illumination, supernatural enlightenment on what a Scripture verse may
mean. I personally like the term, “inner knowing,” to best describe how the Holy Spirit
supernaturally communicates to us in this life.
When the Holy Spirit communicates something directly to you through this inner witness, it will
be a knowing without any shadow of a doubt. When you receive one of these for the first time,
you will know that it has come directly from the Holy Spirit due to the strength and conviction
of it.
After you start to receive these kinds of inner knowings from the Holy Spirit, you will soon learn
how to discern when one is really coming in from Him, or when one is just coming in from your
own natural imagination and emotions.
A true, inner witness from the Holy Spirit will come out of your spirit – it will not come out
of your head, your imagination, or your emotions.
That will be the first “tell” that what you are receiving is coming directly from the Holy Spirit.
Some people refer to these inner witnesses as a “gut knowing or gut feeling.” How many times
have you heard people use the slang expression that their “gut” was telling them what they
needed to do, and then later on it turned out to be right. Those “gut knowings” or “gut feelings”
are many of the times the inner witness from the Holy Spirit.
If you get a strong, gut feeling not to get on a plane, and you then decide to heed that warning
and hours later that plane ends up crashing, then you know that gut warning was coming in direct
from the Holy Spirit since you do not have the ability to see into the future like He can.
Many, many people have received those gut warnings not to do something specific, and many of
the times, those gut warnings turned out to be 100% accurate, which again means that many of
them were coming in direct from the Holy Spirit Himself.
My take on the above two verses is this:
If the Bible says that the Holy Spirit can bear witness in our own human spirits that we are saved
and that we are truly the children of God – and He can also help out the apostle Paul on the issue
he was dealing with where He bore witness with Paul’s own conscience, then this tells me the
Holy Spirit can also bear witness with many other things in our life as well.
What I have personally found out in this realm is that the Holy Spirit will communicate
knowledge to you through this inner knowing, through this inner witness. When you receive this
inner knowing about something specific, you will not hear an audible voice or hear any type of
inner words coming up on you.
What you will receive is just a good, clear, inner knowing on the message being transmitted to
you.
For instance, say you have been meditating on a particular Scripture verse, but you just cannot
seem to get the correct interpretation on what it may mean or how it can apply to your life.

16. And then all of a sudden one day, the Holy Spirit gives you a strong, inner knowing as to exactly
what this verse means and how it can apply to your personal life.
What the Holy Spirit will do is transmit the interpretation of that verse through the inner
knowing. All of a sudden you will “understand” what this verse means and you will then be
able to “see” the true meaning behind the words.
This is supernatural enlightenment and illumination that the Holy Spirit can give you on
many of the verses in the Bible.
It is His job to actually open up the meaning of Scripture for you so you can understand what
you are reading and from there, how to get some of these incredible spiritual truths worked into
your daily walk with the Lord.
And not only can the Holy Spirit communicate to you the meaning of certain Scripture verses
through this inner witness – this inner knowing, but He can also do this on many of the other
things in your daily life as well. He can give you strong, inner knowings on the following:
• Who you should be marrying in this life
• When you should take the next new job God will want to give you
• How to solve any problems you may be having in school or at work
• How to handle a problem or roadblock that may have occurred in your marriage
• How to handle all of the problems that will occur if you have just lost your job
• When to move in on someone to witness to them
There is just an infinite number of things that the Holy Spirit can communicate to you on so you
can try and get through this life in one piece and try to handle all of the problems that may come
your way.
Per our article on the 9 gifts of the Spirit, two of the 9 gifts are the Word of Knowledge and the
Word of Wisdom. And for the most part, we believe that a lot of these words of knowledge and
wisdom will come to you through this inner witness, this inner knowing.
That is why it is extremely important that each Christian learn how to receive these inner
witnesses from the Holy Spirit, so they can then receive actual communication from Him as to
exactly what He wants them to be doing with some of the specific issues that will be occurring in
their daily lives.
The Holy Spirit is called the Helper in the Bible, but He cannot help you with some of the things
you will need help on unless He can first communicate directly to you on exactly what He
wants you to do.
The ability to pickup up these inner witnesses, these inner knowings from the Holy Spirit will
only come to you through a process of trial and error. Your mind will receive the inner knowing
out of your spirit. And if it is truly from the Holy Spirit, then you can totally depend on it and
from there, act on it if any kind of action will need to be taken.
2. The Word of God
The next way that the Holy Spirit will communicate knowledge to you is sometimes by giving
you a direct verse from Scripture. All of a sudden, you will see a Scripture verse float up right in
front of your mind’s eye.

17. And when you see this particular Scripture verse, you will see the meaning of the verse and how
it will answer the particular problem or dilemma you may be dealing with.
The Bible is just loaded with an unbelievable amount of spiritual truths, and many of these
spiritual truths will be the answer to many of life’s problems that we will all encounter.
And if there is a particular Scripture verse that will answer a problem you may dealing with, then
there is a very good chance that is how the Holy Spirit will help you solve the problem – by
giving you the actual Scripture verse that will solve the problem.
I cannot tell you how many times over the course of my life that the Holy Spirit will bring back
up to my remembrance a certain Scripture verse that will solve or answer the problem I may
dealing with.
I have actually come to the conclusion that if there is an actual verse from the Bible that will
solve the problem, that will be the first thing the Holy Spirit will want to give you.
This is why it is so important for each and every Christian to spend as much quality time as they
can in loading up their mind with the Word.
If you do, then the Holy Spirit can bring back up to your remembrance certain Scripture verses
when you may need them because you have already done your part by getting the Bible verses
“in you.”
3. Leadings
In addition to communicating a direct message to you, the Holy Spirit can also give you
“leadings” on what to do and what not to do. Again, here is the verse that will show us that it is
the job of the Holy Spirit to lead us in this life, along with another verse showing us that Jesus
Himself was also willing to be led by the Holy Spirit when He was walking down here on our
earth in the flesh.
• “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans
8:14)
• “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil.” (Matthew 4:1)
If God is telling us that we are to be led by His Holy Spirit, and then He shows us that His own
Son Jesus was also led by the Holy Spirit, there can be no other conclusion to come to other than
God wants all of us to learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit in this life.
When it comes to these basic leadings, some people have different terms to describe it when it
does come in on them from the Holy Spirit.
Some people will say I had a “leading” from the Holy Spirit to take that new job. Other people
will use the terms “unction” or “prompting.”
They will say they felt or sensed an unction or prompting from the Holy Spirit to do something
specific.
These leadings from the Holy Spirit can be anything from a very gentle nudging to something
that could be much stronger.
When you get a real strong leading to do something specific, it will feel like God has His big
hand on the small of your back pushing you forward.

18. You will feel the wind at your back to move in that certain direction.
You will feel or sense a very strong unction, a very strong prompting to move in that direction.
However, if God does not want you to move in that certain direction, then you will feel or sense
no leading at all from the Holy Spirit.
When you think of moving in that direction, you will get a real flat witness from the Holy Spirit.
There will be no inner witness to move forward.
You will have no peace to move in that direction. If that is what you are picking up when
thinking about moving in a certain direction, then that is the Holy Spirit’s way of telling you to
let it go and not to move in that certain direction.
Again, being able to pick up these kinds of leadings from the Holy Spirit is something that you
will learn through a process of trial and error with Him.
After you have received quite a few of these leadings from the Holy Spirit, you can then become
quite adept at being able to tell when a leading is coming in directly from Him or when it is
coming in from your own natural desires and emotions.
4. Check in Your Spirit
In addition to the Holy Spirit leading you to go in a certain direction, He can also do just the
exact opposite. He can tell you not to move in a certain direction, especially if there is going to
be any kind of danger right around the corner. When He does not want you to move in a certain
dangerous direction, many of the times what you will pick up from Him is a “check in your
spirit.”
A check in your spirit is like a a stop sign being put up by the Holy Spirit. It is His way of telling
you to stop right where you are at and not to proceed any further.
For instance, many people will get a check in their spirit when they are about ready to board a
plane that is going to crash.
Some people will then heed that check and not get on the plane. Others will ignore it, thinking
that it is their own natural emotions and fear and that it is not really coming in from the Holy
Spirit.
That is why it is so vitally important that each Christian learn how to pick up these kinds of inner
warnings from the Holy Spirit – so you can keep yourself from being seriously injured, if not
possibly killed.
How many people have died in car accidents and plane crashes – all because they chose to ignore
that check in their spirit not to get in that car or plane that day.
These checks in your spirit can also help prevent abductions, assaults, car accidents, plane
crashes, taking the wrong jobs, marrying the wrong people, getting hooked up with the wrong
people in this life, etc. As you can see, there can be an infinite number of situations where the
Holy Spirit will tell you not to keep going in that specific direction.
Here is a very good verse from the Bible where the Holy Spirit did exactly that for the apostles:
“… they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia … They tried
to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” (Acts 16:6-7)

19. This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit forbid them from going to Asia and Bithynia. And if the
Holy Spirit was forbidding some of the apostles to move in a certain direction back in the
beginning of the NT, then He can still do the exact same thing for all us in this day and age.
And one of the ways that He will let us know not to move in a certain direction is by giving us
that check in our spirits.
The other thing the Holy Spirit can do in this realm besides giving you a good,
strong, inner check in your spirit, is that He may take it one more stepfurther and
He may then start to churn your stomach.
Your stomach will start to churn, and you will feel like you have a million butterflies
swirling around in your stomach.
You will get a very queasy and uneasy feeling about going any further in the
direction you are looking to move into.
If the Holy Spirit takes that check in your spirit and moves it into an actual
manifestation where He is literally churning your stomach, then it would be my very
strong recommendation that you heed this kind of intense warning from Him, and
immediately stop and turn away from the direction you were initially going to take.
I remember a girl I used to work with saved herself quite a bit of trouble as a result of heeding
that check in her spirit when she was on vacation one day up in Canada.
About 10 years ago, she went on vacation to Toronto, Canada. Her and her friend were getting
ready to get on a trolley type train car. Right before they were getting ready to board the train,
she said she got a very uneasy and queasy feeling about getting on this train.
She said she had a strong check in her spirit not to board that train. Knowing that this could be a
direct warning from the Holy Spirit, she chose to listen to it and decided not to board the train.
When they got home about 4-5 hours later, they turned on the TV and saw that the train they
would have gotten on had been involved in a wreck on the tracks that were up in the air.
Apparently, the train somehow had got derailed and had partially come off of the tracks. It took
3-4 hours to finally rescue all of the people who were still on board. Several people were killed
in the accident.
Had my friend not listened to that uneasy feeling and check in her spirit that the Holy Spirit was
conveying to her, she would’ve at the least been stranded on that derailed train for 3-4 hours, not
to mention the possibility of being seriously injured or even killed.
These checks in your spirit can be major lifesavers depending on what the Holy Spirit is telling
you not to do. Again, this is another one that you will learn through a process of trial and error
with Him.
As with the above other ways He will communicate to you, you can become quite adept in
knowing when a check in your spirit is really coming in from Him, or when it is coming in from
your own natural fear and emotions.
5. Quickenings
Another very interesting way that the Holy Spirit will use to communicate something to you is
through an actual quickening. A quickening from the Holy Spirit is when He will “jump”

20. something at you. For instance, if you are reading the Bible, you may find a verse or two that
will jump off the pages at you and hit you right between the eyes.
Whenever the Holy Spirit quickens something like this to you, this means you are to grab a hold
of it and examine it to see exactly what the message is that He is trying to convey to you. If you
are dealing with a specific problem, He may quicken a verse to you that will help solve your
problem.
You can also have words from preachers jump at you. You could be driving down the road in
your car listening to a pastor teach on the radio when all of a sudden something he says jumps
right out at you through the radio.
And again, when this happens, this is the Holy Spirit’s way of bringing you knowledge He may
want you to have on something specific.
Another area where this could occur at is at your local Christian bookstore. You will be in the
bookstore browsing all of the books in there when all of a sudden a particular book will jump off
the shelf at you.
When that happens, there is a very good chance that is the Holy Spirit quickening that particular
book to you.
If that should ever happen to you, you should pick up the book to see what it is all about.
There may be information in there that will help you in your walk with the Lord, and the Holy
Spirit may want you to buy the book so you can add it to your storehouse of knowledge in the
Lord. I cannot tell you how many times He has personally done this to me over the years.
And every time He does it, I always end up buying the book because there is key information
and knowledge in that book that I needed to have for my own personal growth in the Lord.
I know many of you have had these kinds of experiences with the Holy Spirit. Some people will
use the slang expression that something really “jumped” at them when they first heard it.
And in most of these cases, that word or message that was quickened to them by the Holy Spirit
was something they really needed to hear at the time it happened.
Again, after you have received quite a few of these quickenings from the Holy Spirit, you can
easily learn to sense and discern when it really is the Holy Spirit doing this for you.
Also, do not go “looking” for these quickenings to occur. Let them come naturally to you by the
Holy Spirit.
6. Visions
The next three ways the Holy Spirit will communicate to you – visions, dreams, and prophecies –
are all coming from this one verse out of Joel.
Here is the next verse that will completely set the stage for you on these next three ways the
Holy Spirit will use to communicate something specific to us:
“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions; and also on My menservants and on My
maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.” (Joel 2:28-29)
Notice that visions, dreams, and prophecies are all directly connected to the Holy Spirit Himself.

21. This verse is also implying that when He is really poured out, dreams, visions, and prophecies
are going to be given to many of God’s people, not to just a few select saints. Many people
believe that this outpouring has already begun, but that it will intensify in the coming years
ahead.
In this caption, I will discuss the different kinds of visions you can receive from the Holy Spirit.
There are two basic types of visions that you can receive from the Holy Spirit.
One is called an “open vision.”
The other is called a “closed vision.”
A) Open Vision – an open vision is when you receive a vision with your eyes wide open. Many
of these visions will be in actual 3-D and if God should allow it, you can actually be a part of that
vision itself.
John the Revelator was receiving these kinds of heavy, open visions when God was giving him
visions on what was going to happen at the end of times. Some of the prophets in the OT also
received these kinds of heavy, open visions.
But for the most part, they are very rare, and most Christians will never receive these kinds of
open visions from the Holy Spirit. But please note, that could all change in the coming years as
more of that verse from Joel starts to come to pass.
B) Closed Vision – the second kind of vision you can receive from the Holy Spirit is what is
called a closed vision. A closed vision is when you receive a vision in your mind’s eye. Another
word for this is that you will receive a “picture in your mind’s eye.”
Though a closed vision does not seem to be as heavy or as dramatic as an open vision is, do not
let that fool you. They are both visions and a closed vision is just as powerful and just as
dramatic as an open vision is.
Though many people will never receive an open vision in their life, not so with the closed vision.
The Holy Spirit loves to give these closed visions and He will do it quite frequently to those who
will be open to receiving them, since a closed vision is receiving a picture in your mind’s eye.
Again, you will have to learn through a process of trial and error when a vision is coming in from
your own natural imagination or when it is coming in direct from the Holy Spirit.
The reason the Holy Spirit loves to give these inner closed visions is because a lot more
information and knowledge can sometimes be communicated to you through a vision or picture
in your mind’s eye. You have all heard of the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.
That saying right there perfectly describes why the Holy Spirit loves to give you these closed
inner visions – because sometimes He can communicate a lot more knowledge and information
to you.
However, these closed visions can come in on much smaller matters as well. For example, say
you just lost your car keys and you cannot seem to find them anywhere in the house. What you
don’t know is that your dog has just knocked them underneath your bed.
If the Holy Spirit wants to tell you where they are located at since He is called the Helper in the
Bible, He can either give you an inner knowing, an inner witness to look underneath your bed, or
He could give you an actual closed vision, with the vision showing you that the keys are lying
right underneath your bed.

22. Many of the times, He will choose to give you that picture in your mind’s eye of where the keys
are located.
What I have found from personal experience is that the Holy Spirit can give you these closed
inner visions on very small and trivial matters like where you may have misplaced your cars keys
at, to much larger and heavier issues in your life.
In other words, there is nothing He cannot give you a closed vision on to help you out with
something, or if He wants to use a closed vision to communicate a specific piece of knowledge to
you.
What you will have to learn on this is how to discern when a picture in your mind’s eye is really
coming in from Him, or when it is coming in from your own natural imagination, since your own
natural imagination has the power and the ability to draw up its own pictures in your mind’s eye.
One of the ways that you can tell when you are receiving a closed vision from the Holy Spirit is
how it will come in on you. Many of the times these visions will come in out of the blue.
You may not really be thinking about anything specific or you are not using your own
imagination to draw up any kind of picture’s in your mind’s eye. And then all of a sudden it will
come in very quickly and very suddenly.
Another tell you will get when one of these is coming in from the Holy Spirit is that not only will
it come out of the blue, but the picture you are receiving in your mind’s eye is not something that
you would normally conjure up for yourself.
Sometimes these visions will need interpretation, other times they will not. But if you get a
picture in your mind’s eye that comes in out of nowhere, and it is something that you would not
naturally conjure up on your own, then examine the vision very carefully to see if it may be from
the Holy Spirit and if you think it may be, try to interpret what He is trying to tell you.
Another tell that the Holy Spirit will give you so you know that the vision is coming in directly
from Him, is that He will give you a good, inner witness that it is coming directly from Him,
which is the first way I gave you above on how He will communicate something to you.
Again, you will only learn all of this though a process of trial and error with Him. After you have
received quite a few of these closed inner visions, you can again become quite adept at
discerning when a vision is coming in from Him, or when the vision is just coming in from your
own natural imagination.
7. Dreams
The next way that the Holy Spirit can use to communicate something specific to you coming
from the above verse from Joel is in your dreams.
In other words, you can receive a dream direct from the Holy Spirit. Another word for dreams is
that they are “visions of the night.”
As you all know, the Bible has many examples of people receiving dreams from the Lord. God
used an angel in a dream to tell Joseph to immediately flee to Egypt right after Jesus had been
born, as Herod was getting ready to kill all of the first born.
King Nebuchadnezzar was given dreams on end time events, but he needed Daniel to interpret
those dreams for him. Daniel himself was also given dreams and visions on coming end time
events.

23. Dreams in your sleep are nowhere near as common as closed, inner visions are, but every once in
a while God can give you a dream direct from Himself. So how do you know when you are
receiving a dream direct from God, since psychologists have told us that everyone dreams every
single night when they are sleeping?
I do not consider myself an expert on dreams. But there are several men in the body who are
considered somewhat experts in this area.
Two of them are John Paul Jackson and James Goll. James Goll has written a very good book on
dreams. The title of his book is, “Dream Language”. Another good book is, “Understanding the
Dreams you Dream”, by Ira Milligan.
I personally have only had about 10 dreams from the Lord over a 20 year period. But what I can
give you is what God does to me personally so I know that the dream is really coming in from
Him.
The first thing God will do with me when He is giving me a dream from Him is the actual timing
of it. I always get these God-dreams close to when I am getting ready to wake up. For instance, if
I go to bed at 11 PM and I am going to be getting up at about 7 AM, the dream will be coming in
between 6-7 AM.
The reason He does this with me is so the dream is basically right in my face right as I am
starting to come out of that deep sleep.
The second tell I will get so I know that the dream is coming in from the Lord, is that the dream
will not fade away from me once I wake up.
If you will notice, on most of the dreams you will have during the night, you will either have no
memory of any of these dreams when you wake up, or if by chance you do remember one of
them as you wake up, that dream will then fade away from you within the first 1-3 hours.
After the three hours is up, you will have completely forgotten about the dream.
But if the dream is coming in direct from the Holy Spirit, then the dream will not fade away on
you. It will be as clear in your mind’s eye 6 hours later as it was when you first woke up. It will
stay with you for days, if not forever.
If you wake up with a very strong, vivid dream being right in your face and you think it may be
from the Lord, what I would do is grab a piece of paper and pen and write down what the dream
was all about and if need be, draw actual pictures of what you saw in the dream.
Sometimes these dreams will need some kind of interpretation and you will need to carefully
examine the dream to see exactly what God is trying to convey to you.
If God gave some of His people dreams back in the OT and NT, and we now have the above
verse from Joel where God is telling us that once the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh,
that dreams from the Lord will become quite common, then you know this is one of the
supernatural ways that the Lord will want to use with some of us from time to time.
So again, do not be afraid if you ever receive what you think may be a dream from the Lord. If
God is giving you a dream direct from Himself, then there will be a personal message in there for
you.
Your job will be to get it down on paper and carefully examine and analyze it for what that
personal message may be.

24. As I said above, there are some men in the Body who are very good in this area. Some of them
have written books on dreams and what certain things may mean in the dream.
I have never delved that deeply in this area, so I do not have the knowledge or expertise to tell
you what every little thing in the dream may mean or represent.
For the most part with myself, most of the dreams I have had from the Lord have all been very
straight forward.
God was either giving me a heads up on what was getting ready to come my way, or He was
giving me a dream to help me solve a particular problem or issue I was dealing with at the time.
8. Prophecies
The third way God can communicate directly to you coming from the above verse from Joel is
by prophecy. As we explained to you in our article titled, “The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit,” one of
the 9 gifts from the Holy Spirit is the gift of prophecy.
The gift of prophecy is when you receive a direct word from the Lord. And when I say a direct
word, I mean a direct word. Every word that you receive in the prophecy will be direct words
from the Lord.
Since I have already talked about this gift at length in the above article, I will not go any further
with it under this caption.
If you would like to see a good, detailed explanation on what this gift is all about and how God
can use it with you,it is our part 3 of our series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit called, The Gift of
Prophecy. This will be our explanation of what this gift is all about.
Conclusion
When you really study each of the 8 ways that the Holy Spirit will use to communicate to us in
this life, every single one of these ways is a supernatural type of communication.
To think that we are able to receive the Holy Spirit in our human spirits at the moment of our
conversions to Jesus – and then to add this kind of icing to the entire cake where the Holy Spirit
can literally supernaturally communicate to all of us in these different ways – it just does not get
any better than this!
Again, I know some pastors are afraid to open up this supernatural realm to their flocks, but
when God the Father puts these kinds of specific verses in the Bible, then I can only come to the
conclusion that God wants all of us to learn how to do this with the Holy Spirit.
If the Holy Spirit is going to be our personal Guide and Teacher in this life, then not only can He
teach us everything we will need to know in this life so we can fully complete our divine destiny
in the Lord, but He can also teach us how to hear directly from Himself in these different ways as
well.
We can thus fully trust Him to handle all of us in this supernatural realm.
What I have found in this realm is that the Holy Spirit will only usually do this kind of
supernatural work with the people who will really want it.
If this realm is just too scary for some of you, or you would prefer to stay away from it at this
time, the Holy Spirit will respect your thoughts and wishes on this, and He will not try and push
Himself or His ways on you.

25. This realm is basically for the real seekers, for the people who will want more of God and who
will not be afraid to tread into these kinds of deeper waters with Him.
It is one thing to know that God and Jesus are up in heaven, but it is quite another thing to realize
that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can all supernaturally communicate to any one of us at any
time They should want to do so.
God was always supernaturally communicating to His people back in both the OT and NT. And
if God has not changed, and He is still the same today as He was yesterday, then this tells us that
He still wants to supernaturally communicate to all of us in these same ways.
God does not change, nor does any of His ways. And if any of His ways are not going to change,
then these 8 different ways that He has used in the past to supernaturally communicate to His
people will still apply to all of us in this day and age.
It is now up to each Christian as to whether or not they will want to learn how to do all of this
with the Holy Spirit.
Again, I know this kind of an article may end up being a bit controversial with some people – but
with all of the above verses being so clear on exactly what God has set up for all of us to enter
into, I felt I had no other choice but to put all of this out for you, and from there, you can each
make up your own minds as to whether or not you will want God the Father to open up these
different ways in which He still likes to use to communicate to all of us in this day and age.
How To Test Any Type of Supernatural Communication You May Receive
Before I get into the 8 different ways in which you can test any type of supernatural, divine
communication you think you may be receiving, here are a few good verses from the Bible
showing us that we have to test these kinds of supernatural things out when we do receive them.
“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
“For Satan himself transforms himself into an ANGEL OF LIGHT. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be
according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, BUT TEST THE SPIRITS, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that
does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the
antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-4)
The first verse hits the nail right on the head when it tells us to test all things. And all things
means any kind of supernatural communication you think you are receiving, including those that
are coming direct from the Lord.
God will not be offended if you attempt to test what He is trying to tell you. He will want you to
test it, otherwise He would have never put the above verses in His Word. Too many Christians
have been seriously hurt over the years because they have never stopped to test the words they
were receiving.

26. Here are the 8 basic tests you can use to test any type of supernatural communication you think
you may be receiving. I will first list them out in a bolded, numbered format so you can have
them right at the top of this section. Here they are:
Does the Word Line Up With Scripture?
Does the Word Line Up With the Character of God?
Does the Word Line Up With What God is Doing With Your Life?
Does Your Spirit Bear Witness With the Word?
There is Safety in the Multitude of Counselors
Ask God to Confirm the Word For You
Will the Word Glorify God?
Will the Word Produce Liberty or Bondage?
Now here is a breakdown on each one of these 8 tests so you will know how to use each one of
them to properly test any type of supernatural word you think you may be receiving from the
Lord.
1. Does the Word Line Up With Scripture?
This is without a doubt the first test you must use to make sure that what you are receiving is
truly coming from the Lord. If the word or message does not pass this first test, then you have to
immediately throw it out, as it is no longer trustworthy.
This first test is that the word and message that you are are receiving has to line up with the
Word of God – the Bible. God will never go against His own Word. And if the message you are
receiving is not lining up with Scripture or is blatantly going against Scripture, you have to
immediately discard it – no questions asked!
Here are some examples of where you can receive a false word that will not be lining up with
Scripture:
a) If you are dating a girl and all of a sudden you think you are receiving a word from the Lord
that it would be alright for you to start having sex with her, that word will not be from the Lord.
This would be the sin of fornication and this sin is specifically mentioned in the Bible numerous
times. Thus the word you are receiving cannot be trusted as being a pure true word from the
Lord, as God would never go against one of His own basic commands in the Bible.
Demons love to try and get people off track by committing these types of sins, so do not fall for
it if you think that type of word is coming in on you. Immediately rebuke the demon and tell him
to leave you in the name of Jesus if you ever feel that kind of false word is coming in on you.
b) If you are married and you are starting to have some troubles in your marriage, and then all of
a sudden you feel like you have received a word that it would be alright to start having an affair
with someone else because you are no longer happy and fulfilled in your marriage – again, do
not fall for for it.
This would be adultery, and the Bible has the sin of adultery listed as one of the 10
commandments. Again, God would never, ever tell you to commit this sin, as this would be
going against His own direct Word on this topic.

27. Believe it or not, we have heard from numerous Christians over the years who felt they were
receiving this kind of word and release from the Lord due to the bad state of their marriage.
In each case, we told these people that God would in no way authorize this kind of sinful
behavior and that they could not act on it, as this word was not coming in from the Lord. This
word was either coming in from their own imagination and their own desires, since they were no
longer happy in their marriages, or it was coming in from a demon.
c) Another very interesting area where this test will come into play is when a Christian is dating
an unbeliever. They then all of a sudden think they have received a release and a word from the
Lord to marry this person, even though their partner still has not been saved and still has not
shown any interests on getting saved.
Again, the Bible tells us not to be yoked together with unbelievers, and if you marry this
unbeliever, you are definitely going to be yoked together with them, thus violating this basic
command from the Bible.
Unless God is making a strong move to get your dating partner saved, I would never commit to
marrying this person, as the Bible is very clear on this command. Once again, here is this verse if
you were not aware that it was in the Bible:
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness
with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ
with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple
of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
I had a friend from work who married an unbeliever and within one year, the entire marriage
blew up and she was divorced several months later. There was no anointing on this marriage
because God never authorized it in the first place because she was violating this basic verse from
Scripture on not being yoked together with an unbeliever.
I could go on and on with more examples, but the point to get is to make sure the word you are
receiving is lining up with the Bible. If you are a bit weak in the Bible, then talk to your pastor or
to another Christian who does know their Bible and then run the word by them. They should be
able to tell you if the word is lining up with Scripture or not.
2. Does the Word Line Up With the Character of God?
Another basic test that you have to use is to make sure the word you are receiving is lining up
with the character and personality of God Himself. In other words, is this something that God
would really ask you to do or tell you to do? Is this one of His ways?
The closer you get to God in your own personal relationship with Him, and the more time you
spend reading the Bible, the better you will get to know God. And the better you get to know
God, the better you will be able to see and discern if a word is lining up with His character and
personality.
Many Christians get burned in this area because they are not walking close to God nor have they
spent much time in the Bible. As a result, they really do not know God and they thus are easier
pickings for demons to give them false words of guidance.
Again, if you think you are receiving a word, but you may not be really close to God, ask several
other Christians who do have close walks with the Lord and who do know their Bible and their
God. They should be able to help you with the word you think you are receiving.

28. Where this particular test will come in is when you receive a word, but there is really nothing in
Scripture on it. If there is nothing in the Bible on it, then you will really need to apply this test to
it to see if the word is lining up with the character and personality of God Himself.
3. Does the Word Line Up With What God is Doing With Your Life?
Sometimes the word you may receive has to be analyzed to see if it will fit into what God has
already been doing with your life. The Bible tells us that God is one One who will build the
“house” of our lives. As a result, any word that you receive that has to do with your big picture
with the Lord has to be carefully analyzed and see if it fits into what God has already been doing
with your life.
If God is calling you to be an attorney, and He is building you up in that area so you can enter
into that calling when the time is right, God is not going to be throwing you a curve ball and all
of a sudden ask you to go off into the far reaches of Africa to do missionary work for the next 20
years of your life.
If God is going to put a call on your life, then He is going to carefully build you up in that call so
you can enter into it when the time is right. Demons love to try and knock Christians off course
by trying to give them a false word to try something else different so they can knock them right
out of their calls with the Lord.
There have been documented cases of Christians thinking they have received a word from the
Lord to go off and be missionaries. Without seeking or getting any type of confirmation that this
word was really from the Lord, they immediately pack up their bags and leave for the missionary
fields. And then a year or two later, they are flat broke, all beat up, and they then return back
home with absolutely no success on the missionary fields.
The reason they were not successful was because God never called them to do this in the first
place. And since God never called them to do this, there was no anointing on their efforts. And
with there being no anointing to do this, they had no basic protection, provision, favor, money, or
supplies coming to them when they were needing it.
In other words, there was no divine support for them because they were out of the will of God
and they were either following their own imaginations and desires, or they got played and duped
by a demon. That is why you have to carefully analyze and test any type of divine
communication you think you are receiving – to make sure that it really is the Lord talking to
you and not your own imagination and desires, or possibly a demon.
Again, if you are receiving a word from the Lord that has to do with what He is calling you to do
in this life, make sure that you carefully analyze this word to see if it fits into what He has
already been doing with your life and with what He has already built up in your life.
4. Does Your Spirit Bear Witness With the Word?
As we explained to you in our article, “How to be Led by the Holy Spirit,” the number one way
the Holy Spirit will communicate to you in this life is through the inner witness – the inner
knowing. If you are receiving a true word from the Lord, the Holy Spirit should be bearing
witness with that word out of your own human spirit.
So the next test will be – does your own spirit bear good witness with the word, since the Holy
Spirit lives in your human spirit and that is where He will be bearing witness at.

29. If you are not getting a good witness from the Holy Spirit, or the witness feels really flat and
dull, then stop and ask God the Father for confirmation to make sure this word is really coming
from Him. Not getting a good witness from the Holy Spirit is always a major red flag, since the
Holy Spirit is always in perfect unity and harmony with both God the Father and Jesus Christ.
5. There is Safety in the Multitude of Counselors
Another test you can use is to run the word by a few other seasoned Christians who really know
their Bible and their God. The Bible tells us that there is safety in the multitude of counselors.
Sometimes another seasoned Christian will be able to see something with the word that you are
not seeing.
Here are several good verses from the Bible telling us that we can do this with the Lord:
“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”
(Proverbs 11:14)
“A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength; for by wise counsel you will
wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 24:5)
“Every purpose is established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.” (Proverbs 20:18)
“Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.”
(Proverbs 15:22)
“Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days.” (Proverbs
19:20)
“Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.”
(Proverbs 19:27)
As you can see from the way these verses are being worded, God does want you to consult with
other wise and seasoned Christians from time to time depending on exactly what it is that you are
dealing with.
And sometimes when you think you are receiving a word from the Lord, you may need to run
this word by a few of these wise and seasoned Christians so you can make sure that you are
reading the word correctly, and that the word is really coming in from the Lord and not from a
demon or your own mind and imagination.
So if need be, do not be afraid to run your word by a few other wise Christians if you are not
100% sure the word is from the Lord. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes are needed to see what the
real truth is and whether or not the word is truly coming from the Lord.
This is why the Lord has given us the above verses, to let us know that sometimes we will need
help from other Christians due to our own imperfections and possible shortsightedness.
6. Ask God to Confirm the Word For You
Another big thing you can do if you are not quite sure the word is from the Lord is to just go
back to God in prayer and ask Him to confirm His word for you.
This is one area that gets many Christians into major trouble. They receive a quick word, but
instead of properly testing it and/or asking God to help confirm the word for them, they
immediately take off running with the word. And if that word was not from the Lord, they then
end up taking a major wrong turn in their life and serious damage can be done as a result.

30. Marrying the wrong person because you did not wait for more confirmation from God, or taking
the wrong job at the wrong time could all lead to disastrous results. The bigger and more serious
the word is, the more you have to properly test it and get God’s confirmation to make sure that it
really is Him talking to you.
Many Christians have ended up marrying the wrong people in this life because they did not wait
for God’s confirmation to the original word. Again, demons love nothing more than to try and
knock you off course by trying to get you to marry the wrong person or take the wrong jobs in
this life. This is why you should never be afraid to ask God to confirm His own word for you.
The way God can confirm His own Word for you can be done in many different ways.
The Bible says that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word will be established.
What people have found out is that sometimes God will cause two or three witnesses to come up
to you in close proximity and basically tell you the same thing that God told you in the original
word.
These two or three witnesses could be total strangers or people you already know, but in either
case, they will know nothing about the original word that was given to you by the Lord.
Another way God could confirm the word for you is through the gift of prophesy. All of sudden
you will have someone prophesying over you telling you basically the same thing you were told
with the original word. Many times prophecy is used by God to help confirm what was already
given to you by Him. And the person prophesying over you will have no prior knowledge of the
original word given to you by the Lord.
When you get a person prophesying over you, or two or three witnesses coming up to you who
have no prior knowledge of what God had told you – and they then tell you basically the same
thing that God had originally told you – this will be so supernatural, that is how you will know
that it really was God talking to you in the first place and not your own imagination or a demon.
God can also use dreams, visions, or possibly a very strong witness from the Holy Spirit Himself
to help confirm for you that the word was really from Him.
Again, just ask God to confirm the word for you if you are not sure, and then watch and wait for
that confirmation to come to you if the word was truly from the Lord. You will know the
confirmation when it does come to you from the Lord. You will not be able to miss it, because
many of these confirmations will be so supernatural and “so in your face.”
7. Will the Word Glorify God?
Another test you will want to use is to make sure any words, messages, or guidance you are
receiving from the Lord will always bring Him all of the glory. Always remember – we work,
live, and die for the Lord. We work for Him in this life, not for ourselves or for our own glory.
Many secular men and woman in this world only work for their own self-interests and their own
glory in this life. It is all about them, and anything they achieve and accomplish in this life is all
for their own ego.
They work for themselves, they do not work for God. As Christians, we always have to
remember that these divine calls and assignments are all coming direct from the Lord, not from
us or the world in general.

31. As a result, we always have to remember that we work for the Lord in this life, not for ourselves,
our parents, our friends, or the world in general. This is why you always have to make sure that
anything you do in this life will always bring all of the glory to the Lord.
Demons are all about their own glory and their own self-exaltation, as that is what got Satan
thrown out of heaven.
As a result, they will try to get people to think it is all about them rather than the Lord. Satan fell
as a result of this kind of prideful, evil, and wrong thinking, and he still wants to try and bring
down as many people as he can through this same type of prideful and evil thinking.
The devil’s tactics are always the same. Inflate the ego, get major pride worked into someone’s
personality, and then it won’t be long until that person takes his eyes off God and then places it
all on his own self. And from there, it will only be a matter of time before they fall and lose it all,
as the Bible tells us that pride and a haughty spirit will come before the fall.
Here are 5 very good verses showing us that all of the glory always belongs to the Lord, not to
us:
“I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to
graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)
“Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things all yours …” (1 Corinthians 3:21)
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1
Corinthians 10:31)
” … that no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:29)
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” Then immediately an
angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms
and died.” ( Acts 12:22-23)
The very last verse is rather bone-chilling, as an angel of the Lord literally struck a man dead as a
result of him trying to steal the glory that only belongs to the Lord.
By always remembering to make sure that all of your activities for God always bring Him all of
the glory, this will really help you in making sure that you never take your eyes and attention off
the Lord and then start to place too much of it on your own self.
8. Will the Word Produce Liberty or Bondage?
The last test you will want to use on any type of word you think you are receiving is to make
sure the word will lead to liberty and not to any type of bondage and fear.
The Bible says that where the Spirit of the Lord is at, there is liberty and freedom.
Here is this most important verse, along with two others that will show you that the Lord is all
about liberty and freedom – not fear, intimidation, and bondage.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians
3:17)
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of
adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15)

32. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me … to proclaim liberty to
the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound …” (Isaiah 61:1)
If you are a Christian woman dating a Christian man, and this man has been severely verbally
abusing you during most of your dating life, and then all of a sudden you think you are receiving
a word from the Lord to marry this man, this word will have major red flags all over it.
If you are in a verbally abusive relationship, you are in a certain amount of bondage. And if you
marry this man, you will go into even more bondage, as you will now have to put up with that
verbal abuse 24/7 as compared to what you had to put up with in the dating relationship.
Unless God is making a strong move to get your partner cleaned up, I would not commit to
marrying this kind of man, as many of the times the abuse will only get worse once you marry
him.
Too many women marry abusive men thinking or hoping they will change once they get married.
But most of the time they never do unless God Himself makes a strong move to convict them and
get them cleaned up.
Again, demons would love nothing more than to try and get you to marry into an abusive
relationship so they can use this abusive person to try and control you and completely destroy
your life. That is why you always have to make sure that any words you are receiving from the
Lord will lead to liberty and freedom, not to any type of bondage, fear, or slavery.
Conclusion
If you use the above 8 tests to test any type of divine communication you think you are
receiving, they should for the most part be able to tell you what is truly coming from the Lord,
and what may be coming from your own natural desires and imagination, or from a demonic
spirit.
Again, it is extremely important that you test all supernatural communication you think you are
receiving, as believing and acting on a false word could either destroy your life, or cause major
delays to occur with what God is doing with your life.
If demons cannot kill you, they will either try and paralyze you, or knock you off the path that
God has set up for your life.
That is why all supernatural communication has to be tested – to make sure that it really is
coming in from the Lord and not from your own imagination or from a demon.
Many Christians have been seriously burned and hurt because they did not properly test a word
that was coming to them. They have either married the wrong people, took the wrong jobs, or
hung out with the wrong people.
As a result, they either lost their calls and their divine destinies with the Lord, or they lost
valuable years in that call due to having to deal with the consequences and repercussions of
making those wrong turns in the roadway.
And this was all because they jumped the gun too quickly and did not properly test the word they
were receiving – especially words of actual guidance like who they should be marrying and what
jobs they should be taking in this life.
We do not want to scare anyone away from learning how to hear from God and how to be led by
Him in this life. Every Christian can learn how to do this, but you always have to remember that

33. we still live in a fallen, cursed, and imperfect world with demons still being allowed to roam in
the air.
As a result, we always have to filter any type of supernatural communication we think we are
receiving through some of the above tests so we can make sure that we are on safe ground and
that the word we have received has truly come to us from the Lord.
LED BY THE SPIRIT
by Thomas A. Tarrants III, D.Min.
Vice President for Ministry & Director
Washington Area Fellows Program, C.S. Lewis Institute
led by the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the Christian life. This is clear in the Bible and in the
history of the church. If we let the Spirit lead us, our lives will blossom and flourish. But if we
neglect or refuse His leading, our lives will languish. Strangely, many believers today seem to
misunderstand the Spirit’s leading and how it relates to personal transformation. A clearer grasp
of what the Bible teaches about this vital truth will help us all as we seek to grow in grace.
This leads us to ask, what does the New Testament mean by the phrase led by the Spirit? What is
the fruit of His leading in one’s life? These are questions we will explore in this article. As it
unfolds, we will gain clarity, encouragement, and practical help in our walk with God.
First, some clarity. The phrase led by the Spirit occurs only twice in the New Testament, and
both instances are frequently misused today. The first is in Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by
the Spirit of God are sons of God.”1 The immediate context is the believer’s battle with the flesh
through the empowerment of the Spirit. The second usage occurs in Galatians 5:18, “But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Again, the immediate context is the believer’s
battle with sin. In both instances, the larger concern is to show us how to live joyful, obedient
lives that produce the beauty of holiness and glorify God.
Let’s explore this more deeply by focusing on Galatians 5:16–25, a passage filled with great
riches for anyone who is hungry for God and wants to please Him. In this passage Paul addresses
two problems that plagued the Galatian church and has plagued the church universal up to the
present day: legalism and licentiousness. Some people in the Galatian church urged observance
of parts of the Mosaic Law, and others were disregarding moral constraints. Paul doesn’t look for
Aristotle’s Golden Mean and take a mediating position between the two; rather, as one writer has
said, he builds a highway above both.2 He does this by giving a command and a promise: “Walk
by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (v. 16). The word Spirit refers to
the Holy Spirit, who dwells in those who have been born again. The word flesh is Paul’s term to
describe fallen human nature and its self-centered attitudes, desires, and behaviors. The word
walk is commonly used in Scripture to refer to one’s daily conduct. Thus, to walk by the Spirit
means to live one’s daily life by the Holy Spirit’s guidance and empowerment. To walk in the
flesh is to live a life characterized by various sins and selfish behaviors.

34. Paul goes on to talk about how the flesh and the Spirit oppose and contend against each other,
something every believer can identify with. This struggle is a part of our lifelong battle against
the world, the flesh, and the Devil, as the Holy Spirit works to make us progressively more like
Jesus. Sometimes we can grow weary and discouraged with this struggle and even doubt our
salvation, but actually it is a sign of life. Walking by the Spirit is the pathway to overcoming the
desires of the flesh and living a holy life. What a great encouragement—to know that we don’t
have to stay trapped in our sins, in an endless demoralizing cycle of defeat after defeat with no
way out!
Practically speaking, how do we walk by the Spirit and overcome the desires of the flesh? We
must allow ourselves to be “led by the Spirit” (emphasis added; v. 18). The word led is a present-
passive verb, indicating that we should continuously surrender and yield ourselves to the desires
of the Spirit, whose leading is always diametrically opposed to the desires of our sinful flesh (our
old self). Our surrender to the Spirit’s leading is an act of the will, a choice we must make; it is
saying yes to the Spirit’s leading and no to the desires of the flesh. We will say more about that
ahead. But for now, let’s be clear that as we allow the Spirit to influence, direct, and empower
us, we can overcome the flesh. Certainty about this is crucial, and uncertainty is self-defeating.
At this point some concrete examples might help us better understand the struggle between the
Spirit and the flesh and where surrender to each leads. In Galatians 5:19–21, Paul says, “Now the
works of the flesh are evident.” In what follows, he gives a list of various works of the flesh, the
self-centered life, that were common in Paul’s day (and in ours). It provides a representative
sample and is by no means exhaustive. For clarity, I have given the meaning of each word,
drawing from the work of two highly acclaimed New Testament scholars.3
• Sexual immorality has been a perennial problem in human societies since the fall because
it is rooted in one of our strongest drives. The Greek word used here, porneia (from
which we get pornography), encompasses a variety of sexual sins, including using
prostitutes, committing adultery, engaging in premarital sex, homosexual acts, and incest.
• Impurity is an even broader term covering any inappropriate sexual activity, that is,
sexual activities that make a person unclean and unfit for approaching God. One example
would be viewing pornography, which has a long history and was part of Greco-Roman
culture.
• Sensuality refers to throwing restraint to the wind and indulging oneself without regard
for normal moral standards. It denotes being so consumed by the pursuit of sexual
pleasure that public opinion no longer matters. Wild living is a modern term for it.
• Idolatry, the worship of idols, was a major problem in the Old Testament and was
common in the Greco-Roman culture of Paul’s day. However, idolatry was not limited to
material objects of wood or stone. When Paul describes covetousness (greed) as idolatry
(Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), he shows that idolatry can take nonmaterial forms. Money,
possessions, career, reputation, and ambitions of various sorts can all be forms of
idolatry—and much else besides. As John Calvin observed, “The human heart is an idol
factory.”4

35. • Sorcery is the English translation of the Greek word pharmaka, from which we get the
words pharmacy and pharmaceutical. It means “using drugs.” In Paul’s day, it was
applied ominously to drugs used in witchcraft and used for poisoning people. Today
sorcery would include astrology, fortune telling, and other occult practices. It would also
include using drugs (legal or illegal) not for medical purposes but for their mind-altering
effects (getting high).
• Enmity includes negative attitudes and feelings and hostile actions toward other people,
either individuals or groups. On an individual level, examples would include refusing to
forgive, holding grudges, and working mischief against someone. At the group or
community level today, enmity would encompass dislike and prejudice toward people of
other races and religions, as well as hatred of political figures and parties.
• Strife is the relational discord and animosity resulting from a quarrelsome, argumentative
attitude that takes pleasure in self-assertion and confrontation.
• Jealousy refers to the selfish resentment of another’s success or achievement.
• Fits of anger, often called temper tantrums, are explosive outbursts of anger against other
people.
• Rivalries denote selfish ambition and putting oneself and one’s interests above those of
others.
• Dissensions refer to unbiblical, divisive teaching that is disruptive of church unity.
• Divisions are a party (partisan) spirit or cliques around particular people or teachings.
• Envy is not merely begrudging the good fortune of others, but also maliciously resenting
it and wanting to spoil it or deprive them of it.
• Drunkenness speaks of revelry where alcohol impairs moral judgment and inhibitions and
possibly leads to immoral actions.
• Orgies are closely connected with drunkenness and denote wild partying behavior.
“And things like these” (v. 21) indicates that the list is only a sampling.
The sins in this list were common and no doubt characterized some of the people in the Galatian
church before they professed faith in Christ. True saving faith in Christ involves repentance, a
turning away from one’s sins, and a daily battle against them in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Apparently some in the church were continuing in their sins and not seeking to forsake them.
Whether from ignorance of biblical teaching, backsliding, or lack of true conversion, this was a
serious issue. This is why Paul, in the sentence immediately following this list, delivered a sober
comment on these behaviors: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God” (v. 21).
In Galatians 5:22–23, Paul shifts to happier thoughts, saying, “But the fruit of the Spirit is …”
In what follows he gives nine characteristics of the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of a born again
believer. Unlike the word works (of the flesh), fruit is singular, indicating that the nine
characteristics are part of a unified whole and are not separable. In other words, a believer
doesn’t have some and not others, though their relative strength may vary.
•
• Love, by which Paul means the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit
(Rom. 5:5). The Greek word is agape. This is a responsive love that evokes in us a love

36. for God and a desire to please Him. Worship, wholehearted surrender, and obedience are
at the heart of pleasing Him. God’s love also produces in us a love for our neighbor, a
servant love that is rooted primarily in the will and acts for our neighbor’s best interest
and highest good. As Paul says in Galatians 5:6, the only thing that matters in the
Christian life is “faith working through love,” and in Galatians 5:13, “through love serve
one another.” This humble, servant love was the dominant characteristic of Jesus’ life and
is to be so for His followers. In a very real sense, the other eight characteristics of the
Spirit are expressions of this agape love.
• Joy flows out of the awareness of God’s gracious favor to us and the hope of living with
Him and His Son and all His children in the world to come. Hope for the future is a key
part of joy and is an anchor that keeps us from being blown to and fro by the many and
varied circumstances of life and the hard times that sometimes overtake us. Unlike
happiness, its worldly and elusive equivalent, joy does not depend on favorable
circumstances.
• Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the deep abiding peace of God, the
sovereign and almighty King of creation. It is grounded in the assurance of God’s rich
mercy and personal love for us, shown supremely in His saving us by grace alone,
through Christ alone and not by our works. This produces a tranquil heart that is at rest in
God. And it impels and enables us to be peacemakers, to pursue peace with others,
including those in our family, community, church, and beyond, and across all ethnic,
racial, political, and other barriers that separate and divide people.
• Patience, also translated as long-suffering, is chiefly a matter of forbearance with other
people and of not being easily offended. This particularly includes people who displease,
irritate, provoke, or mistreat us—including those who persecute us. Steadfast endurance
with difficult people and circumstances is the idea. Such patience illustrates the patience
of God and is a powerful witness to others.
• Kindness is an attitude of graciousness and goodwill toward others, especially those who
do not deserve it. Kindness is an expression of love that goes above and beyond what is
warranted and demonstrates the kindness of God. It resists all harshness and coldness
toward others.
• Goodness is love and kindness in action, an expression of moral excellence. It gives
generously and spends itself to help others, without any expectation of return.
• Faithfulness is a matter of being trustworthy and reliable to God and to others, being
dependable and true to one’s word and commitments, someone in whom others can have
confidence.
• Gentleness is not weakness but strength under control, rooted in humility. Jesus was
gentle yet capable of expressing righteous indignation, when appropriate. Gentleness is
not arrogant, doesn’t bully or force others, but is considerate and exercises mildness in
dealing with them.
• Self-control engages both mind and body in the business of properly regulating one’s life
in all its parts. The scope of self-control ranges from such mundane matters as food and
drink to material possessions, to one’s thought life, to speech, to the expression of
emotions and much more, but with special attention to sexual matters and the mastery of
our passions.

37. Though not an exhaustive list, these nine characteristic traits that are the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
taken together, form a beautiful portrait of Jesus as we see Him in the Gospels. In their Christ-
centered selflessness, they stand in stark contrast to the self-centered life of the flesh. They are
supernatural in nature and not a human attainment, though we have an essential role in their
blossoming. They do not appear piecemeal but all together. Nor do they appear in full bloom but
mature over time as we continue to walk in the Spirit and put sin to death. Not only do they have
a personal dimension; they also have a community dimension that blesses and edifies fellow
believers and strengthens the unity of the church.
What part do we play in the blossoming of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives? After listing the fruit of
the Spirit, Paul reminds the believers that they “have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires” (v. 24). This is his way of describing their original turning to Christ from their sin. As he
said in Romans, “We know that our old self was crucified with him [Christ] in order that the
body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Rom.
6:6). The image of “crucifixion” depicts our turning from sin in repentance and to Christ in
faith—dying to the old life and coming alive to the new. The effect of this is that the bondage
and enslavement of our will to sin has been broken, and we are now liberated and able to say no
to sin. This does not mean that we cannot sin anymore; rather, it means we have been set free to
obey God. However, we must choose to yield ourselves, body and soul, to Him (Rom. 6:12–14).
If we don’t, we will remain mired in sin. That is why Paul goes on to say to the Galatians, “If we
live by the Spirit, let us also walk by [keep in step with] the Spirit” (v. 25). The Spirit leads and
empowers us to walk in obedience to God.
How does this work in practice? Being led by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, keeping in step
with the Spirit, is predicated on our having previously surrendered ourselves wholeheartedly to
God in response to His grace. This surrender is an act of the will, a choice we make; it is saying
yes to God and the Spirit’s leading and no to the desires of the flesh. However, it is precisely
here that many of us have a problem. Research has shown that the vast majority of professing
believers in the American church have never made such a surrender of themselves to God. They
have never taken a decisive stand against the flesh—their old sinful self and its desires—and put
God first in their lives.
But as Paul makes clear in Romans 6 and 12, putting God first is the only appropriate response to
God for the completely undeserved grace and mercy He has lavished upon us, and it is essential
for living the Christian life. In Romans 12:1, for example, Paul exhorts the church, “I appeal to
you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” If we haven’t done this, it means we
still have a divided heart; we have one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. We are of
two minds. We want the blessings of God but refuse His conditions. We will say no to sin only
so far as we find it agreeable. We rationalize and make excuses about our sins, saying we can’t
resist, or that we will sin only a little or only occasionally. Then we deceive ourselves into
thinking that God understands we are weak and will be satisfied if we do the best we can—which
is to assume He will be satisfied with our compromise, our partial obedience, and our halfhearted
commitment. But He won’t.
God knows that we are weak; He knows it far better than we do. And He has made a provision
for it. That is precisely why He gave us the Holy Spirit! But as I mentioned in the article
“Holiness” (Knowing & Doing Fall 2016), there is a big difference between the Spirit residing in

38. us (which is true of all born again believers), and the Spirit reigning in us (which is true of only
some). The Spirit is ready and willing and eager to reign in us, but His power is blocked until we
surrender fully to God. Once we surrender to God and ask the Spirit to fill us, He will begin to
change our lives. In ways that will amaze and delight you, the Holy Spirit will actively carry
forward the process of transforming you through the renewing of your mind. The process works
from the inside out. It is not simply the changing of external behaviors but the changing of their
source. Renewed minds produce renewed thinking, values, attitudes, desires, motives, and
behaviors. At the deepest level, we will begin to experience “the expulsive power of a new
affection.”5 Our hearts will increasingly appreciate God’s grace to us, and our minds will
increasingly desire God and His will more than our sin and its pleasure, thus weakening its hold
on us.
The Scriptures are the Holy Spirit’s chief instrument in renewing our minds, and His primary
focus is Jesus—glorifying Jesus to us (John 16:14). He does this through illuminating our minds
and hearts to grasp ever more deeply the love of God and of Jesus for us and to focus our
attention on Jesus’ life, His works, His teachings, His death, resurrection, and ascension to glory.
This highlights the great importance of being immersed in the Scriptures and praying that God
will “grant us so to hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them” (Book of Common Prayer)
that we are truly transformed. One of our main responsibilities in this process is to sit under good
preaching and teaching and also read, study, memorize, and meditate on Scripture—the Gospels,
the Epistles, and the rest of the Bible. As we behold the glory of the Lord Jesus over time,
pondering and deeply reflecting upon Him and all He has done, our love for Him will grow and
with it our desire to please Him and be like Him. These holy desires in turn will propel our daily
obedience, which the Spirit will help us render by calling to our minds the teachings and the
example of Jesus that apply to the circumstances we face each day—in areas of personal
temptation, family relations, friendships, church life, the workplace, community affairs, and
ministry opportunities, among others.
By immersing ourselves in the Scriptures, consistently walking in the Spirit, asking Him to
reveal the transforming glory of Christ to us, and obediently following as He leads us, we will
see the fruit of the Spirit maturing in our lives; we will find ourselves being transformed from
one level of glory to another by the Spirit—transformed into the image of Jesus Himself (2 Cor.
3:18). It isn’t easy; it involves challenge and discipline, may lead to hardship or persecution, and
takes a lifetime, but the rewards are infinitely greater than Tom Tarrants has lived in the
Washington, DC area since 1978 and served as President of the C.S. Lewis Institute from 1998
to April 2010. He is currently Vice President for Ministry & Director, Washington Area Fellows
Program. Prior to coming to the Institute, he served as co-pastor of Christ Our Shepherd Church
and Director of The School for Urban Mission, both based in Washington, DC, Tom holds a
Master of Divinity Degree, as well as a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Christian Spirituality. He
is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance.
THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

39. "1. We know that Abraham left his kindred and
country and was guided to a home which he knew
not.
2. We know that the Israelites were led for forty
years in the desert sands and wastes of the wilder-
ness.
3. We know that Joshua was led to overcome
the enemies in Canaan because he looked to the Cap-
tain of the Lord's Hosts.
4. We know the early church was able to solve
the most difficult problems because they were led by
the Holy Spirit ; and yet there are some people who
fear this subject because others have gone into fana-
ticism; but it is just as wrong to neglect and ignore
an important subject as it is to become fanatical
about it. It is not sensible to freeze to death because
other people have been burned to death. It is not
wise to starve to death because others have eaten too
much and become winebibbers and gluttons, yet it
is wiser to both starve and freeze than it is to refuse
and ignore the Divine Guidance because some peo-

40. ple have been fanatical on the leading of the Spirit.
This world is a dark and trackless wilderness
and millions have lost the path of life and perished,
and thousands are now off on tangents because they
have neglected this infallible guide. It is a great
advantage in this dense, unknown wilderness not
only to have a chart but a faithful guide. The Lord
has given us both a glorious guide book and a glori-
ous Guide and “he will not miss of endless bliss,
who takes these helps to guide by.”
I. We believe it is our privilege to be divinely
guided because God has given us so many promises
of guidance.
“He will keepthe feet of his saints.” “The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” “Commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him and he
shall bring it to pass.” “I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go ; I will guide thee
with mine eye.”
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually and
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones;

41. and thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a
spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of Truth is come he
will guide you into all truth. If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given
him. ,,
These and many more that I cannot mention
here give us a foundation surer than the everlasting
mountains that God will guide us all the way from
earth to heaven.
1. To whom are the promises given for guid-
ance and who may expect to be divinely guided?
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord
and he delighteth in his way.”
The guidance is not given to us as men, but as
Christian men and women. The natural man re-
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They
are foolishness unto him.
Their heart is waxed gross. Their ears are dull

42. of hearing and their eyes they have closed, lest at
any time they see with their eyes and hear with
their ears and should be converted.
Conversion opens the eyes and ears and enables
sinners to receive the Divine Guidance.
2. In order to be led there must be a complete
surrender of all the being to the will of God. Every
sin in the heart is a great hindrance to the divine
leading — it is like dust in the eyes or wax in the
ears which blind the eye and deaden the hearing.
Nothing is more reasonable than that if a man does
not surrender and give his heart, ears, his eyes and
feet and his life to God, he cannot be led of the Spirit,
for how can a man take the second step if he will not
take the first.
3. In order to be divinely guided there must be
a commitment of your ways unto God. “Commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him and
He shall bring it to pass/’
He, who employs a physician or an attorney puts
the case fully into their hands and follows their in-

43. structions. If you say you will not do so, you will
not get their services. The Lord is the lawyer for
every troubled soul and the sick soul's physician,
and unless it is settled that we will clearly follow
the Divine Guidance we will never be clear in our
relation to the Guide and our souls will often be in
the dark. So many times we ask direction when
we merely want approval. We do like the young
man who was praying for a wife, he said “Lord,
give me Hannah. She will make me a good wife. If
it be thy will give me Hannah, but Lord whether it
is Thy will or not I am going to have her if I can
get her.” He wanted the Lord's approval. I have
prayed for direction many times when I was afraid
the answer would come the wrong way and I have
not waited long enough to find out what the Lord's
will was ; but I never sought His will when I was
as ready to take no as yes, but the Lord answered
me clearly and promptly.
4. Another condition of guidance is this, we
must acknowledge Him as Guide .
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall
direct thy paths. As forgiveness is conditioned on
confessing sins and receiving Jesus as your personal

44. Saviour, as perfect love is conditioned upon your
receiving the Holy Spirit as the only One who
sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, so Divine
Guidance is conditioned upon confessing that you
have taken the Spirit as your Divine Guide. God
will not honor people who .want His counsel, but
are ashamed to own that they are divinely directed.
In all thy ways, big ways and little ways, plain ways,
mysterious ways, private ways and public ways,
personal ways, business ways, home ways and social
ways, “in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He
shall direct thy paths ”
5. We must receive guidance by faith. There
must be a belief that God will make His guidance
known. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of
God who giveth to all men liberally and unbraideth
not and it shall be given him, but let him ask in
faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is
like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and
tossed. Let not that man think he shall receive any-
thing of God. When you commit all your difficulties
unto the Lord you must believe that He is willing
and able to guide you and you must expect the
direction needed and look out for the divine guid-

45. ance ; unless you do this you will not receive any-
thing of the Lord, but will be like a ship at sea with
no helm, at the mercy of the wind and waves.
II. Satan offers to guide us in many ways.
1. The devil wants to guide us by our feelings .
Many people do things just because they feel like
it. They will do very unscriptural things because
they feel like it. I protested to a minister the other
day about needlessly spending money. “Oh,” said he,
“I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I feel like
spending a little money ; a man must do something.”
A man who tests his life by his feelings is like a man
who takes his case out of a wise and righteous court
and gives it to a crying child to decide for him. A
young minister was strongly impressed when he
went to his appointment that he would find a wife
during that year, and going along the street one day
he felt sure that a lady ahead of him was to be his
wife. The Spirit, he thought, led him along after
her. Imagine his feelings when he saw her face
and found out that she was a colored woman. Had
she been white and beautiful and rich he would have
felt the Lord had led him, and she would have had

46. no end of trouble with the fool , but as it was he
flew the track, and thought he was mistaken. Never
go by your feelings.
When at Fort Wayne I felt like I must go and
see a strange family. Wife didn’t want to go, but
I insisted and off we went. When we got there
they had moved away and the house was empty.
When I was calling, on one of my charges and
praying with one of my parishioners, it came over
me very strongly to pray for the husband that he
might be converted and be a little better husband
and I laid myself out in good earnest. When pray-
ers were over imagine my mortification when she
said with streaming eyes that for five years he had
been dead . There are hundreds of thousands out of
Christ today, and to the question, "Why are you not
a Christian?” they will answer they do not feel
like it.
That is the devil’s reason for doing things or
not doing them. No wonder Wesley said: "Trample
under foot that fanatical doctrine that you are not
to do good unless you feel like it ”

47. 2. An accidental text of scripture , will be the
reason of other misleadings of the Devil. I have
known people in this city who would open their
Bibles and try to make something out of the first
verse they saw, not knowing that they were led of
the Devil in doing this thing! Suppose a Judge
should open Blackstone and decide in favor or
against a case by some chance sentence he found
in the volume! Suppose a physician should give
a medicine to his patient according to the first pre-
scription that his eye falls upon in his medical di-
rectory !
The come-outer falls on this text by chance:
“Come out from among them and be ye separate,
saith the Lord,” and Satan throws that text into
both his eyes and out he goes. Another person
hits upon this verse: “I suffer not a woman to
teach” and that settles the whole question. Passing
over all the examples of women helpers and workers
and leaders he rests upon that one passage.
Search the Scriptures. Don't fool with them,
is the Divine command. God does not want us to
go into religious gambling and make a “toss penny”

48. of the Bible.
3. Satan will guide by dreams. Some people
justify their conduct by dreams which they have
had and they do some very foolish things. There is
no Scripture warrant for depending on dreams for
guidance. They may be from God, they may be
from the Devil, or they may be from a mince pie.
4. Signs is another method of his satanic
majesty. A great many people live by signs. If a
bird flies into the room, or a looking glass is broken,
they are sure some one is going to die. If they
find a pin with the point towards them, they must
pick it up. If a fork falls from the table and sticks
in the floor it is a bad sign. They have horse
shoes tacked up over the door. They ought to be
tapped for the simples, following such vain supersti-
tions and yet the Devil fools and deceives a great
many people by just such nonsense.
III. Some of the Methods of Divine Guidance:
1. The Holy Spirit will guide us through our
sanctified common sense . He has given us reason-

49. ing powers and He appeals to our reason from the
start. “Come,” he says to the sinner, “Let us reason
together.” “The meek will He guide in judgment.”
When a man gives his brains to the Lord he has a
right to believe that God will respect his reason and
his judgment. The sun may be shining clearly in the
heavens, but when I go into the cellar I must take
a lamp with me. So there are many places where
you must take the lamp of reason and exercise your
own consecrated judgment.
When I walk on the street I must open my eyes,
or else I will stumble and fall over many things
in the way. If you have an impression that you
ought to do something, do like you do with a water-
melon, thump it, rap it on the head and see if it has
the right sound, thus testing it. If your impression
is not sensible wait till it gets ripe.
2. God guides us by His written word . “Thou
wilt guide me by Thy counsel^ “Thy word have I
hid in my heaPt that I might not sin against Thee.”
What fools we must be to expect a new revelation
from God when we won't read what He has already
given. When we disregard the plain command-

50. ments what right have we to look for God to give us
special revelations to suit our different cases. And
yet there are a great many companies of people who
talk about walking according to the inward revela-
tion, while at the same time they discard nearly every
truth that has been divinely revealed. The fall of
man — original sin — the need of the atonement —
the personality of God — justification by faith — re-
generation — the witness of the Spirit — sanctification
by faith and the resurrection of the body are all
flatly denied or glossedover and perverted so as to
make the Word of God of none effect.
It is certainly true that men cannot have direct
and special guidance from God who reject and
disobey God’s written word.
When God says: 'Thou shalt not steal,” "Thou
shalt not lie,” "Thou shalt not commit adultery,”
"Thou shalt not kill” or "Thou shalt love the Lord,”
that is guidance enough without a special revelation
and whoever refuses to obey the written revelations
will get his inward revelations from the devil and
not from God.

51. 3. Another method of guidance is the min-
istry of others. God lays his hand upon some
men and makes them the instruments for the
guidance of His people. "Thou leadest thy people
out of Egypt like a flock.” How ? "By the hand of
Moses andAaron.” The Scriptures are full of il-
lustrations where the Lord sent one man to help
others.
When Saul was smitten on the way to Damascus,
the Lord sent Ananias to tell him what to do and to
impart unto him the Holy Spirit. Peter was sent
to Cornelius for the same purpose and Philip was
sent to the Eunuch who said that he could not under-
stand the Scripture unless some man explained it,
and Paul gives special directions for this Divine
Guidance by the ministry when he says : “The things
that thou hast heard of me, commit thou unto faith-
ful men who shall be able to teach others also.” For
any one to say that he has no need to be taught of
others is simply to say that he is in the whirlpool of
fanaticism, but does not John say in His First
Epistle, 2nd Chapter and 27th verse that: “Ye need
not that any man teach you,” yes, but he did not
mean that they needed not the true ministry , but

52. only that they must not listen to men who would
pervert the scripture, for he says in the preceding
verse, “These things are written concerning them,
that would seduce you.” It was simply listening to
men as men only and not as holy men sent from
God.
No matter how holy, wise and prudent you are
you will often need to be guided by some of God's
chosen ones, for this is His method of guidance.
4. The Holy Spirit shall guide you into all the
truth. The direct guidance of the Holy Spirit is the
subject of great trouble to most people. A great
many Christians want the Holy Spirit to guide
them by revelations or by impressions, or by some
thought, or by some word, or by some special sign
or manifestation. They want the Spirit to guide
them, for instance, in the performance of some duty,
or in the decision of some doubtful question, or to
enable them to judge which of two things ought to
be done when both seemto be proper. They think
they get an impression from the Spirit and when
they have done it they find they have been mistaken.
So the guidance of the Holy Spirit instead of being

53. the end of all trouble and the solution of all dif-
ficulty, is really itself a grievous perplexity, and the
troubled Christian does not know how to be guided
nor when he is guided by the Spirit. I want to
show you, if I can, what the difficulty is with us.
The trouble is that we are seeking the guidance of
the Holy Spirit by impressions on our minds, on our
thoughts, on our feelings, rather than the guidance
of the Holy Spirit in our life. We are wanting the
Holy Spirit to guide us by some external impres-
sion rather than guide us in the life. "He that fol-
lowed! Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have
the light of life.”
The Holy Spirit guides us in our life — not
through an impression made on our mind, but
through the new life that we are living. This was
what Jesus meant when he said, "In him was life
and the life was the light of men.” When the life
of Jesus is brought unto you by the Holy Spirit,
then the life of Jesus in you becomes the light that
illuminates your mind and proper decisions are
brought forth; and in that way you know not by
impressions but by the Holy Spirit that dwells in
you. Your life illuminates your mind and right

54. decisions are made.
The leading of the Spirit and the indwelling of
the Spirit are intimately connected together. When
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit then was He
led of the Spirit into the wilderness. How? By
some impression from heaven? By some revela-
tion from the skies? No. It was by the Spirit that
dwelt in his body, that permeated his soul, that took
possessionof his life and led him into the wilder-
ness. Thus intimately connected are the life of the
Spirit and the leading of the Spirit. Paul says:
"Present your bodies a living sacrifice,” and when
you have presented your bodies a living sacrifice
you can "prove what is the good and perfect and
acceptable will of God.” "If ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Do
you see that the leading of God does not come from
the outside, out of heaven upon your mind but that
it comes from the Spirit that dwells within you?
Down deeper than your thought, deeper than emo-
tions or feelings of your body, down in your very
spirit in the labyrinth of your very soul, there
dwells the Holy Spirit. There he moulds your will,
there he works upon your character, and there he

55. moves, there he impels, there he inspires you, so
that out of your very life and not down from heaven
or from some impression that may come from other
sources, but out of your very soul is the way the
Spirit guides you." AUTHOR UNKNOWN
THE HOLY SPIRIT'S GUIDANCE
BY REV. A. CARMAN, D.D.
Who shall teach the deep things of chemistry, but a skilled chemist ? Who shall teach the
higher mathematics, but a practical mathematician ? Who shall show the power of logic,
but the well versedlofjician ? Who shall teach us the nature of the Spirit, the work of the
Spirit, the mind of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit Himself come
down from heaven ?
In the first place, it is to be noticed that what
He, the Spirit of Truth, undertakes to do is to
guide us into truth, yea, into all truth. The word
" guide " is the key- word of the text. It is not '" drive "
us into truth ; or push or thrust us into truth ; or throw
or hurl us into truth ; or draw or drag us into truth ; or
in any way compel or coerce us into truth ; or lift or
shoot, or dash us into truth, as by some sudden ex-
plosion ; or frighten or astonish us into truth ; or
flatter or coax or buy us into truth ; but guide, guide

56. us into truth. Guide, lead, teach are the Scripture
words ; they are as well the words of God and of the
human mind. They are the words of the rational
process and of the laws of thought, as well as the
words of inspiration. These two books of God herein
perfectly agree, and we make a fearful mistake if we
attempt their disagreement, or strain one in the undue
use of the other. Each has its place, and does the
other no violence. " Behold, ye despisers, and wonder,
and perish." See that it is God in His work, and God
in His Word. Ho ! ye that scorn reason and true
learning; and see that it is the same God in the
volume of inspiration and in the processes and prin-
ciples of the spirit of man in quest of all truth.
That we may be the more deeply impressed with
the thought and utterances of Scripture in this point
of view, and their fidelity to the rational process and
the laws of the human mind, let us gather out of the
Word of God a few of the indications of the divine
plan of our acquaintance with the truth of God ; the
purpose of the divine mind and declarations of the
Holy Spirit as to our instruction therein, and as to the
enlightenment and salvation of the world through the
truth ; and at the same time the views and experiences

57. of God's people through all time as to their sanctifi-
cation and progress in the way of knowledge, duty,
usefulness and power. One thing is certain ; God the
Father, the Father of lights ; God the Son, the light of
the world ; God the Holy Ghost, the guide of His
people and leader of faithful souls, is no friend of
ignorance, of moral or intellectual darkness, or the
prejudices, misconceptions, misdirections and errors
that arise out of that darkness and ignorance. He
does not build His kingdom on ignorance, nor does
He expect to do His work by ignorance, or any of
its vile progeny. Our God and His religion are not
the champions of half ideas or the confusion of ideas ;
or of dim, partial and unsettled ideas ; or of the envy
and strife to which they lead. " God is not the author
of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of
His saints." " God is light, and in Him is no darkness
at all." " I am the light of the world. He that fol-
loweth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life," is the claim of our Lord. " Ye are
all the children of light, and the children of the day.
We are not of the night, nor of darkness," is the
assertedChristian character, " My people are de-
stroyed for lack of knowledge," crieth the judgment-
pronouncing Hosea. " Wisdom and knowledge shall

58. be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation,"
replieth the farther-seeing and more hopeful Isaiah.
" Awake thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead ;
and Christ shall give thee light," is for every willing
soul. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people ; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His
glory shall be seenupon thee. And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising ; " is a promise specially for the Church of God.
" For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea," is
our God's grand purpose for this whole human race.
Light, light ; truth, truth ; knowledge, knowledge ;
glory, glory. As in the beginning, so now and ever-
more, " Let there be light."
How all this shall be fulfilled; what God under-
takes in the economy of grace and expects in the
hearts and life of men, is evident from these utter-
ances of His Word: "The meek will He guide
in judgment, and the meek will He teach His
way." " For Thy name's sake lead me and guide me."
" I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which

59. thou shalt go ; I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be
ye not as the horse or the mule, which have no under-
standing, whose mouth must be held in with bit and
bridle, lest they come near unto thee." " Nevertheless
I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my
right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory." " The integrity of
the upright shall guide them.' " If thou draw out thy
soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then
shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be
as the noon-day. And the Lord shall guide thee con-
tinually ; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and
like a spring of water whose waters fail not." " Doth
not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her
voice ? . . . . Unto you, O men, I call, and my
voice is unto the sons of man Hear in-
struction and be wise and refuse it not
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and
the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. . . .
Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet
wiser ; teach a just man and he will increase in learn-
ing." " Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou
art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all

60. the day." ' Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me
in a plain path because of mine enemies." " O send
out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me, let them
bring me into thy Holy hill." " Thus saith the Lord :
They have turned unto Me the back and not the face,
though I taught them rising up early and teaching
them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruc-
tion." " Jesus went into the temple and taught ; He
taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes." "Then said Jesus to those Jews who be-
lieved on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are
ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." " Ye yourselves
are taught of God to love one another." " And the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, andHe
said. Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother ? I will
be with thy mouth and with his mouth, and will teach
you what ye shall do." " And when they bring you
unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates and powers,
take no thought how or what thing ye shall answer
or what ye shall say, for the Holy Ghost will teach
you in the same hour what ye ought to say." " The
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in My name, He shall teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I

61. have said unto you." "But the anointing which ye
have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you ; but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie,
and evenas it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him."
" So teach us to number our days that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom." " What man is he that
feareth the Lord ? him shall He teach in the way that
he shall choose The secret of the Lord is
with them that fear Him, and He will show them His
covenant." " And now the Lord God and His Spirit
hath sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel : I am the Lord thy God which
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way
that thou shouldest go." " If thy children shall keep
my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them,
their children also shall sit upon my throne for ever-
more." " Give me understandino^ according to thy
word." " My lips shall utter praise when thou hast
taught me thy statutes." " Now we have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of
God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth ; comparing spiritual things

62. with spiritual." " Rabbi, we know that Thou art a
teacher come from God." "Jesus answered and said
unco him ; Art thou a master of Israel and knowest
not these things ? Verily, verily, I say unto you, we
speak that we do know, and testify that we have
seen." " He that coineth from heaven is above all, and
what He hath seenand heard, that He testifieth."
" When He was set. His disciples came unto Him, and
He opened His mouth and taught them, saying : Ye
are the light of the world." " Let your light so shine
before men." " Think not that I am come to destroy
the law and the prophets." " I have given them thy
word Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth For their sakes I
sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on Me through
their word, that they all may be one, as Thou Father
art in Me and I in Thee ; that they also may be one in
us." And a second time : " The Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name,
He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you."

63. CHAPTBR VII.
CERTAIN PLAIN INFERENCELv
fROM these citations from the Holy Scriptures,
and the numerous others that may, clearly to
the same effect, be readily made, these several
things are very plain, and these propositions manifestly
justifiable :
1. The salvation of the world, in all that is embraced
in that very comprehensive term, as affecting indi-
viduals, nations or the race, is to be accomplished by
the truth, the truth of God, in one form or another, of
one kind or another, in its legitimate effects upon the
inteJligence, the reason, the conscience ; upon the
private, social and public sense and life of mankind.
The doctrine is : No knowledge, no salvation !
2. This truth of God, of one kind or another, is the
light, and the only hope of the world ; and must be
brought to bear upon the minds and consciences of men ;

64. each kind by its proper means and under its own law
and the corresponding law of the mind. We no more
make the truth of God than we create the mind of
man ; but we are permitted to have something to do
with their relation and connections.
3. These proper means, at all events as concerning
moral and religious truth, are clearly set forth in the
Scriptures to be guiding, teaching, leading, learning,
instruction ; obtaining knowledge, wisdom, under-
standing.
4. The Scriptures do not disparage, despise or decry any true knowledge, but recognize all
genuine truth, scientific as well as moral and religious, as embraced in the elevating, saving
wisdom. At the same time they hold that the central and indispensable truth, the truth on
which all other truth grows, the knowledge of knowledges and science of sciences, is the
truth of the Gospel, the truth lost by rebellious man, restored by the merciful God, the
knowledge of ourselves and the saving knowledge of God. The Church of God is declared
in this sense to be the pillar and ground of the truth.
6. Guiding, teaching and leading in their relation to
knowledge and salvation are in the Bible used very
nearly as universally interchangeable terms. It is the
same prayer, " Guide me by Thy counsel ; " lead me in
a plain path ; teach me Thy statutes.
The father guides the child by his example, his spirit, his felt
presence, his hand, his finger, his look. But the pru-

65. dent father everso guides the child on recognized
principles and for his good. So doth the Spirit of God
guide by His presence, His mind. His example, His
word, His very look. The calm, clear eye of the Infi-
nite Reason, the indwelling Holy Ghost, looks lovingly
into the opening eye of the infinite intelligence, the
obedient human soul. " The meek will He guide in
judgment." " I will guide thee with Mine eye." But
again on recognized, unalterable principles, the Word
of God, truth and candor must be there, or there is no
guidance to good.
The guidance, the teaching, the leading with which
we have to do is not the coaxing of the dog, or the
driving of the horse, or the goading of the ox, or the
buying of the traitor to his country for voting day, or
the bouncing of a ball, or the rush of the torpedo, or
the graceful curve of the sky-rocket ; or the leap of
feeling, or the bound of sentiment and desire, or the
sudden burst of passion's varying flame ; but it is the
work of mind on mind, intelligence on intelligence,
thought on thought, person on person, by sound know-
ledge and pure truth. The Spirit of God undertakes
to guide the willing disciple into all truth. And to
the breadth of the " all truth " to the enlarging soul

66. He, on His side, sets no limit on earth or in heaven ;
the earth " all truth " for earth, and the heaven " all
truth " for heaven. It is the leadership of capability,
docility and obedience by intelligence, light and love.
It is guidance on the one hand ; willing following on
the other. It is teaching on the one hand ; learning
on the other. It is instruction on the one hand ; ready
discipleship on the other. ^ - -
In the teacher, instructor, guide, in such a case, it is
necessary that these things be found: —
1. Authority to teach. — " Who made thee a ruler or
a guide over me," is the quick, instinctive demand of
every soul. Teaching is a high and sacred function,
and must be attended with ruling and commandment,
with government and order. This is recognized in all
public systems of instruction, in all institutions of
learning, in well-ordered homes, and in the Church of
God ; in the economy of grace and in the kingdom of
heaven. Conscience, sense of right, respect of order
and law are vital elements in imparting and receiving
knowledge. There can be no extensive or useful
attainments in knowledge without them. Truth's
intrinsic authority must hold sway over the moral

67. nature of both teacher and scholar.
2. Knowledge. — Subject matter to communicate. It
goes for the saying, the teacher must know before he
can teach. And he should know, not only the fact,
process, or principle taught, but also its bearing, rela-
tion, or connections and power. The more he knows of
these things, of causes and effect, of occasions and
consequences, the better will he understand the central
fact or principle in view, and the more luminously and
satisfactorily will he explain it.
3. Ability to teach. — This is the power of the commu-
nication of knowledge, which is an instinctive, inventive
and sympathetic power ; entering into thought, capa-
bility, inclination and temperament of the learner on
the one hand ; and into the activities of mind and
the broadness, beauty, variety and unity of truth on
the other.
4. Love. — Love of the knowledge itself ; love of the
very activity and exercise of teachinor; of dealing with
the knowledge and holding it up in its various lights ;
love of the learner as a companion and a disciple, a
kindred spirit of glorious opportunity and abounding

68. and far-reaching promise ; and love of the fruits of
knowledge in the happy learner, in the ever-brighten-
ing intelligence and ever-increasing power, in the up-
ward flights of the soul, into broader, clearer light.
5. Patience. — Begottenof love and faith, faith in the
omnipotence of truth set shining upon a ready mind ;
patience to wait the unfolding of the untaught powers ;
adapting the lessons to dulness, to inattention, even
to stupidity; expecting hesitancy, stumbling, failure,
and by them possibly evenbetter pointing out the
road ; bearing evenwith indifference and insensibility
till the day of awakening comes; then kindling the
incipient desire into a strong passion, and fanning it
into a consuming flame ; nurturing the feeble thought
into robust intelligence and all-conquering knowledge.
6. Trustworthiness. — Accuracy, truthfulness and
honesty ; so that so far as it was intended to go, the ipse
dixit may be conclusive, " The teacher said so ; that is
enough." The facts, the principles, well known and
truthfully delivered, the spirit of the learner rests with
satisfaction, and bounds from height to height with
vigor and joy.

69. 7. Inspiration. — Selfhood, individuality, personal
earnestness, a moral and intellectual magnetism,
streaming forth from the very presence, the speech,
the tone, the question, the eye, the burning soul within ;
that it may enter into the learner and possess him, and
restrain and incite him ; and instruct, impel, correct
and edify him ; till his own spirit catches the flame,
and he feels his own manhood, selfhood, worth, power,
and responsibility, and rises in a moral dignity, self-
reliance on truth, and vital connection with truth and
righteousness, in finer fibre and nobler stature, a man —
a wise and good man, after the pattern of the model
Man of all the ages.
On the side of the instructor, when the Holy Ghost
is the teacher, we certainly have all these ([ualifica-
tions in a pre-eminent degree ; yea, to the very perfec-
tion of every qualification ; and the full perfection of
the right and proper adjustment and combination of
all perfections. The Holy Spirit, blessedbe His name
forever ! is unquestionably an infallible guide and
omniscient teacher. Does this insure, however, what
some understand by infallible guidance — no possibility
of sin, no sin ; no liability to mistake, no mistakes ;
the fruits of infinite knowledge, unerring rectitude

70. and absolute holiness ?
CHAPTER IX. THE INSTRUMENT OF GUIDANCE.
For this instruction, so utterly indispensable, we
have, as the instrument of the Spirit, the Holy Scrip-
tures, the Bible. We set it above everything else.
We allow nothing for a moment to come into com-
parison with it. It is decisive of all controversies,
settling all doubts, the final court of appeal. Once
fixed, the Bible is of God ; there we are on the rock.
" But the Bible raises doubts and controversies."
Yes, and when we go to the Guide, the Teacher, it settles
them, and settles them forever. The multiplication
table is the instrument of the mathematician ; and the
mathematician must keepto his multiplication table,
the lotjician to his orcjanon, the grammarian to his
rules, and the Spirit of God (we speak it rever-
ently) must keepto the Bible. And we must keepto
the inspired Word. " The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul." The apostles themselves held
its perpetual validity, its self-evidencing power above
the evidence of testimony and the evidence of sense.
They were the last men in the world to let intima-

71. tions or impressions for a moment becloud the bright
shining of the established Word of God. " For we
have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ ; but were eye-witnesses of His
majesty. For He received from God the Father honor
and glory when there came to Him such a voice from
the excellent glory This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with Him in the
holy mount. We have also a more sure word of pro-
phecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as
unto a light that shineth on a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." Oh,
that our people bad learned more the study of the
Word, that they might better understand the mind of
the Spirit ! This is, indeed, the only way, under the
Spirit's guidance, to learn the mind of the Spirit. No
wonder our candidates for the ministry in our solemn
ordination service are required to enter into the vows
to be " diligent in reading the Holy Scriptures," " to
be ready with all faithful diligence to banish and
drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines con-
trary to God's Word," and " to be determined out of
the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed

72. to their charge."
2. It is very positive and plain that what the in-
fallible Teacher, the Holy Ghost, teacheth, He will
teach within the compass of the Word of God, and
the principles therein immutably and indestructibly
laid down. We saw off the limb on which we are
resting, betwixt ourselves and the tree, when we de-
grade the Bible to exalt the Holy ( Jhost ; when we
disparage or neglect the written Word to magnify
what we would like to call the voices, suggestions,
intimations or teachings of the Spirit. " To the law
and the testimony ; if they speak not according to
this Word, it is because there is no light in them."
The Bible gives us, reveals to us, the Holy Ghost, and
is given us by the Holy Ghost. Shall the King of
heaven violate His own constitution, dishonor His
own charter, and mar His own royal seal ? Shall the
teacher of order, fidelity, truth, and righteousness,
coming down to us from the skies, disgrace sacred,
supreme authority before our eyes, and disregard and
disown His own credentials ? The Holy Ghost Him-
self in the Word makes known His existence, which
otherwise we had known nothing of, and lays down
the law and result of His operation and work. When

73. people then get outside of the Bible ; above it, or
below it ; say they do not read the Bible, do not study
the Bible, do not need the Bible, because they are
taught of the Holy Ghost by direct indwelling and
communication aside from the Bible, what shall we
do ? Shall we join the alarmists, and cry, " Danger
ahead ? " Those taught of the Spirit need not that
any man teach them to be sure ; but they need teach-
ing, nevertheless. And whence cometh that anoint-
ing, which is no lie, but is truth and teacheth us all
things, but within the limits and under the law of
the written Word of God ? When the mariner gets
on his way, can he throw his compass overboard and
steerby the winds and shooting stars ? How shall we
ourselves avoid the lie and keepto the truth as re-
gards this anointing, and possess it in its fulness and
fragrance ; how shall we escape being ourselves de-
ceived, and deceiving and misleading others, unless we
search in God's Word for His representation of our
nature, need, privilege and duty, and God's will, way,
and power concerning us, as a man digs in a field for
hid treasure ? Why should we leave the old, tried
multiplication table at hand, and say the teacher will
give us a better one ? We hold the teacher himself
to and by the multiplication table, and in coming

74. years will know him a fool and a cheat if he forsake
or change it. The multiplication table is plain and
easy ; so is the doctrine of spheres and triangles ; but
if we get outside of the multiplication table by the
least fraction, or outside of the doctrine of triangles, or
the principles of universal grammar, or the organon
of eternal logic, where are we / There are some
things we cannot leave by the least line or shade
without leaving altogether. " Whosoever shall keep
the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all."
3. Within this compass of the Holy Scripture, by
this law and doctrine and through them, the Holy
Spirit doth personally and actually instruct and guide
men, the men that are willing to be instructed and
guided, in the things of God. We do not by any
means deny or displace the instruction and guidance
of the providence of God for those who can gather its
lessons ; the instruction of the constitution and course
of nature ; of the moral instincts of men ; of social,
political or national movements and result-^ ; or of any
of the agencies by which natural religion nay indicate
the divine will and draw men nearer to truth and
virtue. But as religious instructors we place none of

75. them, nor all of them combined, alongside of, or any
where near on the same level with, the Spirit by the
Word, the Word through the Spirit ; the Spirit of God,
the promise of the Father, in the heart of a believer in
Jesus Christ. This a vantage-ground that natural
religion, important as it is, noble and useful as it is,
in any of its aspects or combinations, never dreamed
of ; and yet a vantage-ground that deists would pre-
sumptuously claim, and that the practical infidelity
inside the Church itself would often unwarrantably
concede. Natural religion, or conscience, or Provi-
dence does not, and all of them together do not, under-
take to guide a man into all truth. We certainly have
no promise of God to that effect. They do not even
lead a man up to the regeneration, the door of the
kingdom of heaven. They have had a long and varied
trial, and proved a complete and everlasting failure.
Even the guiding, providential hand is too physical,
too coarse, too much of the natural ; not sensitive or
intelligible enough for this work of showing the be-
liever the secret places of his safety, his highway of
triumph and the hidden sources of his power. What
is here wanted is "the guiding eye," and the responsive
eye of the believer ; eye to eye ; spirit to spirit under

76. the light of the Word : reason to reason, intelligence
to intelligence, thought to thought under the guidance
of the Spirit of Truth according to the standards of
eternal truth. " I will guide thee with Mine eye."
" As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their
masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand
of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God."
4. And if we will not admit as the competitors, or
in any sense the equals of this " guiding eye," in
directing the saint of God in his duties, privileges and
joys, the inferences of natural religion, the deductions
of human reason, the lessons of history or the indica-
tions of paternal Providence, what shall we say of the
coming and going impressions, suggestions and fancies
that eager, and sometimes honest souls would like to
call the voices, the teachings of the Spirit ? What
shall we say of them when heeded so hastily as to be
untested by the Word, or if tested, found to transcend
or e en contravene the Word ? It is our solemn duty
to " try the spirits : " and if one come to speak in the
name of the Holy Ghost to detain him, at least long
enough to ask him some very straight questions and

77. get thereto square answers. Let him prove himself as
always in Scripture and in true scriptural experience.
It was not, ' I was sick, and I had a pain, and I didn't
take any dinner ; I got better, and I took a little ; and
I felt this way and that ; and the Lord told me ; and
I went here and there ; and I slept and I awoke, and
I heard it just as if it were a voice speaking to me ;
and the Lord said this or that ; " arrant nonsense and
balderdash — pardon, if we offend one of these little
ones — sometimes foisted upon a Christian assembly for
a religious experience ; which none but a Christian
assembly would have patience to bear. But to the
apostles it was : " This is that which was spoken by
the prophet Joel, It shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God." Again, '• They lifted up their voice to God
with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God which
hath made heaven and earth and the sea and all that
in them is." " Which by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage?" In
the vision of Peter and the providential coincident
direction of Peter and Cornelius, solid ground to rest
upon is found only in the Word : for, said the awak-
ened, liberalized Peter, '■ The Word which God sent
unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus
Christ (He is Lord of all), that ivord, I say ye know,

78. . . . how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with
the Holy Ghost and with power, ... to Him
give all the prophets witness, that through His name
whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission
of sins." So Paul reasoned out of the Scriptures,
opining and alleging that Christ must needs have
suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that " this
Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ." Christ and
His apostles never departed from the Bihle-base a
hair's breadth, or lost sight of it for a second. If it is
guidance we honestly seek, here is our guide. How
were the holy, mighty Bible characters instructed and
led ? How the faithful witnesses for Christ in all
the centuries of the Church ? Was it by their own
thoughts, impressions, notions, feelings ? Or was it
by the stable Word of the living God applied under
the instruction of the Spirit to the circumstances of
the life, to the work required of a consecrated soul in
perfect sacrifice and to the demands of the hour ?
Surely this was the light that shone upon the pathway
of Peter and Paul in all their argument and all their
action ; this was the law by which Christ held Himself
bound ; this was taken as their foundation, their
strength, their defence and their guide by Martin

79. Luther, John Wesley and John Knox. What have
we better ? /
5. It must be kept in mind that this " guiding eye,"
and the whole tenor of Scripture on this subject, carry
with them the rational process indeed ; mind to mind
and reason to reason ; but they carry, also, much more
than the merely rational process of mental illumina-
tion. The Holy Spirit guides by heart processes,
and soul impulses, affections, emotions and desires, as
well as by the cool, intellectual process. If it were the
cool intellectual process alone he would, perhaps, not be
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 59
a successful guide of most men. Like children, we
are often led better than we know or think of. But
the heart processes and soul impulses must come to the
rational, scriptural tests. The Spirit of God acts in
His personality and love, no question ; and He is ready
for the Scripture tests. It is we, and not He, that
are impatient under the rational, scriptural demands.
We are they that, once aroused, go off on fancies

80. and cannot wait. The father guides the child by
acts of confidence, by looks of expectation and desire,
by deeds of love, by incentives to energy au'l rewards
of success. It is a heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul
guidance. And .so the ever blessedSpirit in personal
heart guidance inflames our holy desire, chides our
dulness, stimulates our faith, lifts our expectation,
widens our view, redoubles our energy, brightens our
rewards, fires us with hope, and purifies and fills us
with joy and love. Here are signs enough, and feel-
ings enough, and impressions and impulses enough ;
but whether they be of the Spirit, and though they
be of the Spirit, they must abide the rational test,
the scriptural rule.
We have, then, the infallible Guide and the instru-
ment of instruction, the infallible Word ; we have the
infallible Spirit and His pure infallible doctrine and
act ; the holy testimony and the witness everfaith-
ful and true ; a scholar susceptible to kindness and a
teacher of infinite love. Does all this, however, imply
infallible guidance as .some understand it ; infinite
knowledge, absolute holiness ; no sin, no mistakes ?

81. 60 THE GUIDING EYE; OB,
CHAPTBR X.
RELIGION NATURAL IN THE KINGDOM
OF GOD.
OME one says, "This all looks like a natural process,
like human wisdom, learning earthly things. If
this be the way, where is the difference betwixt
grace and geometry ? It seems to leave God out of
the whole matter, and the Holy Ghost out. Why I
thought the Holy Spirit gave it all at once and finished
it all up ; and all I had to do was sit and sing myself
away to everlasting bliss. Or I thought God pushed it
through on predetermined lines, and I might attend to
other matters. I don't believe religion is learned like
arithmetic and grammar. You must work and plod to
get them ; but religion you get all at once by just ask-
ing for it. It is a supernatural divine gift and act,
and you don't have to toil for it or labor to develop

82. in it ; the Lord does all that."
Here is one of the ruinous drawbacks and sad discom-
fitures in this whole business. Religion, it is thought,
is so unlike everything else, so unnatural, so out of
the ordinary course of things, that it doesn't lie level
along human life and scarcely touches it at any point ;
in fact, has very little business with it. On the one hand,
THE HOLY SPIRITS GUIDANCE. 71
it is a constant intrusion, an imperturbable imperti-
nence. Its chief recommendation is its impudence, and
the only hold it has is in its brazen irregularities and
superhuman pretensions. It lives on miracles, on sur-
prises. On the other hand, it is more than super-
Alpine summits, and the gleaming heads and glittering
plateaus of cloud-land. So both sides would agree
it lives only on miracles, extraordinary junctures, and
surprises. Two very diverse classes of people seemto
be very much engaged in fostering this idea of the
unnaturalness of religion ; that is, its super-naturalness
in its own sphere. It is too high for humanity and

83. nobody can get it : or it is so lofty and transcendental
that it is the attainment of only a few ; and I am the
man that has it. The worldly man and the worldly-
minded professor of religion would have it altogether
supernatural, above and beyond man, to justifiy their
own evident and inexcusable deficiency and sinfulness.
The enthusiastic disciple, with perhaps more zeal than
knowledge, more assumption than humility — and there
are such — would have it so loftily supernatural in
this world under moral government, to magnify his
own distinction and assertedpossession.
What better thing do the devil and an infidel philo-
sophy want than to keepup the idea, whencesoever it
comes, that religion is an outlaw, unnatural, abnormal,
and out of joint with this good world ? Perhaps it could
be admitted to be an ornament to put on a shelf, or a
curiosity to be arranged in a cabinet ; but it has no
claim on, or affinity to, common life and daily affairs.
And many Christian thinkers speak of it as unnatural,
72 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,

84. thus conceding the whole ground to the devil and an
infidel philosophy ; just as though the supernatural
were unnatural in the supernatural, religious realm,
any more than gravitation is unnatural with clods,
flying with birds, or whizzing with insects. And some
Christian people help the devil and his philosophy
wonderfully, while they think they are honoring
God and doinu* Him service, bv claiminsf to live in
scorn of Christianity's regular procedure and normal
attainment and power, on its surprises, emergencies,
and miracles ; just as though a man could live on
tempests, explosions, earthquakes, and flaming vol-
canoes. Religion in its realm is just as natural as any
thing else in its realm. It is just as natural and normal
in its realm and work as the sprouting of the corn, then
the growth of the stalk to the putting forth of the ear,
and then the maturity of the grain. " First the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." We
err in two ways : because we will not do our own work ;
and are determined to attempt to do God's work.
God's decisive and immediate acts of conviction of sin,
the regeneration of the heart, and the sanctification of
the entire man, we can do so nicely and gradually by
education, training, ordinance, influence, example, cul-
ture ; and our own work, under grace of learning,

85. obeying, seeking guidance and following it, reaching
after the truth and getting it, up to the conditions and
stage of these divine decisive and instantaneous acts,
often gradual enough and slow enough in all conscience
through our own delinquency, we want and imagine
the Great God to do suddenly and by starts and sur-
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 73
prises. As though the corn must be weeks at the
article and instant of sprouting, and do all its growing
in less than a second ; and months at the joint and
time of shooting forth the ear, and then come to the
maturity of cob and grain <juicker than a flash. What
could please a iiend better than such an inversion and
destruction of God's beautiful and bountiful order ?
And what could please the devil and his philosophy
better than our so turning things upside down in the
classic Church of boasted culture, and the fanatic
Church of illiterate fanaticism ?
Let us keepwith God, and religion is natural
enough, beautifully natural. Certain antecedent con-

86. ditions, a week or a month, and the corn sprouts.
Certain further conditions, a week or a month, and the
ear shoots forth. Certain conditions, sometimes, alas,
for years by our fault before perfected, and God par-
dons the sinner in an instant, and as quickly gives
him the new heart. Certain onward conditions, alas,
by us too long delayed, and the entire man is made
holy to God and by God. In the spiritual realm natur-
ally led on from truth to truth, stage to stage, and glory
to glory — and in this realm nothing else would be
natural — and with such a guide and the right fol-
lower, on beyond these initiatory stages into all truth.
It is supernatural to the tortoise that the eagle should
fly through the heavens. It is supernatural to the
oyster that the deer should dash through the forest or
bound over the hills. And it is supernatural to the
world and the flesh that a man should have a clean
heavt and rejoice evermore in the hope of the glory of God. But who has the right to give a
standard mean-
ing to words — God or the devil ? Which shall deter-
mine what is natural, what unnatural, what sub-and
what super-natural — Christianity or inlidelity ( It is
about time the kingdom of Heavenhad a little to do
with the dictionaries, the language of earth. Why
may not Christian people, in their own domain and in

87. the Church of God at all events, think and talk as
though religion were natural, and sin and the dtvii
sub-natural, infima-nutural, subter-natural and .sub-
terraneously unnatural. At all events, let us not give
up the whole ground to inlidelity by conceding, even
in thought, that the religious facts, as good facts as
any other, to say the least of it ; and the religious pro-
cesses, as thorough processes as any other, are, in the
moral and religious domain, where we ought to live, if
we do not, unnatural. The moral law is supreme in
the physical realm ; but when it operates there, as say
in a miracle, or the normal results of a conversion
from sin to righteousness, men cry out, mightily super-
natural, or horribly unnatural. Not evenChurches
claim it as natural to their sphere of action and the
work of God. All .spiritual, religious power must be
branded as r.nnatural, and the presumptive argument
so thrown against it, because sin and Satan and sinful
popular sentiment make the language, rule public opin-
ion, yea, the world. Oh, that the Spirit would put
another language, a more vigorous tonj^ue, evenupon
the Church. The provincial law claims right-of-way
in the township, yea, by it the township li-.es. Who
disparages and defames the law of the province by

88. THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 75
calling it unnatural, or evensupernatural. The im-
perial law rules in the provinces. Who stiijmatizes
the imperial law as unnatural ? Yet the high law of
divine procedure, fundamental to all law and rule, is
called unnatural in the Church of God. People in the
Church of God do not, on the one hand, like God's sub-
lime, decisive, executive, instantaneous acts ; and, on
the other, His grand, steady law of probationary pro-
cesses and attainments betwixt those executive acts,
and evenin this world from act to act of the divine
goodness and power, and from display to display of the
divine glory. There must be certain attainments
under grace before the divine executive act can come ;
and then the divine executive act must come before
higher attainments can be made. We speak it rever-
ently ; God Himself cannot, under covenant, bestow
upon the unregenerate, the unpardoned, the blessings
that belong to the justified and regenerate. Nor can
He bestow upon the unsanctified; nor can the unsancti-
fied receive the covenanted power and joy of the
wholly sanctified. Nor can the careless, the disobedi-

89. ent, in this kind of guidance, this education, any more
than in any other education, receive the light, the
sanctification and the power that come upon the care-
ful, the earnest, the obedient. Spiritual education is
the best education in the world, for ultimately it in-
cludes all other education ; and the Holy Ghost is the
best educator, guide ; but given the infinite efficiency
of the Holy Ghost, and the infinite expansibility and
adaptability of the human soul, it is still education,
guidance; a natural and normal process in the premises ;
by no means accidental, irregular or arbitrary, but
under law, rule, regular process, through probationary
requirements, conditions and stages; in all the sweet-
ness, strength and glory of the Christian's life upon
earth, and in the natural — let us not stumble at the
word natural — advances and improvements of the
unforfeitable life of heaven.
CHAPTER XII.

90. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
^NE of the plainest and saddest evidences that this
is a fallen world, man a fallen being, alienated
from God in all moral and spiritual, which are
the central and vital relations, is the prevailing mis-
conception, where the human mind has been awakened
to study at all, of the nature of truth ; of what God is
to it, and it to God ; of what it has to do with man,
and what is man's interest in it ; of what force it has
in the world, and what is the world's dependence upon
it. Common thought, popular view on any subject,
though like public sentiment unexpressed, is ponder-
ous inertia or prodigious impulse, as the case may be.
Let it be in your favor, and you, without seeing what
is doing it, are borne onward as by the current of a
mighty river. Let it be against you, and without say-
ing anything to you or about you, it will make you
feel you are compelled to stem both wind and tide.
Let it be active, and you are on wheels and springs in
the open road ; let it be torpid, and you are flounder-
ing in a quagmire or a snow-drift.

91. This common thought, public sentiment, alienated
from God, has quietly yielded up about the whole world
78 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
to sin, Satan and unbelief ; tacitly conceded the ground
of arf]fument to infidelity, materialism, rationalism,
anything that presents itself ; thrown the omts pro-
bo ndi every time on the claims of God, Christ and
religion ; subverted the divine purpose and inverted
the divine order, makin;:; God's natural thinjjs un-
natural, God's rejjular and universal things to be
disorderly and exceptional, and God's inherent and
indispensable things to be accidental, superficial, tran-
sient. Original, fundamental rights are man's or
Satan's ; the Nazarene is an intruder. No wonder
Christianity makes way slowly and with diflftculty
among men. No wonder the Great Teacher from the
skies strove to arouse and correct public sentiment by
the persistent lesson, " Have faith in God." The devil
understood the state of aflfairs, and arrogantly enough
put his claim, which, by the way, was not denied, when

92. he took our Lord up into an exceeding high mountain
and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and
the glory of them, and said unto Him, "All these
things w''l I give Thee if Thou w^ilt fall down and
worship me." Paul the apostle clearly apprehended
the state of affairs and the hope of the world when
he wrote to the Ephesian Christians : " You hath He
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins ;
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience ; among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 79
were by nature the children of wrath, evenas others."
And Christian ministers and moral reforms have ever
proved what a terrible hindrance or glorious help is
this common opinion, public sentiment. To quicken
it, to correct it, to purify, elevate and direct it ; this is
one great end of the Church of God, the household of

93. faith. And little as the Church perceives it, here is
one of her solemnest duties, her grandest opportunities,
her divinest energies. She must make a public senti-
ment of her own, revolutionize the diabolical order,
pluck from Satan his power, form opinion and lan-
guage, govern the conversation of men that it may not
be said to be unnatural or supernatural to be godly,
or superhuman to be honest, pure and righteous.
We call men to witness ; this common sentiment, if
it touch the question at all, deems truth to be an
undefinable something, wholly outside of God, separate
from God, independent of God, having an eternity of
its own, to which God is subject, and into the midst of
which He came in creation, and in the midst of which
He operates in science, law and government. What
is this but the atheism of the age ? Law does every-
thing ; force governs all. What do we want of a per-
sonal God ? And yet what is law but the exposition
of truth ? What is force but the exertion of prin-
ciple and truth ? What is scientific order but the
product of truth ? What is life in all nature but tl.e
truth carried from its inner abodes to its outer mani-
festations ? What more rational or philosophic than
that the same being should be the Way, the Truth and

94. the Life ? Still thousands, evenof Christians, that
80 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
would reject with indignation and horror the atheist's
conclusions, accept in sentiment and popular idea his
premises. The multiplication table is outside of God,
independent of God. The doctrines of spheres and
triangles are outside of God, independent of God.
Grammar and logic, the laws of language, thought and
reasoning are outside of God. Ethical and oesthetical
principles are things of philosophy, science and art, and
wholly independent of God in their essence and opera-
tion, and so, of course have no affinity to religion. All
these were before God ; God is not necessary to them ;
and for that matter they may be after Him. This
common opinion, worldly sentiment, virtually reads
God out of His universe, because it di^ains it can form
and maintain the universe without Him. And dream-
ing is deep enough for a popular sentiment. It has
truth, science, law, force, life ; so it rec^uires no personal
God. And evenChristians, so called, accept the dawn-
ing of such morning ; though after proud science and

95. haughty law's brief day they shudder at the abyss ( i
night into which their unguarded going has plunged
them. These things ought not so to be. We want a
new sentiment, a new language, a new common opinion,
so to speak, new instincts and popular conceptions, for
these are the producers of language. " Behold, I make
all things new." Oh, for the day when Ke will turn
to the people, all the people a right conception ; a cor-
rect, noble, lofty public sentiment ; a pure language !
What is truth ? This is an old question. The
Greek sophists were wont to ask it in ridicule, de-
nying there is any such thing as settled principles,
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 81
stable, eternal truth. In this sense, likely, Pilate
jeered at the Nazarene, when our Lord had declared,
" To this end was I born, and for this cause came I
into the world, that I should bear witness unto the
truth." What is truth ? It is but the expression of
the divine nature, person, life and character in any
realm into which that nature and life may pour itself,

96. or project itself ; the very realm, perhaps, as
our poor language, can express it, being also embraced
in the divine omnipotence and immensity. Eternal
truth is inherent in God, co-existent and co-eternal
with Him ; fibre and factor of moral, spiritual and
intellectual being ; not before Him, not after Him ;
not outside of Him or independent of Him ; but in
Him and with Him as nature and essence from the
beginning. " The Lord possessedwisdom in the
beginning of His way, before His works of old. It
was from everlasting, from the beginning, or everthe
earth was." And this wisdom is truth, religious truth,
moral truth, physical truth, scientific truth in its
personal activity and normal development. It is the
embodiment, the expression of the universal, absolute
and necessary principles inherent in Deity, on which,
under which, and within which the worlds were
created, and all relations, physical, metaphysical,
moral, religious, were constitutid. Urged to its home,
it is the Word in the beginning with God, by whom
all things were made and in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Contingent
truth there is, truth dependent on circumstances in
variable nature. But this is not all of truth, nor half
of truth, nor the basis of any truth. But there are

97. truths that no circumstances change, and principles
that no contingencies touch ; and these are the truths
and principles that make any other truths possible,
indwelling in God, co-existent and co-eternal with
Him, His very nature and essence, without which,
indeed, we could not conceive of such a God as we
worship.
We then may see very distinctly two things. First,
that God the Spirit, in His dispensation, is the Spirit
of truth — of all truth. Second, that there is in truth
a glorious, essential unity. It is worse than a mistake
to attempt to cnt truth out from God, from a divine
source and energy. The divine energj'^ is in chemical
science, as is seenunder the bleaching power of
chlorine, the explosion of dynamite, and the poison
of arsenic. The divine energy is in mathematical
science, as is seenin the regularity of the planets,
the succession of the seasons, the bound of swift
trains from the railway curves, and crash of insuffi-
cient railway bridges. Why should it seema strange,
incredible thing to us that the divine energy should
prove itself in trihical and religious science ?
We talk of moral science, mental science, physical

98. science, because we cannot see truth all the way round,
or by any means deeply into it in all its connections,
or the tithe of a tithe of the way through. Truth pro-
ceeds from God with one purpose, and addresses moral
beings under Him with one aim ; the manifestation of
the divine goodness and glory, and the perfection of
the moral being. Like everything else, law itself,
principle itself, it is governed by principle, and is under
law. Secure goodness first, obedience first, purity
first, love and trust first ; then innumerable possibilities
and developments. Righteousness first ; then other
things added. Meekness first ; then the inheritance of
earth, yea, all things are yours. The meekness and
purity of wisdom first ; then the world is yours, and
life and things present and things to come. This is the
divine order, the open door, the royal road to
knowledge, power and fidelity ; and there is no other
way.
It is a fatal mistake to cut truth off" from God in
our conception of it, truth of any kind. It is equally
fatal to cut truth off from itself, one kind from
another ; to divorce truth, to set truth in array
against truth, to throw into opposition what we call
scientific truth and religious truth. They are astray

99. and equally astray who would exalt religious truth at
the expense of scientific truth, or glorify science, as
they call it, at the expense of religion. God cannot do
without either of them ; neither can we. Philosophers
make three great entities: God, man, and tl^e external
world ; and this classification will answer our purpose.
There is truth as to the nature and constitution of
each in itself, and truth equally in their relations one
to another. There is truth in God, original and
fundamental to all truth, and co-cternal with God.
And there is truth emanating from God, betwixt God
and man and betwixt God and the external world.
And there is truth in man, after the image of God,
and truth betwixt man and God, and man and the
physical nniver.se abont him. And there is trutli in
tliis physical nniverse ^'iven of (iod, its Creator, which
is that with which philosojOiers and sci(;ntists mostly
busy theinselvos, and of which as yet they know com-
paratively very little, thou;^li in sincere and honest
quest of it. And there is truth betwixt the physical
universe and God, and that same universe and man.

100. 86 THE GUIDING KYE ; OR,
Spiritual truth, we have said, is. in the main, the
cement, the bond of the wall ; physical truth, for the
most part, the brick, the stone, the material. These
expressions, in the main and for the most "part, are
used advisedly ; for all truth has in it some vitality ;
and all truth has in it some objectivity or mateiiality,
that is, any truth will do some growing ; and any truth
will provide some material for the organism. If this
were not so, men could not thrive on mere religious
truth, which is mainly the vital force ; nor could
enduring fabrics be reared of scientific, social, political
truth, which is mainly material for the vital force to

101. act upon.
If a man is a religious fanatic, trying to live alto-
gether on sentiment and feeling, besides the vital
force in true religion, he will find necessarily some
objective, or, so to speak, material truth; that is be-
side the life and with the life, truth enough for some
mental discipline. For as life does not subsist in the
tree without the body of the tree ; indeed is so in-
timately associated, that " no tree, no life " is nature's
decree ; so, without a body of divinity, a corporation
of doctrine, a systemof moral and spiritual philosophy,
called theology and ethics, the spiritual life has no
subsistence, and cannot come evento the heart of the
believer, whetiier he appreciate it or not. Just as
" no tree, no life," so " no doctrine, no spiritual life ; "
but all life and truth forced back to their origin, God.
And if a man is a social or scientific fanatic, trying to
live altogether on the dry husks of phenomena,
without their origin or connection, and makes all
truth material and objective, without spiritual life and
power, or carrying all its life in itself, independent and
underived, it is just as important that he remember, if

102. " no treC; no life ; " ecjually true, " no life, no tree."
Yea, more emphatically true ; for he is a philosopher,
a materialist, a positivist, and loves facts, and knows
the life precedes the tree : the energy somewhere pre-
cedes the phenomenon of the energy. In a great fact,
like the Chinese Empire, to the eye the material
truth chiefly presents itself ; but, if there be a God
and a moral government under Him, the life and
spiritual power of that Empire's wonderful existence
are somewhere connected with that moral government.
From one point of view, truth for mental discipline
predominates ; from the other point, truth for renova-
tion and preservation. The scientific fanatic seizes
the first ; the religious fanatic, the second.
Alas ! alas ! the unfortunate divorce of true religion
and true science ; for there are heights that man shall
never reach, treasures he shall never gain, without
their harmony and faithful co-operation.
The dereliction of men of science in this matter,
their pride, infidelity, and irreligion, terrible as all that
is, is not our present concern ; but the infatuations and
misconceptions of the men of religion are what now
trouble us. Some are saying, " Religion is all we want ;

103. Christianity is everything ; the Bible contains all
knowledge. We want nothing of proud science or
human philosophy or the learning of the schools. All
we want is to be converted, to be sanctified, to be
imbued with power, to get to heaven." These are, of
88 THE GUIDING EYS ; OK,
course, of prime importance, and to the Church of God
for the past, and for the time now present, well ni^fh
her only work. Other things avail only as they help
these things on. But why does God convert a man ?
Why does God organize a Christian Church ? Why
does He take us to heaven ? If conversion were the
ultimate, or just getting to heaven were the final goal,
it would be rather a tame affair. And because so
many professing Christians are governed by that
thought in this practical world — and the next, will
likely be more practical — they represent religion as a
very tame and hardly desirable affair. Whj' does God
convert a man ? Is it not to get him into the very
condition in which he may learn, may advance in
knowledge, may organize into his spiritual life all

104. possible knowledge and power, the condition in which
all obstructions are removed, and all incentives and
facilities are provided ? A.id why does God take His
people to the Heavenly Estate ? Is it not that they may
grow eternally in knowledge, righteousness, power, yea,
every perfection ; and that in a realm of every laud-
able inducement and everj' favoring circumstance ?
What does the Christian life here mean but to weave
these things into Christian character and consecrate
them to God ? What does th? Christian Church upon
earth, but with a pure heart and holy intent, with a
brotherly regard, a noble resoi've and intelligent aim,
so far as its Lord, anyway, is concerned, seek to purify
and bless society and establish a kingdom of ever-
lasting righteousness ? And how is it to do this, to
accomplish this noble purpose, uiiless it bring know-
THE HOLY .spirit's GUIDANrE. 89
ledge and learning, science and art, wealth and power
to the cross; unless it make wisdom and knowledge
the stability of the times and the strength of salvation ?
The Christian Church is responsible for working into

105. society these element><, that lift and cleanse it. It is
e> 'sted under God with the spiritual life of the
individual and society, that it may bring into them by
this organic force the new material of secular know-
ledge, physical and philosophic truth of every kind,
and so build up the man, the family., the social fabric,
the nation, and work them all into the glorious
universal kingdom of Jesus Christ. If this be so — and
who can deny it ? — which is the more astounding and,
perhaps, ludicrous spectacle : the man of learning say-
ing he does not want religion, or the man of relifjion
protesting he does not want learning ? Betterin
full sight of the ocean's perpetual roll, and in
full hearing of its ceaseless roar : better in the midst of
the firmament, with waters above and waters beneath,
that oxygen should shout to hydrogen : " I have
no need of thee," and hydrogen to oxygen : "I have no
need of you." The rebellion would not be more ram-
pant and vicious. Better for the man in his own
body that his heart should .smite and deny his head,
and his head cur.se and pierce his heart. The schism
and suicide would not be more terribly or sharply
fatal than when science derides or defies religion, and
religion disowns and denounces science.

106. In the primal creation the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters ; His brooding over the
aby.ss begat order, strength, and life ; He put strength
90 THE fJUIDlNG eye; Oil,
into acid and base, and i^ave them their affinity ; He
p)ut cfravitation into mountains, and rooted them firm
in everlasting rock ; He put chemical energy and cor-
relation of force into light, heat and electricity ; He
started the juices of growth, set throbbing countless
millions of pulses, and filled the earth with beauty and
song. He was at the fount of intelligence, for He
witnessed the covenant for man's creation, and sealed
with sevenseals the redemption bond. He knows
more about chemistry than the chemists ; more about
geology than the geologists ; and more about astnmomy
than all the astronomers. The things of God He know-
eth as God Himself; and of man He knoweth more
than any man knoweth of himself. All science is open
in the clearness of His understanding ; all knowledge
is under the glance of His eye. All truth, and all
the principles of eternal truth, are the vigor of His

107. infinite mind ; and at His will, under their law, press
their divine energy into all departments of being.
Truth ffoeth forth from Him according to its nature
subsists in all the works of His hands according to
His appointment, and is apprehended to His delight
by all ranks of intelligence according to their constitu-
tion and power. The man seethnot as the angel, one
rank of angels not as another, and neither man nor
angel as God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
In Him all truth subsists, and from Him emanates.
Its design is to exalt rational creation, increase its joy,
and bring it nearer to God.
In this rational creation goodness is the supreme
law. Goodness, righteousness, is the basis of happi-
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 91
ness, the source of power, the law of pro<j;re.ss. Wick-
edness is a complete estoppal ; sin, inicjuity an imme-
diate foreclosure, a universal forfeiture. Increase of
knowledge and attairunent of power must proceed
like the growth of a plant, or the formation of a

108. chemical compound, in the divine order. It is no
arbitrary, isolated enactment ; hut universal and ab-
solute constitution of thin<rs amongst moral beings.
" Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness." Seek anywhere in the divine order and ob-
tain. " Seek and ve shall find." First, get goodness,
and then the infinite unfoldings of wisdom and know-
ledge are possible. First a pure heart; then all the
stores of divine wisdom are for our improvement.
With a wicked, rebellious heart, thus far and no
further ! With a pure heart, the infinities and eter-
nities are before us. One case is outer, uttermost dark-
ness ; the other case is boundless, everlasting light.
This, then, we understand, to be the work of the
Spirit : first to guide a man to a knowledge of God
and himself ; then if he accept that, out upon the
illimitable domain of tiuth. He is the Spirit of Truth.
He lives in it, and makes it for all His companions a
delight. First guide the man to saving knowledge :
first save the man, then guide him into truth, yea,
into all truth to his upbuilding individually, socially,
universally through all the centuries, and proving the
riches of divine grace through all the ages to come.
What a teacher! What capabilities in the scholar!
What possibilities of knowledge, happiness, and power!

109. What a loss to forfeit all this ! What shall it profit
92 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
a man if he gain the world sensually, materially, phy-
sically, and lose himself morally, intellectually, spirit-
ually ? " What shall it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul ? "
Two other points, at least, we feel constrained to
touch, as relative considerations, before closing this
chapter. First, there is much of our knowledge in
this state of being that is contingent and suited only
to this state. Such knowledge shall vanish away.
Other contingent knowledge, knowledge suited lo the
future state, knowledge of things as they are or may
become in the future estate, will take its place. But
under all the contingent knowledge there is immov-
able and immutable truth, the same in all worlds and
in aM developments of the human soul. Tongues
may cease, but language endureth for ever. The bab-
ble and clatter of contending nations and jarring sects
shall cease ; but still in high converse on the univer-

110. sal laws of language and thought shall man convey
thought to man, spirit to spirit, and hold communion
with God. The application of figures to calculations
on pine lumber or barley may cease, but the multi-
plication table endureth for ever. It is that deeper*
enduring truth on which especially the soul, the in-
telligence of a man, doth grow.
Our second point is, that there is some knowledge
in this world into which the Holy Spirit would never
guide a man ; that is to say, men know some things
they ought not to know, and would never have known,
but for sin. " God made man upright, but he hath
souirht out many inventions. ' Even as they did not
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 93
like to retain God in their isaowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind to do those things that are
not convenient. " Having the understanding dark-
ened, being alienated from the life of God throujxh the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of
their heart ; who, being past feeling, have given them-

111. selves overto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness
into greediness." It is not mere knowledge the
Holy Spirit pledges to a man, knowledge irrespec-
tive of its character, knowledge of evil, familiarity
with error, acquaintance with all possible and even
prohibited combinations of good out of which evil
arises; but it is guidance into all truth. Had men
always submitted to that guidance, they now had
known vastly more truth, and been free from error.
Knowledge does not always assure us it is truth that
is known ; and thirst for knowledge is not by any
means always a love of the truth. Menare con-
d'3mned, overthrown, because they receive not the
truth in the love of it. There is a spirit of error and
darkness, as there is a Spirit of truth and light. The
promise and undertaking of the Holy Spirit is not to
secure all possible knowledge, but to guide into all
truth.
It is well to emphasize this thought ; the difference,
the divergence, eventhe opposition of very much of
human knowledge and truth. There is much confusion
of thought here, and terrible practif'al disaster. Strange
to say it, but knowledge and the love of knowledge are
often a hindrance to the truth, the peril and the defeat

112. of the truth. The pride of knowledge is a revolt
94 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
against the truth. The parade of knowledge is the
special disgust of the truth. Everything depends on
what a man knows, what he wants to know, what use
he is makinor of knowledofe, and what he wants it
for. The pride of knowledge is, after ell, only the
pride of ignorance. The schoolmen's pride of know-
ledge, of what little they did know, kept back the
discovery of America, and of the development of the
modern sciences. The pride of knowledge is the
stolidity and immobility of ignorance, as is not badly
illustrated in the attitude of hierarchies this very
hour. We cannot have it too forcibly impressed
upon our minds ; the promise is not that He, the
Spirit of knowledge will guide into all possible
knowledge ; but He, the Spirit of Truth, will guide
into all actual truth. The old problem is upon us,
upon every man. Eden and its probation are here
now. Are we content with the truth ? Or must
we take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ?

113. Are we satisfied with the one-sided life of purity,
humility, truth, endless progress in good ? Or shall
we make the attempt at the two-sided life of good and
bad, which has always ended in failure, always at
length plunged into the one-sided life of darkness and
wickedness ? The opportunity is before every man.
He can have the trial of good and bad, till all is bad.
Or, under the covenant of the faithful God, he can
commit himself to the Spirit of Truth, to be guided
into all truth. The choice is ours.
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 95
CHAPTER XIII.
HEART-GUIDANCE vs. HEAD-GUIDANCE.
^l GAIN it is objected that reasoning of this character
(4^ upon this subject utterly ignores heart-guidance,

114. and makes us entirely over to head-guidance, to
the increase of knowledge, and so ultimately to the
pride of intellect ; " for only those of great mental
endowments can learn ; and we thought the smallest
intellectual capacity, the littlest mind knew most of
Christ." In such a conception of religion, and of God
and man, there are manifold, lamentable, and ruinous
mistakes. That there is such a thing as heart-guidance
for a humble, well-informed mind there can be no
doubt. But there are not two things in this world or
in all the universe, farther apart than a little, ignorant
mind, and a humble, teachable mind. If the little
mind be humble — which in all experience and demon-
stration it is not so apt to be as the magnanimous soul
is — it will learn according to its abilit}'^ ; and as in all
other matters, the prompting of affection and desire,
heart-guidance will be correlative to what it learns
If the little mind aspire to things too great for it,
where, then, is its humility ? Where its teachableness ?
Said the ancient model of religious character : " Lord,
96 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,

115. my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty ; neither
do I exercise myself in great matters, nor in things
too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted
myself, like a child that is weaned of his mother; my
soul is evenas a weaned child." Even the holy Paul,
of gigantic intellect, recognized the excellency of the
divine administration in that there was given unto him
the messengerof Satan, the thorn in the flesh, lest he
should be exalted above measure at the abundance of
revelations ; so that he took pleasure and gloried in
infirmities, in weakness.
Knowledge of God and divine things is like any
other knowledge, and obtainable like knowledge of
chemistry or geometry on its own laws. And no man
learns geometry with crucibles and test-tubes. If
two minds are on the same plane of humility and
teachableness, they will learn of God, as they do of
other things, according to their capability ; which in
deepening humility and higher attainment will likely
put distances betwixt them everincreasing. On the
other hand, a humble soul of little power may far sur-
pass the mightiest intellect in knowledge of God, if
that mighty intellect shun the places and processes of
learning. And the grace of God can make little souls

116. under its culture great. These are men's opportuni-
ties and responsibilities. And the man is a unit. In
all normal conditions the heart keeps pace with the
head. To be governed by the impulse of the heart
without the guidance of truth and reason, is fanati-
cism; to obey only cold reason is to proceed upon
narrow, mistaken premises, and go out into stoicism,
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 97
necessarianism, fatalism. The Holy Ghost is not . ro-
mised or given to the mind apart from the heart. We
are not believers in a theosophy any more than in a
purely human philosophy, which is an impossibility.
Nor is the Holy Ghost ijivcn to the heart apart from
the head, apart from reason, revelation and truth ;
which were lawless impulse, reckless, indistinguish-
able suggestion, strange notion and caprice, irrespon-
sible fancy or opinion, source of confusion and utter
disaster, as it has been again and again in human
society and in the Church of God.
The relation of heart to head, the sympathy, sym-

117. phony and unity of the entire man is worthy of con-
sideration in connection with this subject of the Holy
Sj).riL's guidance. The relation of emotions, impulses,
feelings, fancies, opinions, convictions to the intelli-
gence, instruction, knowledge from within or without,
is certainly heeded by the great God, and should not
be overlooked or disregarded by us. When God comes
to us in miracles— and what is the Christian religion
without its miracles, vast and glorious as it is when
including them — He comes to the sight of the eye, the
hearing of the ear, the tasting, the touching, the hand-
ling ; the very principles and processes that control
us in the commonest of life's affairs. And the same eye,
the same ear, the same hand are used here that are
employed in daily business ; and they are worth no
more here, have no other or stronger functions than
in ordinary seeing, hearing or handling. And when
the Holy Spirit brings us into the ^ '^ of conviction,
the bitterness of repentance, the pe. pardon, the
98 THE GUIDINO EYE ; OH,
joy of holiness, the glory of adoption, the quiet of faith,

118. He does it according to the strict philosophy of human
nature ; the emotion rises on the antecedent condition
and fact, and in proportion to the antecedent condition
and fact. And any other emotion or impulse is untrust-
worthy, deceptive, extravagant, wild and visionary ; a
thistle-down tossedby the wind; a Will-o'-the-wisp
dancing in the floating miasm, that surely no one
may follow. What could be more uncertain, absurd
and dangerous than that one, without staying to con-
sider related standards and lacts, should be led or
driven of his moods, feelings, tempers, impressions ?
Whither would such a mortal drift ? The Spirit of our
God does no such guidance whatever. In repentance
the man is sorry, because of the terrible antecedent fact
of sin, I'evealedto him by the Holy Ghost, always
more distinctly through the Word. In forgiveness and
adoption he is joyful, because of the glorious facts and
experiences of justification and reconciliation to God,
again made known by the Holy Spirit through the
Word. In holiness he is triumphant, because of his
happy condition and the mighty work ^f evident puri-
fication wrought in him by the Holy Ghost again, as
instructed by the word. These emotions do not pro-
ceedupon nothing. They spring, as in common lilo,
out of facts, yea, the deepest, solidest facts. No more

119. do the impulses to duty, and the directions in the dis-
charge of duty, arise out of nothing, and proceed upon
nothing, or go no whither. The last thing in the world
to be foundationless, aimless, uninstructed, untaught,
is duty ; and it is as well the last thing in the world
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 99
r some emotional, fantastic, fanatical Christians seek
after. Feeling, feeling ; being happy, feeling good is
all they desire ; and they are very slow to tako the
way that leadeth to the peace that floweth as a river,
the joy unspeakable, and the righteousness that
aboundeth as the waves of the sea. The dischargre of
duty; the intelligent discharge of duty intelligently
ascertained in the love of God and the .spirit of
Christian self-sacritice is that way of peace and joy.
There can be no doubt the Spirit of our God shows
( a man his proper line of life, when our paths are com-
' mitted to His direction ; as for instance, the distinct
' j call to preach the Gospel ; or the cler.r intimation of
an appropriate secular vocation ; also that He is ready
both in superintending providence and the inner per-

120. ception at the turn of the ways to indicate the better
course; also that He cleanses the heart, emboldens the
spirit and instructs the understanding of all in every
line of life that we are willing to be taught of God.
. And further, when the will is surrendered to God in an
intelligent obedience, and the heart in a pure love,
• that is, when all the powers of the man are yielded
,j up in their offices, who will question that the ever
1 blessedSpirit constantly filleth the mind with light
and the whole being with His presence, so that again
every faculty of the man in all its functions and exer-
'j cises will honor God. That is, the feet will walk to
j His glory, the eyes see and the ears hear to His praise.
j The Holy Spirit will not do the walking, or seeing or
j hearing ; but will make the feet like hind's feet, and
j aid in keeping the eye single and the eai from spirit-
100 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
ual dulness. Yet possibly the man may stumble, may
take the echo for the original voice, or think a straight
stick crooked because of its refraction in the water.
The Holy Spirit will not do the remembering, though

121. He may bring to remembrance ; which only shows the
man himself must have used his faculties, read,
studied, compared, remembered. The Holy Spirit does
not introduce a new multiplication table or strange
rules of grammar, but uses the same old multiplication
table, the same old grammar and the same old Bible
all the generations through. And does all that, and
the same common faculties, with the same old stand-
ards with infinite love from age to age.
Heart-direction without head -guidance, feeling im-
pulse without mind-light, has no proper place in nature
and grace. We do not, we cannot so divide the u)an.
The loving mother tells the child, " Go straight to
town, and straight return." She does not carry it all
the way, lift its feet for it and put them down, do its
breathing, its watching, its listening. Yet she loves it
enough to do all ; but knows the very proof of love,
the only way to the fruit of love is to leave the beloved
child in the exerci.se of its powers. If in danger, she
runs to protect it; if it fall, she hastens to pick it up
and cherLsh it. But love lets the child do its own
stumbling, strengthen by its own weakness, and learn
straight paths by its own crookedness. The Holy
Spirit loves us enough to do everything for us ; no

122. doubt, does everything for us that is possible consistent
with our own good ; whispers to us the lessons of wis-
dom, beckons us to peace, warns us from danger; by
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 101
His own indwellini; fills us with comfort and light ;
yet by no means makes His loving guidance an inter-
ference, an oppression, a source of weakness, truth-re-
jection, self-repudiation, and ultimate reproach and
defeat,
" Ah ! but," rejoins some devout soul, " you leave out
that self-repudiation, self-rejection, self-abandonment
that is indispensable to this whole guidance, the very
essence of Christianity. We give ourselves up, we
put ourselves in the hands of the Spirit, and the Spirit
leads us, yea, everything we do is by the Spirit ; we
think no thought, study no truth, learn no doctrine, read
no Bible l>at wait for the Spirit, and so we commit no
sin, and fall into no mistakes." " Ah ! " in turn rejoins
this writer, " what grievous mistake is this, and unto
what fearful, presumptuous sin it may lead." This self-

123. repudiation, self-contradiction, self -rejection, self-anni-
hilation, and the self-sacrifice, self-denial. Christian con-
secration of the Bible are, in a good sense, diametrically
opposed. Nothing can be more unlike than this self- re-
pudiation on the one hand, and presenting our bodies a
living sacrifice on the other. The one is reckless drift-
ing, careless Hoating on the current tuat sweeps away to
despair, to suicide ; it is mental and moral suicide ; the
other is the highest po.ssible act of self-assertion, self-
possessionand devotion ; the gathei ing up of all our
powers, and the p'o^entation of them in one solemn
act to God ; our eyes to see for Him, our feet to run in
the way of His commandments, our hands to do His
bidding, our hearts to love Him, our faith to trust
Him, our memory to remember for Him, our reason to
102 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
reason for Him, our intellect to calculate for Him ;
every power in its own sphere, and every power with
increasing efficiency and satisfaction under His direc-
tion, and every power in its co-operation with all our
powers in the happy harmony of a holy manhood.

124. " Yes, but the Holy Spirit enters the mind, thinks
the thought, argues up 'to or flashes forth the conclu-
sion, suggests, prompts the duty, forms the purpose,
ensures, compels, so to speak, the obedience, performs
the act." Then where is the Christian's freedom, his
responsibility ? What standard of morality could you
not justify on that theology ? What acts of violence
and wrong have not been cloaked by such pretexts ?
Where is that better than Jesuitism for morality, or
rank fatalism ? The spirits of the prophets are sub-
ject to the prophets ; and the Holy Spirit Himself is
amenable to the Holy Scripture. Menthat profess to
be governed by the Spirit must judge themselves by
some standard, as they certainly will be judged by
their fellows, whether they bring forth the fruits of
the Spirit. We may talk of ]ove as we please, and
light as we please, and delight in the love, and triumph
in the light ; we are still responsible, and still fallible,
and still liable to fall into sin.
When so great is the power of God to keepus, so
grand are our opportunities of progress, s > noble are
the attainments of many humble teachable souls, it is
too bad by the extravagance of a few ill-a ivised breth-

125. ren, and the error and danger of their extreme doc-
trines, to be compelled to argue for the side of human
nature in religion, and demonstrate, notwithstanding
THE HOLY Sl'lKITS GUIDANCE. 103
all high pretensions, we are not yet in heaven. While
we keepin mind our liability to mistake, our danger
of falling into sin, our constant need of the merit of
the blood applied by the Spirit through unfailing, un-
remitting, increasing faith ; our perpetual dependence
upon the active aid and guidance of the Holy Spirit,
our opportunity of growing up into Christ, our Living
Head in all things, of adding to our faith virtue ; to
virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness and
charity; our glorious privilege of walking in the Spirit,
being led by the Spirit, taught by the Spirit, fiiled
with the Spirit ; temples of the Holy Ghost, having the
Spirit of God dwelling in us, receiving power by the
Holy Ghost, who dares place a limit to what the
Spirit of the Holy God may uo in and through a teach-
able, obedient soul ? Who has reached that limit ?
Who would think of placing a limit, if sometimes, yea

126. often, highest professions were not conjoined with
lowest attainments ? It is likely, on the one hand, our
safety that the very brethren that claim to have risen
above the human, yet best prove they are human ; and,
on the other hand, our rebuke, our incitement and the
prize of our high calling's glorious hope that in the
Spirit, with the Spirit, by the Spirit, we may attain to
the ever-enlarging Christian perfection, the pledge of
illimitable glory, knowing the love of Christ that pass-
eth knowledge, and filled with all the fulness of God.
104 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
HAPTER XIV.
INFALLIBILITY AND CERTAINTY.
^ VERY Htting iiKjuiry now is, " Is there, tlieii,
l with head and heart, with outer truth and in-

127. ^ dwellinj^ Holy Spirit, with enli<^}itened mind
and approvinj^ conscience, is there then, after all, no
realm of certainty, no domain of safe infallible know-
ledjre and j^nidance to a human soul ? " Some say,
" Yes, there is a certainty, an infallibility," and lodge
it in the councils and tlie pope. Some say " Yes," and
lodge it in their impressions and feelings, prodiiced,
they think, by the Spirit. Some would lodge it in the
Spirit witliout the Word ; some in the Word, by their
own judgment, without the Spirit. Some in the expe-
rience and testimony of others ; some in their own
views and experience, co^Toborated by the experience
of others ; some in an undefined and indefinite sacred
authority, they know not where ; some in the church
at large without focalization ; and some in a canon, a
decree, a council, a pope. On the other hand, in the
moral and religious life, some scout the idea of its
existence, and leave us all afloat in unknown seas, and
all adrift in uncertain currents, in froth and dashing
wave and eddy and whirl. Even some good people
and some in the churches accept it, that we are driven
hither and thither by the winds of uncertainty, and
left on varying tides to make our way throuf^h mist
and storm. Now the <(uestion is, " Is there a realm of

128. certainty — infallibility ? If so, whore is it, and how is
it reached ^ "
An (f j)ri<)rl consideration or two may bo of some
value here, as in other important incjuiries
First. — There is surely an intense and universal
longint^ for this certainty, this fruit of infallibility of
judgment. Tnis is true in all departments of know-
ledge and action, and very especially true in the moral
and religious sphere. " Oh, that I knew where I
might Hnd Hinj ! " Menare very anxious in their
spiritual interests, and through all the ages have been
looking, sighing for some solid ground to lest upon.
Second. — If religious knowledge is anything like
other knowledge — and there are some of us that will
not readily give up the idea that religion is based, not
on feeling, fiction, fancy, fanaticism, but on knowledge
and permeated with it — then there is an element of
certainty at the foundation, so to speak, a scientific
basis ; which certainly enlarges its field, multiplies its
supports, broadens and deepens its sovereignty, as the
mind widens its scope and enlarges its dominion in
the empire of truth. Nor is this fact affected by the

129. manner of our coming into possessionof truth, whether
by personal experience and investigation, or by guid-
ance, instruction, and superior illumination. Nor is it
affected by the celerity of our conquests, whether wo
master the problem in an hour, or possibly in an in'
106 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
stant with the aid of a teacher, or in days of toilsome
profjress alone.
Third. — In the religious life, especially, there is need
of certainty — of infallibility — upon some points, at
least. Religion is relation to God. Religion is the
moral, spiritual condition within the man. Religion
is relation to man. Religion is relation to the world.
Religion is actual, present experience; important con-
nections with the marvellous past ; solemn problems
for the tremendous future. And yet no such thing as
certainty ! No infallible guidance ! It cannot be, and
God be God, and man man ; God our Father, and we
His children. We are speaking to men of Christian
belief. If all be chance, chaos, eternal flux, atheistic

130. evolution ; no order, no law, no beginning, no end, no
aim, no consequence ; no moral government, no moral
element in conduct, no moral responsibility; no pur-
pose, no inspiration, no hope ; why ! what need of
certainty ? What need of knowledge, intelligence,
thought ? But the very desire of knowledge, the very
existence of intelligence and thought give the lie to
the fears and the shadows, and proclaim there is cer-
tainty somewhere. Descartes had glorious victory in
philosophy when he stood on the immovable moun-
tain, "I think, therefore, I am." Paul had grander
victory in philosophy, and in religion's clearer altitudes
as well, " By the grace of God I am what I am."
" Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given
unto us." Our heavenly Father does not leave us to
chase shadows over bogs, through mists, but gives us
a sure path for our feet, a real object to gain, and a
true li<j;ht to the understanding. How sad our state,
indeed, were we left to doubt and feai ! But it is not
so ; there is certainty.
Fourth. — In the constantly recurring circumstances

131. and conditions of iiuman life there is need of certainty.
God is our Father, Christ our loving Saviour, the
Holy Spirit our Comforter. Sometimes the children
of God are compelled to bear great losses and griefs ;
what, then, if there be no certainty ! Sometimes they
are sorely afflicted in body ; what, then, if there be no
certainty ! Friends prove unfaithful, or are stricken
down by death at our side ; what, then, if there be no
certainty! The sick room calls for certainty. The
prisoner's cell, for virtue's cause, calls for certainty.
The martyr's stake demands certainty. Life's tough
and tedious moral conflict re(|uires certainty.
Fifth. — What could be more unreasonable than that
with such a God and such a world we should be given
over to constant agitations and unsettled ways ? Is
God a spirit — an intelligence ( Is man a responsive
spirit — an intelligence ? Is there such a thing as
truth ? Is God a God , of truth ? Is man capable of
apprehending truth i Must we know everything in
order to know anything at all ? Cannot a feeble mind
be well assured of what it does know ? Is there not
as much solidity to our apprehension that one and one
are two, as to a mightier intellect that one trillion and
one trillion are two trillions ? Are our moral and reli'

132. gious relations our least important concerns ? Is there
a Bible to instruct us ? Is there a Holy Spirit to give us
108 * THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
clear views of its doctrines and strong, yea, infallible
assurance of its faiths ? Are we to have certainty in
minor, in earthly matters, and all be doubt, uncertainty,
in the vasterconcerns — all fear in spiritual and heavenly
matters ? If man may guide and instruct man, may
not the Divine Spirit, also mind, lead into all truth ?
And how shall that be done except by certainty as we
pass on from stage to stage ? The fundamentals of
our Holy Christianity being granted, what can be
more reasonable than that with regard to our relation
to God and our own moral condition, at all events, we
should have absolute certainty ^ If God hath not
given us certainty He hath subjected us to doubt and
fear. Would that be like a God of wisdom and love ?
Having these presumptive gi'ounds of some kind of
certainty — infallibility, somewhere— ^we may the bet-
ter examine what are its actual foundations and its
positive claims. (1) Holy Writ in some matters makes

133. doubt and fear, and always ignorance of God and His
law, sin against God. (2) No text-book in the world
insists so much upon knowing, and proceeding upon
certain knowledge, as the Bible : " Hereby we do
know that we know Him." " We know that we have
passedfrom death unto life, because we love the
brethren." " We know that we are in Him." " We
know we are of the truth." " Ye know all things."
" Now v/e have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God ; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God." Know-
ledge is made both our privilege and our duty : "Add
to your faith knowledge." " My people are destroyed
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 109
•
for lack of knowledge " " This I pray, that you may
abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment." " That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revela-
tion in the knowledge of Him ; the eyes of your under-

134. standing being enlightened ; that ye may know what
is the hope of His calling." We are, therefore,
well enough assured that some things we may know.
(3) The testimony of the holy men of the Bible, the
personal experience of Christians, and the promises
and doctrine of the Word of God combine to assure
us there is a certain knowledge, there is an infallible
judgment, touching some things, at least, belonging to
the people of God.
It is a necessity in the relation of God to His
Church and of the Church to God in building up the
character of individual believers, and in extending the
work of God throughout the earth. (1) Doubts must
give place to assurance, uncertainties to certainties, in
the progress of the believer. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. When realized, it comes into the
realm of knowledge ; for what a man seethwhy doth
he yet hope for ? The righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith. We rise upon the new eminence
of knowledge, and then have the broader, higher out-
look of faith, which again lifts u.s into new realms of
knowledge .and these into the wider sweepof faith.
This is Christian discipline and growth : perfecting
holiness — adding to faith knowledge. (2) Some

135. have not had per.sonal instructors, but have had the
word of God. God hath so made His word light and
110 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
knowledge, assurance and infallibility to the soul.
Bible students all alone have reached solid ground.
(3) Some are secluded and much alone, and, perhaps,
hardly have the Scriptures; 'as invalids and prisoners,
and those out upon the sea. How should there be
growth in happiness and power it" there were not cer-
tainty, infallibility upon such things as their relation
to God and acceptance with Him ? (4) Again, what
could be done in great moral conflicts, and in the
struggles of the ages, it' men like Ridley, Latimer,
Knox, Luther, Wesley, could not be sure of the truth
they had ; certain of their own personal acceptance,
condition and relation ; infallible in their convictions
and conclusions, that God is their Father, their light
and their shield :* This certainty, this infallibility is
the basis of moral courage, and the unfailing incentive
of moral and religious enterprise. It gave Elijah his
ruggedness of character and impetuosity of zeal. He

136. knew in very deed he was right. The slightest doubt,
the slighest suspicion of fallibility in his relation to
God would have destroyed his whole work. It gave
to Paul his solidity of conviction and irresistibleness
of evangelism : " Paul an Apostle, by the will of God."
No mistake about that ! Just as many preachers of the
Gospel can say to-day, with reference to their call to
this ministry. No mistake about that ! (5) All true
believers settle down upon the strong foundations of
undisturbed peace. There can be no perfect peace
where there is the least chance for suspicion, doubt or
fear. " Perfect love casteth out fear." To make peace
flow as a river there must be something livelier than
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. Ill
the multiplication table or the argument of logic, and
at least as solid. Here, then, is the invaluable pro-
perty of the universal Church. How dare any part
of the Church claini it all for itself ? How dare any
part of the Church disown it for itself, and deny it to
another ? Because it is misunderstood, misdirected,
misplaced, and misapplied.

137. Thus is this certainty, this infallibility, this positive
knowledge a doctrine, experience and possessionof the
Church of God for all time. It is naturally to be
expected in the relation of God and His people. His
people need it ; and it is to be presumed the Father
of Lights would be pleasedto bestow it. It is
reasonable, and is certainly assured to us by the
Word of God, and experience and attestation of
God's children in all ages. Whatever some may have
done in the name of infallibility, however it may
have been abused, let us neither abandon, deny nor
depreciate it; for it is the sacred heritage and right
o( the people of the Most High God, a precious purchase
of the blood, a precious gift of the Spirit, and a precious
and enduring possessionin the midst of the Church.
What is it ? Where is it located ? What is its extent ?
How is it directed and applied ? These questions w^e
shall consider in another chapter.
WHAT IS ITS EXTENT?

138. EARING in mind that certainty relates to truth
and fact, an 1 infallibility more to judgment and
act, our inquiry now is within what realm the
Holy Scriptures place this certainty, this infallibility,
so clearly the rightful heritage and perpetual posses-
sion of the people of God. And it is an inquiry of
primary importance ; for (1) ceaseless error and con-
fusion must result from all attempts to force certainty
and infallibility beyond their bounds ; or, on the other
hand, to relinquish any of their indisputable territory.
(2) Even graver consequences ensue in the moral and
religious life thereby than in scientific pursuits, for
the former involves the character and destiny of the
man and the race. (3) The Bible, man's spiritual
text-book, promises him all truth, either within a
restricted signification, or absolutely without restric-
tion, ovet the entire domain of truth. (4) The Holy
Spirit, the all-wise God, undertakes to be our guide
our teacher, and to lead us, shall we say, without
reference to mental power, scholastic discipline or
natural ability, into all truth. (5) The progress of the
individual believer and of the true Church of God,
the body of Christ, like the progress of each man in
the nation, and the nation at large, or each man in

139. society, and society at large, depends upon knowledge,
certainty, infallibility, just application of truth and
right use of posver; so chat, as society advances by
scientific truth, settled, established, extended and em-
ployed, the Church of God, and each member of that
Church, from height to heijjht and from ajje to age,
may come into broader fields, clearer light and larger,
richer possessions. So that when the Holy Spirit
undertakes to lead us into all truth, and engasfes His
ability and character to do it, we should know among
the rest of the truth what is the all truth, how far it
extends in the realms of truth, and who is so to be
led into all truth, the believer, or the entire Church of
God, corporately considered, or both.
A treatise on chemistry undertakes to teach only
chemistry ; a treatise on geography only geography ;
yet likely each v/ill speak of "all the elements," "all
the forces," " all the countries," because each propo.ses
to cover its own ground A lecturer on geology or
political economy would urge upon his scholars to
gain all truth, the whole truth, when likely he meant
the truth of his particular science, and its correlative
truth. The all truth of a science, is the central, vital,
essential truth of that science, together with the truth

140. having especial affinity thereto. A geography may
not teach much geometry, but no man will understand
geography without some geometry. The same remark
applies in an extended sense to astronomy. Geology
will not necessarily teach much chemistry ; yet one
120 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
will make but little proficiency in geology without
chemistry. So the all truth of geography has some
geometry, and the all truth of geology some chemistry.
The Bible was not written to teach political economy,
sociology, geology or astronomy ; but the all truth of
the Bible will find some of its affinities in these
sciences, and the discovery will widen with the ages.
But evenas a man will not take his geology from the
chemistry, or his geometry from the astronomy, so we
will not turn aside the Bible, and the Holy Spirit, the
divine teacher, from their steady aim, the moral and
spiritual condition and relations of man before God.
Grammar may make rhetoric or logic collateral, and so
the Bible may make geology or sociology. But in the
first case, the all truth is language, and rhetoric must

141. bear on it ; and in the second case, all truthis religion,
and geology illustrates and enforces it. " All right !
All right ! " says the station master when the train is
ready, though there be much in the world that is
wrong. " All aboard ! " says the conductor, when he
means only all that intend to go with his train.
Examining the Holy Scriptures, we shall readily dis-
cover the range and intent of this knowledge, certainty,
infallibility. "This is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God." " Every one that
loveth is born of God and knoweth God." " Ye shall
know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and
I in you." " That I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer-
ings." " Know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge : " which sweep from the rudiments through
infinity is true also of our knowledge of the multiplica-
tion table. So far as we know, we know ; and there is
infinitely more to know. " He will reprove the world
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment." " The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God." " Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God." " Hereby know we the Spirit

142. of truth and the spirit of error." " Hereby know
we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because
He hath given us of His Spirit." " Ye know Him : for
He dwelleth with you and shall be in you." "By this
we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God and keepHis commandments." " The anoint-
ing which ye have received of Him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you ; but as the
same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is
truth, and is no lie, and evenas it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in Him." " We know that we are of
God." " He shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said
unto you." "Prove all things. Hold fast that
which is good." " And the Lord said, I am Jesus
whom thou persecutest." " And the Lord said, Arise
and go into the street which is called Straight, and
inquire for Saul of Tarsus, for behold he prayeth."
" But the Lord said unto Ananias : Go thy way, for he
is a chosen vessel unto me." " Now when they had
gone throughout Phrygia, and were forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia, they assayed
to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not
. . A vision appeared to Paul in the night : there
stood a man of Macedonia, saying, Come over into

143. Macedonia." "Peter went up upon the house-top to
pray. A certain vessel descended, wherein were all
manner of beasts, fowls and creeping things. There
came a voice to him, saying. Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
This was done thrice. While Peter doubted what the
vision should mean, behold the men who were sent
from Cornelius stood before the gate." "The Holy
Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and
afflictions abide me." " Watch ye, stand fast in the
faith." " Quit ye like men ; be strong." " For it seemed
good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no
greater burden than these uecessary things." " And
we are witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him."
'' I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago :
whether in the body I cannot tell, or out of the body
I cannot tell : God knoweth." " Give a portion to
sevenand also to eight ; for thou knowest not what
evil will be upon the earth." " In the morning sow
thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand ;
for thou knowest not whither shall prosper, either this
or that, or whither both shall be alike good." " That
which we have heard, which we have seenwith our
eyes ; which we have looked upon and our hands have
handled of the Word of Life ; that which we have seen

144. and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have
fellowship with us."
From these passages of God's Holy Word and the
hundreds of others of like positive intent and un-
mistakable character; yea, from the entire tenor of
divine revelation, ten thousand oracles of Almighty
God speaking with one voice to the thoughtful, candid
mind, the positions now to be stated are clear and
undeniable. (1) There could be no book, system or
doctrine demanding more uncompromisingly actual
knowledge, or proceeding more exclusively and boldly
upon it than the Bible. And it goes for its knowledge
to the fountain to which profoundest human phi-
losophy toils to go ; that is, to the inner being, the
ultimate principles, the primal, intellectual and
spiritual intuitions and cognitions, the real facts of
human consciousness. The thoughts and words of the
Bible, "humanity's book, the burden of every con-
cordance, and the soul of every religion ; humanity's
best effort to express itself, to rise to God, are God and
man; good and sin; redeem and receive; know and live;
come, go and do ; peace, love, light and hope. Are not
these the words and thoughts of human life, the
human heart, the human race ? Knowledge, assurance,

145. certainty, infallibility, is the central, vital idea of the
Bible, as of no other book, because the Bible is God's
sure response to man's best effort. In others, you
may speculate, doubt, inquire, experiment, venture
out on excursions soon to return; imagine, theorize and
falteringly demonstrate ; but here you must know,
always know, truly know. And you must know at
the very root and foundation of all knowledge, self-
consciousness, and must verify by the keenest and
safest of all tests personal, spiritual experience.
(2) What the man may know, by the Spirit of God
under the Word, does know, infallibly know, is
absolutely certain of — if there be any certainty in the
universe of God — is his character of sinfulness, his
state of guilt, his relation as under condemnation, and
his utter helplessness to deliver himself from the
power, nature and consequences of his transgression.
Here are four tremendous facts in the man's natural
and spiritual relation and condition of which the truly
convicted sinner has positive, unmistakable know-
ledge through the Word by the Holy Ghost. Even
the heathen has a glimmering of light, some know-
ledge, but more uncertainty of these things — enough of
each to drive to superstition and despair. And this
knowledge, this personal conviction of sin peculiar to

146. the Christian system, and yet so imperfectly under-
stood and so little enforced by many Christian
teachers, is fundamental and indispensable to the
subsequent, and we may say, consequent knowledge
of the Christian life. For, in the second place, just as
the man may know, absolutely know, his sinfulness,
his guilt, his condemnation and his helplessness, so
absolutely and certainly he may know, and when he
comes into the proper relation, he does know, his
pardon, his adoption, his obedience, his purification
and the omnipotence of his Deliverer. Through the
Spirit by the word he does know he has passedfrom
death unto life, he does know God reconciled and
Christ in him the hope of glory. There is no mistake
about it to the right-minded man, taught of the Spirit.
Here is infallible judgment and certain knowledge:
" My God is reconciled,
Hia pardoning voice I hear,
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear ;
With conficlence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba, Father, cry I

147. What was the great Wesleyan revival but cleansing
these grand truths of the rubbish that had gathered
over them, and demonstrating their power ? Know-
ledge, absolute knowledge, positive knowledge, in-
fallible judgment in these things is through the Spirit
assured to the Christian believer, and thus judgment
and knowledge are the very foundation and strength,
the invincibleness and the irresistibleness of the
Christian character.
In the third place, this infallible judgment and cer-
tain knowledge accompany the believer throughout
his life as to the acceptableness of himself, his
thoughts and ways and works to God. Let him keep
the single eye; humble, watchful, teachable; his
thoughts and ways and works by faith in Christ con-
stantly under the blood ; himself the temple of the
Holy Spirit ; and he will positively know every
moment he pleases God, every moment he is a child of
God ; and though he may be conscious of imperfection
in word and work ; or word and work may be
defective without his being aware of it, he will in-
fallibly judge and certainly know God his Father
will use his weaknesses for His own great glory. It
does not follow that because a prayer is ungrammatical,

148. an interpretation unscholarly, an inference illogical,
that it will bring condemnation to the man or be void
of spiritual power ; and yet who will say that every
sincere worshipper is fully apprised of his ungram-
roatical or illogical utterances, or that on the rule of
absolute and universal perfection there is no mistake
in beincj unfjrammatical or illoofical. God can endure
unperceived violations of grammatical rule infinitely
better than wilful perversions of truth or hypocritical
assumptions of piety, however correctly or accurately
phrased.
In the fourth place, this certain knowledge and
infallible judgment may be brought to bear by the
Spirit through the word in the providences of God on
the pathway of duty. In instances given in the pas-
sages quoted, and in many more cases of Sacred Writ,
how sure the men were they were right and in the
right way by the concurrences of the Holy Spirit's
intimations and the providences of God ! The Spirit
sent Peter down from the house-top, and the Provi-
dence of God had the three men at the gate. The
Spirit declared Paul's way closed up in Asia, and the
Providence of God gave him open way into Europe.
The Lord sent Ananias into a street called Straight, to

149. the house of Judas, and there he finds Saul awaiting
instruction and baptism. The Spirit directs Philip to
the chariot of the eunuch, who is anxiously studying
the word ; and Philip begins at the same scripture and
preaches unto him Jesus. It is not buying apples or
oranges, runoing to this shop or that, on this whim or
that ; but it is the concurrence of the Spirit, the Word
and the Providence of God ; and he who has this
threefold direction in the solemn ways of duty will
not err or fail.
In the fifth place, though men may feign piety and
deceive for a little, perhaps the very elect, there are
spirits in the world, organizations, systems, doctrines,
men, that we infallibly judge and certainly know are
not of God. There are certainties here as safe as the
mathematical, and demonstrations as clear and judg-
ments as infallible as in any of the abstract and
fundamental sciences.
In the sixth place, it is to be noted that when corpo-
rate judgment is proclaimed by the Church and given
as infallible guidance for conduct, it is clearly based
upon and derived from the Holy Scripture, and in no
way transcends the limits set in Holy Scripture ; it is,

150. indeed, simply Holy Scripture collated and declared.
In the seventh place, outside of the region of
the certain and the infallible, there is a broad ter-
ritory of the contingent, probable and uncertain in
human affairs, where the judgment may play in its
fullest exercise, and its.honest determination, this way
or that, be alike acceptable to God and equally woven
into His inscrutable purposes and wise and sucf ^ssful
plans, for we know not which shall prosper, this or
that.
The sum, then, of this whole matter seems to be
there is broad enough ground of certainty of know-
ledge and infallibility of judgment through the guid-
ance of the Spirit and under the Word of God to claim
all the allegiance and employ all the energies of
Christian men. There are some things we can be sure
of, each man for himself and none for another ; and we
need not go wrangling about the doubtful and uncer-
tain to impose our notions thereof upon others. T can
be sure of my sin, my salvation, and my duty ; of my
weakness and the source of my strenj^th ; of my moral
condition and my present ndation to God ; of my
acceptableness in the fulness of my consecration and

151. the acceptableness of my works, and all through
Christ ; and that the (Jlod of hope Mils me with all
joy and peace in believing that I may abound in liope
by the power of the Holy Ghost. t]irou;.fh whom the
joy of the Lord is my stren<^th. I may know that I
increase in knowledge and power ; in knowled<^e of
God, His W( rd and works, His will and ways; am
rooted and grounded in love, know tlie love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, and am perfecting holiness
in the fear of God. On such certainties we need not
that any man should teach us, should assure us : we
have an unction of the Holy One. What a blessed,
holy certainty, infallibility betwixt God and my soul!
What an unutterable joy ! • What an immovable
foundation !
THE HOLY SFMKIT's (llflDANCK. 120

153. CHAPTKR XVII.
WIIEIIK LOCATED.
f'HAT Is it; betwixt {jIo<1 and n)y soul, on the
' warrant of His Word and by His Holy Spirit,
and on the matters and transactions betwixt
God and my soul. How could we admit man here, or
a council of men ^ How could we a<lmit the testimony
of nu n, valuable as it is in the historic relations of
relit^ion, or the judj^ment or decrees of men, im-
portant as they are in secular government, into the
personal and immediate knowledge of salvation ?
Would that not at once be an element of weak-
ness ard doubt? How could we admit any pope or
priestly absolution here ? How could we accept it as
coming of human origin or human transmission across
the sea ? Might there not come in mistake or distrust
or doubt, any of which is fatal to assurance ? How
could we take it as the utterance of a man ? What

154. the soul of man longs for is the voice of God ; absolute
trust in God and absolute assurance from God. What
we long to be indubitably assured of, positively certain
of, is (1) Each for himself, his own personal salvation ;
reconciliation with God ; actual personal possessionof
eternal life. (2) Correct growing knowledge of God
9
130 THE GUIDING EYK; OR,
and of the doctrine of God ; walkinf]^ in the Spirit and
thereby coming forth all the time into clearer light,
';^^eater power, richer spiritual enjoyment. There are
some things a man can be sure of in the shades of the
thickest night; more in the starlight; much more in
the moonlight ; and much more still, and probably all he
needs to know, in the high light of noon. (3) The path-
way of duty in his relation to God and to his fellow-
men ; his provii^ential path and the direction of his
steps therein. This, as we understand it, is the field
of Scriptural certainty and infallibility to the man
that meets the conditions of that certainty and infalli-
bility. " If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in

155. the Spirit." And surely we tind certainty nowhere,
not evenin the mathematics, unless we meet the con-
ditions of that certainty.
This field of Scriptural certainty, sure knowledge
and infallibility, to the true believer positively excludes
many things, as well as positively includes the few ;
yea, excludes very many things that ardent and care-
less or proud and tyrannical Christians — if, indeed,
such can be — would like to dragr into the field over the
boundaries set by God, or ruthlessly break through
those boundaries. And this is immense, indescribable
damage to a precious doctrine, and great loss and
injury to the Church of God. For the doctrine of
certainty and infallibility has been so handled from
two opposite and erroneous points of view, that many
evenof the Church of Christ have discountenanced
and discarded it ; and thus abandoned the strongest
position of experimental and practical Christianity,
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 131
marred a priceless heritage and dimmed and darkened

156. the glorious central light. On the one hand, rash
spirits have loaded this doctrine with their whims and
conceits as to a thousand ^things God has provided for
in other ways ; as in the directions of His providential
government, expecting men to study and heed that
which they are often too indifferent or idle to do ; as
in our moral and natural instincts, volumes of vast
knowledge ; as in the demands of our primitive physi-
cal nature, a book of laws worth regarding; and
especially as in His written Word, given for our
prayerful thought and study, our improving know-
ledge and application. And in all these there is much
to be learned. We grow by the learning and the applica-
tion, and can grow no other way in them than by the
proper and purposed use of our faculties. The Spirit
of God in many regards loaves us to the employment
of these faculties and the results of that employment.
Personal fidelity here has its trial and its reward. On
the other hand, very dignified and scholarly spirits
have departed from the right way of the living God,
by forcing this Divine assurance and human certainty
out of its decreed line of action betwixt God and the
individual believer, and out of the appointed province
of its operation in guiding humble believers into all
truth. Menin these matters, in the name of Christ

157. and His Church, have actually usurped the place of
Jehovah Himself over the consciences of men ; have
attempted to dethrone the Great God our Saviour, and
set up in His stead the " Man of Sin, who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God and that
132 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God." The great
Apostasy, the Antichrist, the Papacy, has come at
length, through forsaking the original and proper
ground of infallibility, of absolute certainty in moral
relation and knowledge, as between the living God
and each believing soul under the written Word by
the Holy Ghost, and through lifting this infalli-
bility, this certainty from its Scriptural sphere, the
individual relationship, and diffusing it first through
the body corporate, the Church, and then gathering
it up into councils and then finally concentrating it
upon and in the Pope — through this forsaking first,
and afterward in the long ages through this misdirec-
tion, has this large portion of Christendom come

158. to such a misunderstanding, such a distortion and mis-
application of the glorious doctrine of certainty, the
rich heritajje of the individual believer within its
proper limit of infallibility, that the very name of the
thing has become hateful ; the very heritage itself
thrust aside, because as presented, it had been covered
*up in such darkness of error and again loaded with so
dangerous consequences, with such enormities and
frightful absurdities. This is not the only time or
the only case, in the history of the world, in which the
Devil has succeededin clouding and hinderinj; the
truth ; in temporarily, at least, defeating the purposes
of our Lord by caricaturing and distorting His doc-
trine, and making the very energies of the Gospel
weak, and the very beauties of the Gospel hideous in
the sight and mind of the sons of men. And it is hard
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 133
to say which will more effectually serve Satan in this
regard, to put infallibility in the Church an<l the Pope
in matters that God never handed over to either
Church or Pope; or to put infallibility in the individual

159. man in matters that God never designed to come
under the rule of certainty and infalliiiility. In the
first case, it is put in the wrong place, as by the
Romish hierarchy ; in the second, it is spread over the
wrong territory, as by weaklings and fanatics. Both
are errors, egregious assumptions, and lead to the ruin
of souls.
It is interesting to note, in passing, how the Papal
claim of corporate and ecclesiastical infallibility, as
opposed to the Wesleyan and Scriptural doctrine of
assurance, and the spiritual and personal infallibility
of the believer on certain conditions and within certain
limits, usurps the very place of God in this relation-
ship, actually dethrones the great God before the
world, and attempts to sit in His high and holy seat.
This appears especially, as affecting this discussion, in
the two points of absolution from sin and attestation
thereof, and the enactment of laws and rules of faith
and conduct. Both these the Church of Rome affects
to do as a Church through her ordinances and instru-
mentalitits. Even to assume to do them she is com-
pelled, of course, to put her own construction on the
authority of the Scriptures of God as related to the
canons of councils and the traditions of men ; and her

160. own interpretation and scope upon sacraments and
ordinances, originall}'^ made subservient to the truth
and helpful to salvation. And thus, to build up and
134 THE GUIDING EVE; OR,
consolidate her syHteiii, she puts cloud and coloring
upon all the brij^ht and clear doctrinjis of our holy
reliirion. The foriiiveness of sin and the attestation
thereof are absolutely and exclusively of God, reserved
of God to Himself in hiifh prerogative; and communi-
cated directly by (iod to the believer, so that as the
believer goes din^ctly to (jod through Christ, God
returns to the believer as directly by the Holy Ghost.
To let in man here, upon these matters, as a third
party, or any combination of men, were to let in the
Hood tides of uncertainty, it is impossible; it is un-
scriptural and d(;structive of the covenants. God is
infallible, and on these things will make Himself
infallibly under^^tood. Rome would leap into His
throne, propose to forgive th(5 transgressor of His
supreme law, and then attempt to satisfy the con-
science of the votary. By such assumption the grand

161. scriptural doctrine of the certaint}' of salvation, and
sure advancement in the truth of God is trampled in
the dust. Keepinfallibility to its place, and it is a
power ; throw it off its base, and it crushes the work
of truth. Let the Church of God keepto her place
as the pillar and the ground of the truth ; the deposi-
tory and propagator of truth ; a mutually helpful
association of godly men, believers in Jesus and travel-
ling to the skies ; having the pure word, the holy
ordinance, the true doctrine, the purifying fire by the
Holy Ghost; inheriting high honor, dignity and
privilege, and great spiritual power, not of the princes
of this world, but in the relationship to God ; then
shall she be, indeed, not divided, contentious and weak,
THE HOLY SPIUITS (UIFDANCE. 135
but one army of tlie living God, clear as the sun, fair
as the moon, and terrible as an army with })anners.
Who shall estitnate the ruin of souls Rome is working
by her perversicms of truth and her abominable and
utterly unjustiHable pretensions?

162. Not less wicked and unwarrantable is the attempt
at the enactment of laws (jf life and moral conduct
over and above the Holy Scripture as necessary to
salvation, and so binding on th<j hearts and consciences
of men ; or, on the other hand, the attempt to remove
the obligations the i^Ioly Scriptures do actually and
universally impose. The Scriptures of God are the
only and the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.
They are tlie infallible word of God. Papal infalli-
bility claims the right of interpretation, enlargement
or depletion of said Scriptures. While there may be
liuman helps and guides to an easieror better under-
standing of Holy Scriptures, as of other books, when
it comes to the ultimate responsibility of tlie candid,
faithful student of the Word of God under the Holy
Ghost, and the honest ])eliever in Christ as to the pur-
port, province and power of a sacrament ; tlie office
and function of the ministry ; the relation of the indi-
vidual member to the Church, and the Church to the
state ; what things ujay be essential to .salvation, and
wfiat not ; wlio shall pardon sin and who attest the
pardon ; how the communications of divine grace and
comfort shall come to the soul, whose is then the final
and supremo accountability ? How can we let man
or combination of men, Church or Pope, in here ?

163. Here is the divine arena of liberty of conscience and
136 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
personal responsibility. A man can know, certainly
know, whether he is honest with his conscience and
the Word of God. He can positively know he is
following the best lip^ht he has. He can assuredly
know his works please God. He can intallibly know
he is a child of God, pardoned, accepted. And he can
be certain he is ready for all the perfect will of his
God. Pope, priest, council, cannot help him in these
things. To admit them or their authority, as colla-
teral or supreme, for a moment, is to admit confusion
and darkness. We cannot make this doctrine of in-
fallibility over to Pope, Church or council. It is the
voice of God within the appointed sphere to the soul
of man.
" But is it not evengreater presumption, on the
other side, so to claim for the individual believer what
is denied to many associatedbelievers, that is, to the
Church ? Is there not likely to be more wisdom and

164. higher authority in the body of believers than in each
believer for himself ? And so ought not their enact-
ments to be better for him and absolutely binding
upon him ? "
To these very natural, and, in this discussion, proper
questions, we have several answers to give. Will I
be sure that two and two are four because Conference
Parliament, or Council votes that two and two are four?
In the first place.the Bible answerto these questions is —
should be taken to be, and must be — all-authoritative
all-satisfactory, and settle all these things. And
what is that Bible answer ? The Bible deals with the
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 137
individual, and always on the principle of .personal
responsibility. "I know in whom I have believed,"
says Paul. " He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself." " We know that we
have the petitions that we desired of Him." "We
know that we are of Goil." " We know that the Son
of God is come, and hath given us an understanding,

165. that we may know Him that is true ; and we are in
Him that is true, evenin His Son Jesus Christ." "To
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna ; and will give him a white stone, and in the
stone a new name written which no man knoweth
saving he that receiveth it." " But the anointing
which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and
ye need not that any man teach you ; but as the same
anointing teacheth 3uu of all things, and is truth, and
is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide
in Him." " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God." All this, most
distinctly, is personal knowledge, personal action, per-
sonal possession; by no means corporate knowledge,
corporate posses.sion, transmitted through man or body
of men, but direct, well-defined and exclusive personal
knowledge of God, spiritual condition, relation and
duty, gained, as is our other knowledge, by immediate
and appropriate impact with the Being, facts, condi-
tions and relations known. As it is God that is
known, it is positive and direct impact of God and the
soul. As it is one's self, his own condition that is
known, what can be nearer to a man than himself, his
nature, his con.sciousness ? What does he need any

166. 138 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
Pope or council in here for ? How dares he admit
them ? Betterlet them in to dispute with the sight
of his eyes, orthe hearing of his ears, and to argue
with his palate. And that is the very thing they
attempt to do when they are let in ; unman the man,
and play his personal responsibility for him to the
damnation of his soul. What can be nearer the man,
more within him and clearer to him, than his guilt or
his pardon under the light of the Holy Ghost i What
can more concern him, or be plainer, than his duty by
the Word and the Spirit ? Is not the Word of God as
good a guide as God's logic or multiplication table, if
we as faithfully verify it and as constantly apply it ?
Mathematics places certainty and the possibility of
ultimate infallibility from stage to stage in one sphere
of life ; but it is done on the laws and conditions of
the growing knowledge of mathematics. And those
laws and conditions surely do not involve Pope, priest
or councils. God's Holy Word places certainty and
possible infallibility in another sphere of life ; and no
more here in this sphere of personal religious know-

167. ledge and individual responsibility is Pope or council
acquired or admissible.
In the second place, whether a man is the truly
savedof the Lord ; and whether he has such a know-
ledge of his salvation as shall give peace to conscience
and in consciousness, and vigor to his life, is not, from
the very nature of the case, the very necessity of the
relations, a matter of human wisdom, a question of
vote, or the decision of a corporate body ; but is the
decision of divine authority upon certain conditions of
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 139
which the man alone can be cognizant, and the direct
communication of a divine enersry, wliose transmission
God hath reservedto Himself, and whose operation
the man alone can receive and know. " Son, be of
good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." And He said
unto her, " Thy sins are forgiven." " Him hath God
exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins." " God hath, from the beginning, chosen you

168. to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth." " Elect accordinjj to the fore-
knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ." " Grace and peace be multi-
plied unto you through the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath
called us to glory and virtue." Where is any need of
Pope or council in here ? Where is any room for
them ?
In the third place, it is not a matter of what God is
going to say; but what He has said. Popes and
councils may hold the people in open-eyed wonder-
ment and open-mouthed expectancy of some new and
startling announcement of dogma, some hitherto
unknown article of faith or rule of life and conduct ;
but the reason and conscience of man demand, and the
government and inspiration of God have bestowed, the
"Thus saith the Lord." And the canon of Holy Scrip-
ture is complete. Who is this that addeth anything to

169. 140 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
or taketh anything from, the Holy Scriptures ? Who is
this, that as God sitteth in the temple of God showing
Himself that He is God ? " If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book." Surely history has vindicated
this prophecy. There has been infallibility here. "And
if any man shall take awa}' from the words of the
book of this prophecj^ God shall take away his part
out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and
out of the things that are written in this book." And
surely again, so far as we can judge from past and
passing events, and can foresee the future, this state-
ment is justified. It must be so : for God is God. Is
it not, indeed, strange, and one of the anomalies and
revenges of history, that the loftiest assumptions and
proudest proclamations of immutability, infallibility,
belons to those who oftenest change their doctrines
and chase novelties of dogma and belief ? Is there not
an infatuation ? To-day it is the ignis fatuus of
a purgatory ; to-morrow the will-o'-the-wisp of an
infallibility of council or Pope, or the immaculate con-
ception of the Virgin. Who can keepup with this

170. crazy race ? Is it any wonder the masses are befooled
and benighted ? How does it happen that the change-
less Church is as to essentials most fickle and change-
ful ? " To the law and the testimony ! " If they
apeak not according to this Word, it is because there
is no light in them ! What need of Pope or council,
of assumed corporate infallibility here ? What room
for them ? Is it a wonder the Spirit and the Word
are crowded out of such a body ?
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 141
In the fourth place, in any example we have of the
New Testament Church corporately enunciating lav;^ of
life or rule of conduct to bind the conscience and govern
the faith, such enunciation is the simple declaration,
summary or repetition of inspired Scripture already in
existence ; as for instance, the decisions of the Council
at Jerusalem : " It seemedgood to the Holy Ghost and
to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things : that ye abstain from meats offered
to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled,
and from fornication : from which if je keepyour-

171. selves, ye shall do well." Here is a distinct appeal to
the standard of " necessary things." There can be no
doubt the Church, the body of Christ, is in Scripture
invested with disciplinary and governing powers in
many regards, as affecting rules of society, forms of
worship, administration of ordinances and the like, in
which matters there are the powers of binding and loos-
ing ; and what in harmony with the Word of God is so
bound or so loosed on earth shall be bound or loosed
in heav'en. But these mattters of form, order, govern-
ment and administration are vastly different from the
faiths that are necessary to salvation and the holy
ordinances appointed of God Himself. Of course,
while the Church proceeds clearly upon the lines of
Holy Writ, and keeps within Scriptural bounds, she
may claim and enjoy the infallibility of the inspired
Word. But off" these lines and beyond these bounds,
she certainly has no right to go ; much less to claim
infallibility for her decisions and decrees that plainly
contravene the Word of God. What a spectacle is this
142 - THE GUIDING EYE; OR,

172. before the nations and centuries ; in the name of
immutability and infallibility, forsaking the eternal
foundations, abandoning the lines proved and attested
from the beginning of the world, setting up unauthor-
ized dogmas and proclaiming novel faiths, and then
turning with bitterness and with blood upon those that
hold to the inalienable rights and irrevocable duties
of conscience, and the incontestable obligation and
sovereignty of the Scriptures of Divine truth.
How clearly and emphatically is the Bible the book
of the distinct personality and complete responsibility
of each and every man. A temple of the Holy Ghost
is the body of every believer; and every man shall
give account of himself to God. It is the book of the
dignity of manhood against the tyranny of any and
every system. " The Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath." In the olden time the Church
exceededthe record, teaching for doctrines the com-
mandments of man ; and He that came from heaven
expressedHis estimate of such example and instruc-
tion in the denunciation of the blind guides : " Ye
fools and blind." If Protestantism be free Bible for
free men, free Church in free State, Jesus Christ was
an incorrigible Protestant, and died for His Protes-

173. tantism. Priestly domination and hierarchical assump-
tion were the deadliest foes He encountered. The
ancient, compact and mighty Jewish Church — even
that venerable theocracy did not claim to be infallible
in its corporate character — had fallen to binding
heavy burdens and laying them on men's shoulders ;
but the sturdy protests of the Nazarene and of the
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 143
fearless apostle to the Gentiles, in the name of both
divinity and humanity, burst a thousand bonds,
opened a thousand prison doors, wrecked the schemes
of men for the enslavement of conscience, and nerved
the arm of liberty for the conflicts of the centuries.
What a manner to address priests and ecclesiastical
dignitaries : " Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites ! Ye serpents. Ye generation of vipers,
how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" And what
was their fault, their crime ? They had removed the
Scriptures and substituted traditions, casuistry and
churchly ceremony and formulary. It was not the
law of God laid on the conscience, but the inventions

174. and requirements of man. How could there be any-
thing like certainty, assurance in such a religious
relationship ? Why must not such a religion, putting
in man betwixt God and the soul, be weak and worth-
less ? It was then ; it is now. The man must touch
the God to be strong. The God must fill the man to
lead him on in truth. What a Protestant appellant
was Paul before Felix and Festus: "This I confess
unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all
things which are written in the law and in the
prophets. And herein do I oxercise myself, to have
always a conscience void of offence toward God, and
toward men." Festus said, " Wilt thou go up to
Jerusalem and there be judged of these things before
me ? Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment
seat where I ought to be judged." What a demand to
stand or fall by the acknowledged Scriptures was
144 THK GUIDING EYE; OR,
here ! What an assertion of rijjht to the exercise of
personal freedom in well-doing ! What a declaration

175. of the independence of citizenship, and the proper and
absolute separation of the functions of Church and
State ! There is not much temporal power of the
hierarchy in all this, any more than elsewhere in Holy
Scripture. Christ knew, Paul knew, and maintained
that there is a realm in the spirit of man that none
but God can enter. And both knew and taught that
when God so enters there is positive knowledge, as-
surance and capability of proceeding infallibly to
further positive knowledge and assurance, as the
Spirit of God leads the heart and understanding of
man onward in truth. And all this but shows the
absolute necessity of keeping the truth of God un-
clouded ; and the conscience, heart and spirit of man
free to its acceptance, increase and use. This is the
perpetual battle of spiritual religion against the lusts
of the flesh, the desires of the carnal mind, and the
devices of the adversary, against all errors of doctrine,
i] claims and attempts of false religion, all indifference
to the tremendous issues and responsibilities involved.
Is it a wonder the New Covenant thunders in louder
tones than Sinai, " every man shall give account of
himself to God ? " Is it a wonder these rolling
thunders are drowned and hushed in the multitudi-
nous voices of mercy and peace : " Awake, thou that

176. sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light." " If we walk in the light as He is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another; and
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 145
all sin ?" Is it a wonder infinite grace with trumpet
tone proclaims: " As many as are led by the Spirit of
God they are the sons of God." " Because ye are
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." " Walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the fiesh."
" But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you
all things and bring all things to your remeuibrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you ? "
In the fifth place, this responsibility and dignity of
the individual in the religious sphere, the pre-e.ninence
in the very nature of the case, given the personality
in the spiritual realm, is plainly shown in the com-
munications of Almighty God with the sons of men

177. through all the ages, in the entire history of revela-
tion and the production and establishment of the canon
of Holy Scripture, as now received among us. In the
religious realm, we say, for it makes all the difference
in what realm our investigation is conducted, and in
what aspect the object of search is viewed. If we are
seeking primary elements, a grain of sand is better
than the mountain of granite ; a drop of water, than
the heaving ocean ; a nodule of coal or chalk than the
deep bed or towering cliff; a spire of grass or a flower
seed, than the broad and blooming prairie. But if we
would fill the valley, or float the ship, ^r drive the
furnace, or feedthe countless herd ; if mass and mo-
mentum, force, fuel and food are required, we must
have the mountain, the ocean, the coal-field and the
prairie. Matter in the mass, force in the volume, fuel
10
146 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
and food in the bulk, are, of course, of great impor-
tance — are, indeed, the common way of estimating and

178. using these things ; hence physics and dynamics are
the great sciences to those that get far enough beyond
the gross materiaLs to ascertain at all a science in them.
But who will say chemistry is of no importance —
chemistry is of no worth, is not a science ? We all
know that it is a delicate, exquisite, genuine, noble,
profound and useful science, the very scienfia sc'wn-
tiarum, so far as matter and force are concerned. It
is that science that deals with the individual, the
ultimate element, the hidden force, that deals, so to
speak, with the personality and affinity of the particles
of matter, the component elements and their relations,
the very religion of physics. There could be nothing
more refined, impalpable, subtle, delicate, unless there
be a spiritual realm. And this is the spiritual realm ;
the unit, God, and the unit, man, and their moral
affinity ; the unit, man, and the unit, man, ultimate
moral elements, and their relations, and spiritual)
intellectual and moral forces. Politics, sociology, gov-
ernment in Church or State, commercial regulations,
ethnology and history may handle man in the mass,
the society, the league, the nation, the race ; but reli-
gion, the human and divine chemistry, must handle
men apart, man by man, and man with God, the ulti-
mate elements and spiritual and moral units. And

179. the Church that attempts to interfere in this spiritual
realm, this domain of the ultimates as given in divine
revelation, is as much astray, and far more seriously
and injuriously astray than the school of chemistry
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE, 147
that, instead of studying matter as it is, would set
itself about creating new elements and rudiments
unknown to nature or its Author.
With so profound and consistent a philosophy the
I Bible deals with individual men, and makes its revela-
tions and laws, not to councils, senates, or parliaments,
but to men ; exalts the man and holds him responsible ;
inspires and instructs the one man, and proclaims the
universal law ; lays the obligation on the one con-
science, and maintains universal freedom. God spake
to Abraham, not to a council of patriarchs ; to Moses,
and not to a parliament of legislators ; to Samuel, and
not to a bench of judges; to Elijah and Elisha, and
not to a school of prophets ; to Daniel and Ezra, and
not to a convocation of scribes ; to Paul and to Peter,

180. and not to a college of apostles. It was the man, not
the assembly, that was inspired ; the man, not the
synod, or congregation, or college or council, is the
temple of the Holy Spirit ; holy men of old spake as
each was moved by the Holy Ghost. This is an im-
portant and conclusive consideration, when we come to
the question of corporate infallibility. Corporate
infallibility is a delusion and a snare, and has no
sanction or countenance in the Word of God or the
history of His true and living Church. It is a baseless
assumption, a fatal error, and has proved the ruin of
, many souls. It is the fruitful mother of errors, and
; has covered the earth with a progeny of darkness and
I sin. It is the abandonment of the scriptural ground
■ and priceless heritage of the believer in Christ, know-
ledge, assurance, certainty, yea, infallibility within the
148 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
personal and proper range, under the guidance of the
Holy Ghost, and instructed by the Word and the
gracious providence of the living God. The indivi-
dual and personal inspiration laid down the law, and

181. the corporate ambition, assumption and enterprise may
not go beyond it. The individual and personal guid-
ance and obedience receive the law, keepthe law of
the New Covenant in the spirit and grace of that
covenant, know assuredly that God is a Father, that
sin is pardoned, that holiness is enjoyed, thai: love
reigns, that power is conferred, that heaven is begun
in the fruits of the Spirit, that the resurrection is
assured in the eternal life actually possessed; and
judge infallibly the right way, the path of duty, the
meaning of the Holy Word, and the lessons of divine
providence to the faithful disciple in the school of
Christ.
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 149
CHAPTER XVIII.

182. WHEREIN APPLIED.
'E hav> restricted this certainty of knowledge,
this assurance of moral and spiritual condition
and relation," this infallibility of personal and
moral judgment to the individaal in his acquaintance
with himself, his acquair. ance with God, and with his
relation to God and duty. A narrow sphere of know-
ledge some may deem this; but it is central, all-sufficient,
all-pervasive, omnipotent and vital. This takes for
granted that the Christian disciple use all proper and
possible means to gain and increase this knowledge ;
that he seek it as directed and employ it as designed ;
that he live indeed within the provision and purport
of revealed religion ; that is, that he walk in the
Spirit. We say advisedly and intentionally " the
disciple of Christ : " for this assurance, this certainty,
this infallibility belongs to no other than the Christian
system, and in that systemto none other than the
genuine disciple and believer. This is the safe founda-
tion of the settled rest of soul peculiar to this
system. Further, the restriction stated abov^e excludes
all associatedassurance, all shared and composite
knowledge ; so that part of it is with one man and

183. 150 THE JUIDING eye; OR,
part with another, to render it necessary to bring to-
gether the different findings to complete the sum of
the Icnowledge and assurance. God has no divided
convictions of sin, no divided pardons, no divided
regenerations and sanctifications, and no divided
responsibilities. If part were with one man and part
with another, where is the responsibility ? Who, then,
is responsible ? God communicates the iinowledge in
its entirety. One man can receive the whole know-
ledge ; yea, as much salvation, as much assurance and
certainty as two men, or ten, or a thousand. It is not
a question of numbers, but of unity and completeness.
And to know God, and to know his own sin, and know
he is savedthrough the blood by the Spirit ; and to
know the doctrine, the duty, the indwelling, the abiding,
the comforting, the strengthening, the leading is the
privilege and work of each for himself and not for
another, and is a perfected knowledge in every true
believer as he advances in the truth of God. Divided
knowledge or assurance were a divided responsibility,
and that were an end of all moral action and moral

184. accountability. One man can be as sure that one and
one are two, as can a million men. The one man
has that entire and perfect knowledge, and is account-
able for its use.
The restriction further excludes all corporate and
representative assurance ; that it should be necessary
for a body of men to come together and vote on the
question and decide the doctrine, the condition, the
relation ; and then appoint an oracle as spokesman
to declare it ; an embassy, a messengerto convey
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 151
it. It is a direct communication from God to the
soul, no vote, no embassy intervening. WHat we
must guard is the certainty of the knowledge, the
infallibility of the conveyance ; and we can let no
Pope or council in here. Likely the Pope himself, and
every member of the council will have enough to do
to attend to this matter for himself. We cannot help
him particularly any more than he can help us.
His needs are as our needs, and his abilities and

185. privileges in these matters, as are our abilities and
privileges. There are no proxies, substitutes, vicars
or representatives in these solemn and eternal spiritual
concerns. It would not do through the everlasting
ages for one man to have another to blame that he
did not bring in his share of the conviction or regenera-
tion ; or another to praise alongside of God, or equal
or superior to Him. We may be humble instruments
in His hand ; but there are some things God hath kept
to Himself, the sovereignty of His own acts, and the
communication of the knowledge of those personal
acts to the souls of men.
These are restrictions as affecting the possessionand
conveyance of this certainty, this assurance, this know-
ledge. There are still others as to the fields in which
the believer must seek this certainty, this infallibility.
The believer alone may seek it ; not an assembly, not
a council ; not a wicked man or a worldling. The sin-
ful or the worldly are not entitled to it. The assembly,
the council may not need it ; the believer and the
prophet or apostle does. The assembly, the council,
much as it needs direction, wisdom, may not need

186. 152 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
certainty, infallibility, for its work ; for the council
is not entitled to proclaim new doctrines of faith. The
council may have to do not with personal salvation>
but with external forms, rules of order, the expediency
of ordinances, politics and government — matters that
ma3^ be one way or an other. But the inspired pro-
phets and apostles declare the will of God, and the
believer must accept and assuredly know the will of
God. Hence he must seek it for himself and not for
another. Now the question is, where he may seek it.
And first, he will not find it in the quest or posses-
sion of speculative truth. This field of inquiry is
given us for the exercise of our faculties, which is
as necessary for a saint as for a sinner, and may be as
appropriate in heaven as on earth. Observing,
rertecting, remembering, comparing and combining are
holy activities when properly directed, and good enough
for the angel of God. Widening and deepening the
search, collecting the facts, discerning the principles,
pressing downward and outward upon the broader and
solider foundations, passing from the shade of theory to
the light of science, from the uncertain ground of pro-

187. bability to the firm footing of ascertained knowledge ;
these things are designed of God for the good of men,
jj They are neither the pride of opinion, the " knowledge
that puffeth up," nor " the science falsely so called ; "
but they are the grandest employments and richest
attainments of humble, earnest and well formed minds.
I Some of Christ's meekest disciples under the direction of
i the Holy Ghost have done these very things to their own
I improvement and the great benefit of mankind. And
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 153
i they have done them as sinners have done them ; just
as the godly eat, breathe, walk, and digest, as do the
vile and profane. Not in the same thought and
temper, to be sure, or with the same end in view ; but
with the same liability to strangling or breaking a
tooth, the same liability to stumbling or slipping, or
the same exposure to indigestion or disorder. Who
has not seenthe pallid saint, and a round, ruddy,
plump, healthy sinner ? And yet God rules the world.
And who that has looked has not seenthe devout and
faithful disciple of Jesus as keenly tried by knotty

188. problems and honest research as the proud and the
prayerless ? His faculties are worth as much to the
world, and he has the same need of intellectual disciu-
line and the same right to it. And if the saint is to
know anything of language, lo^ic, metaphysics ; that is,
to know himself intellectually and the human race, he
must learn these things just as the sinner does. There
is no help for it ; let us say, praise the Lord ! He
must apply himself, study, develop himself, increase
his power, prove there is in him something worthy
Christ's suffering and death ; prove there is something
in him worthy of purification and the companionship
of the Holy Ghost. Infallibility at any special point
may not be here. Certainly there often is as to the
ground passedover ; infallibility there may not be as
to the ground yet to be traversed. But though failures
here and failures there, excursions here and investiga-
tions there, men climb to solid foundations at last. And
as God intended, they are all the better for the climb-
I ing. And as God intended, they will climb with a
154 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,

189. surer, fleeter foot, if they keepwithin the limit of
certainty and infallibility in their relations to God.
Nor, secondly, will he find this infallibility, this
steady, uninterrupted certainty, and the consequent
composure of mind evenin scientific truth and its
applications. After theory has come to science, and
speculation to knowledge, there is certainly enough
for the ongoing of human affairs ; but, do the best we
can, there are always mists and clouds hanging around
our earthly knowledges, our knowledges of external
things. Our greater inrnorances will darken our dawn-
ing certainties, and thro^ a shadow over the mind.
We cannot bring external 'ihings into immediate con-
sciousness; as we can ourselves, our condition, our
relation to God.
This is sound philosophy, fundamental, incontrover-
tible science, yea, the root of all science and philosophy ;
nothing is nearer the man's self than himself; so
within the clear light of his consciousness as himself,
his condition, his relation to that other most intimate
self within him. And, admitting that that other in-
terior self, God, is also an intelligence, perfect intelli-

190. gence, — light, in whom is no darkness at all — how
could there be anything brighter or surer than clear,
pure, perfect intelligence, shining upon the conscience,
the consciousness, the moral nature, to disclose to that
moral consciousness, not external things, which it
must perceive through sense, which it must learn by
study, but itself, its condition, and by very apposition
in the light, its relation. Scientific certainties are of
a widely different character. They are not perfect and
completed knowledges in the consciousness, but are
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. l.')5
the results of our investigations, applying the rational
principles of the consciousness to the outer world, to
its facts, system, and order. In the spiritual know-
ledge both poles of the consciou.sness, the perceiver
and the perceived, are within ; tho .subject perceiving
is also the object perceived. The Holy Spirit is not
promised to give certainty and infallibility in mere
outward things, nor does His special operation tend
thereto, further, perhaps, than that the well-ordered,
pious mind, other things being equal, may advance

191. more rapidly and more .securely in truth, and shall
escape the foreclosure of darkness that must come
upon all sinful investigation. Certainty, then, is in
science to saint and sinner as the mind advances in
knowledge. The swearer is as sure as the devout and
prayerful soul that the three angles of a triangle are
equal to two right angles. Old and fanatic saints
did not help religion much with theosophy, when they
put upon the Holy Ghost, divine illumination, to teach
men science. Spiritual, revealed religion has its range,
and philosophy has its range, and between them there
is not much room for theosophy. There is a strict
domain, the domain of spiritual, eternal life, of moral
consciousness, in which God has given to man cer-
tainty, infallibility ; all beyond this is investigation —
historic, philosophic, scientific verity. It must come
to rational tests and laws, as must eventhe historic
and theological domain of Christianity itself; and
while the Holy Spirit will help a man in these sublime
pursuits. He will never unman the man, or do his
work for him. He ennobles the man by guiding him
156 THE (iUipiNG EYE; OR,

192. ultimately in the exercise of his faculties throuo^h many
experiments, examinations, reflections, and evenmis-
takes and their correction, into absolutely all truth.
To use foreign terms for school and Heaven: Elysium
is eternal gymnasium.
Nor, thirdly, will the believer find this certainty,
this infallibility, in his secular pursuits, his practical
knowledge and business affairs. He will not find it
there, because the Holy Ghost, by the Word of God,
does not put it there. This is not within the all truth
specially intended. He will have providential guid-
ance, fatherly blessing and protection, spiritual com-
fort and aid, to be sure ; but he will find there the
very way God takes to discipline, instruct and
strengthen him, is through what men often call adver-
sity, misdirection, and mistake. Tribulation worketh
patience ; patience, experience ; and experience, hope.
He will find that wicked men will sometimes be
shrewder in business within the bounds of honesty
itself, see further, and go more vigorously to the
summit of success. " No chastening for the present
seemethto be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteous-

193. ness unto them who are exercisedthereby." How true
is it that God's loved ones are full of blunders after
business standards, and fail, where practical, worldly-
minded men note their folly ! And how true is it
that this very failure and folly worketh out often
the richest spiritual blessing ! It does not follow that
a man is imbecile and impotent in bu.siness because
spiritually minded, but it does follow that they are
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 157
very wide of the mark that make the certainty of
knowledge and infallibility of judgment belonging to
the child of God in his religious, moral and spiritual
life, the life of conscience and consciousness, extend to
all the movements of his body, all the natural and
proper desires of flesh and spirit, all the processes of
his reasoning and all the conclusions of his under-
standing. While the man is tilled with the Holy
Ghost, the Holy Ghost worketh with the rational
understanding, and sensitive and mobile frame ; as,
while the ocean bed is filled with water, the rising,
sweeping tides press into the natural bays and along

194. the natural shores, conforming themselves to the head-
lands, angles and sweeping curves of the continent*
all the time gradually forming anfl shaping the same
headlands and curves after thei. own force and
motion.
Nor, fourthly, will he find this absolute certainty,
this infallibilty in truth related to personal interest
merely, or employed in the pursuit of selfish aims.
Here is to be strictly and vigorously applied the great
and central doctrine of self-sacrifice and entire conse-
cration to God. And, possibly, nowhere are Christian
believers more exposedto hurtful misleading, preju-
dice and error, than in the desire and fancy that the
Holy Ghost be and is of our opinion, that He will help
our party ; that, as He is kind, He will indulge our
whims, pamper our weaknesses, fondle our vain
thoughts, iinpressions, and impulses, do about as we
wish He should do ; that is, gratify us, flatter us,
countenance our ways, lead us in our own paths, and
158 THE GUIDING EYE; OK,

195. quiet our minds in our own chosen comforts. Even
as we can readily discover our own theories and con-
ceptions of divine truth in the Bible, we can find our
own whims and wishes in the leadings of the Spirit.
As error and danger lurk here, hidden and disguised
beyond the power of human detection, the Spirit
grant His disclosing light ! There is selfish truth ;
that is, such is the nature of our selfishness, that we
would use the very spiritual truth of God for selfish
and worldly purposes. Sin would not have done all
its work, would have been a comparative failure, if it
had not set us attempting to use the purest truth of
God for discriminating advancement, for selfishpre-
ference and aggrandizement. The devout soul seeks
the Spirit's guidance in duty ; desires the providential
way opened up to success in life, to accumulate sub-
stance, to win the far-reaching fame, to gain the prizes
in earthly competition. What for ? Is there any harm
in honestly getting wealth and using it for God ? Is
there harm in a good natne or great influence when
with Christ ? Ought not a man to seek these things ?
Again, we ask, What foi { ' Well, I would use wealth,
influence, power, for Christ's cause and the advance-
ment of His kingdom." Then, my friend, perhaps you

196. can do more for that kingdom with your name cast
out as evil for Christ's sake, and amid the struggle of
poverty than you would with great fame and estate.
In which case you will a million fold prefer the re-
proach and the penury ; you will have, by divine
recognition, more quiet of mind, more joy in them
than in all substance and affluence. " You seek in-
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 159
fallible, divine guidance, do you ? " Then be ready
for all these things ; in riches and honor to use them
wholly and solely for God; in privation and scorn to
behold God employ them mysteriously and amazingly
to His praise. Since it is the kingdom of Jesus Christ
you would advance, and since that is your one anxiety
and thought, what difference to you whether it be
want and pain and tribulation, or abundance, rank
and ease. You have your eye honestly and intelli-
gently on one thing, the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the
kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost, and the present and everlasting reign of right-
eousness ; you have the single eye and seek first the

197. kingdom of God ; are you to fail of infallible guidance
to that end ? Are you to fail of reaching that end ?
Not till the covenants of the Eternal God, the blood-
sealedcovenants witnessed by the Holy Ghost are
prevented or nullified. Here let the soul rest ; with
such a consecration, such an obedience, such a spiritual
intelligence, patience and faith, with such an aim, the
heart and soul, the whole life and being, all the
energies, efforts and results shall go steadily to that
end. There is here infallible guidance, infallibility.
Then, says the minister of God, " I shall surely have
it alway in the acquisition of knowledge, and in
preaching the gospel of the kingdom." If God could
not have done something in the world with the In-
fallible Word without infallible ministrations, there
would not have been much of the Christian religion
known among us to-day. And, on the other hand,
perhaps, the potent reason there is so little of it in the
160 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
world is that there has been so little infallible preach-

198. ing — preaching in which the preacher knows he is
laying the doctrine of God on the conscience and
reason of men, and in which men know it is the doc-
trine of God, that Gcd is in the preacher of very truth.
Alas ! alas ! that the pulpit should have everbeen
given over to speculation, to dreaming, to theorizing,
to painting, to controversy, to pandering to sin, and
proclaiming self ! No wonder " the Gospel has not
won its widening wav to earth's remotest bounds."
As a rule the preaching is better than the preacher,
and there is a gulf-wide difference betwixt an in-
fallible preacher and infallible preaching. Likely the
only case in which the two ever were conjoined in
human body was in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
A fallible preacher may preach infallible doctrine in-
fallibly, for that is the channel in which his infalli-
bility is to run. It is bis course of duty in the " all-
truth " guidance under the special direction of the Holy
Ghost. " Then I will get up a grand sermon, a learned
sermon, a mighty sermon." Let us tarry. Often as wide
apart as the poles are "grand" sermons and "mighty"
sermons. Indeed, seriously may it be questioned
whether what are sometimes known as "great" ser-
mons, " learned " sermons, are preaching the Gospel at
all, and whether some of the fathers did not do the

199. Church and the world infinite and remediless damajje
by putting out homilies and expository preaching, and
bringing in what we call "great sermons." Not by
any means that learning is to be neglected, or power-
ful preaching, convincing the judgment, and moving
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 161
the heart thought of no account. Learning is to be
sought and power obtained, and no preacher should
be without them in the highest possible degree. But
both oi them toi^ether will not make the infallible
preaching. With an infallible preacher we have no-
thing to do ; we seek the infallible preaching. And
likely we are on the track of it in our hymn :
" What we have felt and seen,
With confidence we tell ;
And publish to the sons of men
The signs infallible."
We, hence, insist upon conversion, experimental
religion, personal knowledge, and positive, attested and

200. demonstrated experience in our ministers. Further,
as to this scriptural demand for infallible preaching,
we insist upon a ministerially entire and complete con-
secration to God and His w^ork. Perhaps there is
more in a ministerial than in an ordinary consecra-
tion. Perhaps God expects more of him and gives
him more. Perhaps he must renounce some things
that other men properly enjoy, that he may possess
and enjoy some things that other men cannot obtain.
If a man will preach Christ, how forgetful he umst be
of self. How solidly and certainly he must know his
own sin, his own pardon, his own cleansing, his own
divine call and qualification, his own insufficiency, and
his sufficiency as of God ! How fully he must know
the power of Christ to save, the majesty and excel-
lency of the holy doctrine, the sovereignty of the law,
and the sufficiency of grace, the love of God to all, the
11
162 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
universal call to salvation, the efficacy of the atoninsj
blood, and the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost. There

201. can be no mistake or possibility of mistake in these
things. He can admit no shadow or mist of doubt.
Here is indubitable certainty, infallible judgment and
sure personal experience.
Add to this that he keeps Christ, always Christ,
only Christ, before him ; that if tempted to learn for
self, he saith, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" if tempted
to preach to please men, to draw the crowd, to make
sin easier, to lower the Biblical standards of righteous-
ness and true holiness, to win personal favor, advan-
tage or fame, or, in other regards, interrupt the com-
munion of the Holy Spirit, or the fulness of the
divine baptism, he .saith, quickly, positively and con-
clusively, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" that by the
same spirit he bui'neth with the love of the souls of
men, and is consumed with the zeal of God's house '■>
that he con.^tantly seeks unto God for help and guid-
ance, and faithfully follows the teachings of the Word
and the guidance of the Holy Spirit — and who of us,
as ministers of the Gospel, should not do all these
things — and can there be any doubt that he will
preach infallibly, that he will lay the doctrines of God
infallibly on the consciences and intelligence of men ?
And can there be a doubt that holy men have done

202. this evenwith blundering speech, defective syntax
and faulty rhetoric ? Infallible preaching does not
demand infallibility in evirything, or in anything out-
side the scriptural range.
Selfishness, mere self-interest, as in any degree lift-
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 163
ing self, discriminating as against others, or against
the kingdom of Christ, must be kept out of the quest,
and the possessionof spiritual truth, if we expect
certainty, infallibility to come in. The eye must be
kept single to the glory of God, either in our own
salvation or the salvation of others, if we would have
the body full of light. " With Thee is the fountain of
life. In Thy light shall we see light." Contradictory
as it may appear, the most unseltish self-surrender is
the surest way to self-knowledge and self-possession.
When the prodigal came to himself he said, " I will
arise and go to my father." How Jesus knew the
laws of the human mind ; " what is in man I " Entire
consecration to God is the portal, perfect obedience to

203. Him the corridor of this resplendent temple of light
and truth. " If any man will do His will, he shall
know the doctrine." Can a man know his sin for-
given ? Bow before God, do His will and learn. He
can know it certainly, infallibly. Can a man be holy
and live holy '' Bow and learn. Can a man have
eternal life within him now, and assurance of its
future and perpetual enjoyment ? Bow and learn-
These things a man may know certainly and indubi-
tably. He may know the doctrine; not speculation,
not all external truth, not evenall truth relating to
his own body or mind, but the doctrine ; not all things
about God or heaven, this world or the next, but the
doctrine; what God has revealedin His Word, and is
pleased to make plainer to teach, certainly, positively,
clearly, unmistakably, experimentally by His Spirit.
The doctrine, knowledge of sin, of sin forgiven, of
164 THE GUIDIN(} EYE; OR,
personal holiness and power; knowledge of our own
condition and relation to God, for that has to do with
the condition, and is part of it ; knowle<lge of God,

204. His will ; our need, His supply ; the doctrine, this is
what we may know infallibly, certainly. Here is a
spiritual paradox : the greediest selfishness loses every-
thing, knows nothing ; the most willing self- surrender
to God gains everything, knows certainly everything
that is vital to know, and central and essential to
eternal increase in knowledjje. Life and lifjht qo
together. " In Him was life, and the life is the light
of men."
Nor, fifthly, is this infallibility, certainty, given
to the noble doctrines of sociology, philanthropy
and patriotism. These have to do with the highest
doctrines of philosophy, indeed, but then it is human
philosophy. Nor can such certainty be given by
worldly wisdom, as developed in commerce, politics,
diplomacy, and the triumphs of art. We certainly are
not speaking against these things ; nor would we, for
a moment, disparage or underestimate them. Even in
their beginnings they were the splendor of the ancient
civilizations, as they are the material to be wrought
by life divine into the grandest attainments of
humanity. They are indispensable to the progress of
nations, and the ennoblement and happiness of the
human race. Permeated with spiritual religion they

205. are capable of infinite expansion, and live on principles
that must preserve and govern society in Heavenit-
self. These things are not overlooked nor underrated ;
but we are now speaking of the certainty, the sure,
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 165
infallible and indispensable knowledge that belongs
personally to the Christian believer ; and this i^ not
found here in philosophy, science, art, or common or
public affairs. There is a realm that is all light, all
assurance, all glory — knowledge of personal salv^ation
and knowledge of God — and from that realm life and
liglit should go forth into all the pursuits of men.
Of this very difference betwixt the positive and
saving knowledge of the believer, and the achieve-
ments of human science, and the triumphs of human
philosophy, especially so far as Greeks and Romans
had gone, the apostle to the Gentiles is speaking in his
wonderfully graphic and incisive utterances to the
Corinthian Church : " The preaching of the cross is to
them that perish, foolishness ; but unto us who are

206. saved, it is the power of God Hath not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world ? For after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom,
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are fooli.shness unto him ; neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. But
God hath revealedthem unto us by His Spirit."
Nor, sixthly, will the believer tind this certainty in
all things pertaining to religion itself, nor evento the
Christian religion, important as it is, to have absolute
knowledge whenever in this relation we can obtain
it. Theology, outside the direct personal and spiritual
realm, is a philosophy, and subject to the tests, failures
and growths of other philosophies. Christianity has a
166 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
history that must stand probing Hke other histories.

207. Ethics is a science dealing with the moral nature ot*
man and of God, and their general relations outside of
immediate revelation, though much aided by that
revelation ; and there is advancement, imperfection,
improvement, as in other sciences and on scientific
principles. Religion has its metaphysical and logical
basis, connections and relations ; and in these there
may be much investigation, many comings and goings
of opinion and system, many mistakes and constant
proficiency, settling many disputed points, rising from
knowledge to knowledge, and from satisfaction and
strength to higher grounds of light and power. But
the certainty, the infallibility under the direct leader-
ship of the Holy Spirit is not here.
But, secondly, it is, as all along maintained, in the
perfected knowledge of personal experience under the
light of the Spirit. To know God, to know my sin,
to know my salvation, to know my peace, to know my
duty, these are given to me. And these are enough.
In other things the believer must calculate with the
mathematician, sail with the sailor, and plough with
the ploughman. Knowing God and salvation will be
a great comfort and help in all right pursuits, but will
not save us from the pursuits, evenwere that desirable.

208. These things being so, and this sphere of positive
knowledge to the believer being so distinct, bright,
clear, well defined, and evident ; so separate, in the
nature of the case, from all other knowledges, so com-
pletely sufficient for its glorious purpose. (1) Is
not that believer greatly at fault that lives below
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 167
this duty, privilege, birthright, and dignity of his
adoption and son.ship ; that is careless whether or not
he indeed knoweth God and hath assurance of salva-
tion ? (2) Is not that believer at fault that maketh
his feelings the sole basis and witness of his know-
ledge, stops there, and does not press onward to know
the doctrine, and know the love of God that passeth
knowledge ? (8) Is not that minister greatly at fault
who attempts to speak of what he does not know, and
testify of what he hath not seen? How can he teach
the people infallible doctrine who knows nothing of
certain assurance and immovable foundations ? (4) Is
not that Church sadly at fault that mars or beclouds

209. the doctrine of the assurance of faith and the witness
of the Spirit, and positive personal knowledge of God
and duty by the Spirit, whether it be done by shifting
infallibility all to God, by discriminating purposes and
decrees, or all to other men than the believer inter-
ested, by handing it over to councils or popes ? (5) Is
not that believer greatly at fault, yea, deeply in sin,
that abandons so plain and accessible knowledge,
absolute certainty as to so vital points, that makes his
own right and heritage over to priest, council, or Pope,
as though he could do any such thing ? (6) Is not that
believer far astray that attempts to crowd this cer-
tainty out of its prescribed field, and make it opera-
tive, apply it in matters and places where neither God
nor His Word allows it to act ? (7) Since this know-
ledge of God and salvation is so plain, easy, near at
home, simple, positive, unmistakable, and satisfactory,
the easiest thing in the world to learn, and the solidest
168 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
to know, is any man justified in neglecting this know-
led<j;e, in saying he cannot come unto it ? Since it is

210. so important, is any man justified in despising it ?
Would evenour Father, God, have been justified to
infinite, eternal, and universal reason, if He had not
made this indispensable knowledge of life and salva-
tion just so plain, easy, certain, indubitable, infal-
lible ? This is the eternal wisdom, hidden from the
worldly wise, revealed unto babes. (S) Is it any
wonder the Church has been weakened and often
defeated by giving up, misdirecting and perv^erting
this doctrine of certainty and infallibility ? How
could her members be strong unless they are sure ?
And is it enough to be sure through man ? Or must
they be sure in God ? (9) Is it any wonder Chris-
tians are worldly minded, fearful, joyless, — neither
looking for the Kingdom of Christ, nor desiring eter-
nal glory, when such a doctrine as personal know-
ledge and assurance of eternal life goes out of their
testimony and their experience ? The Spirit must
abide in us that sings :
" I know that iny Redeemer lives,
And ever prays for me ;
A token of His love He gives —
A pledge of liberty.

211. ' • We feel the resurrection near,
Our life in Christ concealed ;
And with His glorious presence have
Our earthen vessels tilled."
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 169
CHAPTKR XIX.
HOW CONVEYED.
MN Scripture doctrine, wo are much more coii-
f^ cerned with the fact than the manner of the fact.
And this is equally true in science or philosophy.
It is bad philosophy and bad ethics to deny or distort
the fact, or to attempt to color it or explain it away
Ascertain and accept the fact. Vain curiosity or idle
inquiry as to the mode of Divine operation is fruitless
and unprofitable, and has often engendered strife and

212. division in the Church of God. Our Lord Himself, in
His instruction on the doctrine of the new birth, did
not gratify Nicodemus by answ^ering his question :
" How can these things be ? " but held His student
firmly to the fact, " Ye must be born again." As to
the manner of the fact. He referred Nicodemus to His
mode of reasoning on other matters, and to nature and
the winds for satisfaction. " Thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither
it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
Y^'ou have no doubts on the fickle, shifting winds ; you
can surely give consciousness, experience, observation^
testimony, the Abrahamic covenant, the law and the
prophets, and the records of the ancient church as good
a chance, and as ready evidence and acceptance.
170 THE GUIDING EYE ; OR,
While we may not settle, or evendiscuss at
length, how the Holy Ghost brings knowledge, assur-
ance, certainty to the believer, we may at least note in
passing that God, in His condescending revelation, has
not left us without intimation that this religious

213. knowledge, this personal, spiritual ini illibility, is not —
the existence of God, and His gracious offices being
gn.nted — an irrational, or superrational or unnatural
work ; but one that in the religious and spiritual realm
lies naturally along the lines of human life. The
ordinary faculties are brought into play, the normal
intellectual processes duly pursued, so that human
nature is not lifted off its feet, but goes steadily on^
when it may apply the appropriate tests and justify
the ways of God to man. All this will the better
appear from a few Scripture c'tations. " Thou shalt
guide me with Thy counsel." " Teach me, O Lord, the
way of Thy statutes." " O how I love Thy law : it is
my meditation all the day." " Thy Word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path." " Give me
understanding that I may learn Thy commandments."
" Teach me good judgment and knowledge." " The
Proverbs of Solomon ; to know wisdom and instruc-
tion ; to procure the words of understanding ; to receive
the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and
equity ; to give subtility to the simple, to the young
man knowledge and discretion." " Hear instruction
and be wise." And why not the proverbs of Solomon
as well as the Fables of ^sop, the Epic of Virgil, or
the Precepts of Seneca ? Because God gave the former,

214. and man the latter. And God must give a thousand
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 171
to one for man ; and God is able. " That which
is born of the Spirit is Spirit." " But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in My name. He shall teach you all things and bring
all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you." " And when He is come, He will reprove
the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment."
" When He th^ Spirit of Truth is come. He will guide
you into all truth ; whatsoever He shall hear, that
shall He speak." " On My servants and on My hand-
maidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit,
and they shall prophesy." " Therefore, having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath
shed forth this which ye now see and hear." " And we
are His witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him."
" Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven
men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and
wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business."

215. " While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said
unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise there-
fore, and get thee dovn and go with them, nothing
doubting, for I have sent them." '" They assayedto
go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not."
" Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you over-
seers." " As many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God." " The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of
God." " Likewise, also, the Spirit helpeth our in-
firmities." " Which things also we speak, not in the
172 THE GUIDING EYE; OR,
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual." And why shiuld not spiritual religion
enrich the lanjinaijo with some new words and new-
found facts as well as chemistry or geology ? " All
these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, divid-
ing to every man severally as He will." " The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,

216. goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." " Ye were
sealedwith the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance." " Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are scaled unto the day of
redemption." " If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, any fellowship of tiie Spirit, fulfil ye My
joy." " Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost." " That which we have seenand heard declare
we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
His Son Jesus Christ." "For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." " Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be-
lieving, that ye may abound in hope by the power of
the Holy Ghost."
This collation of passages — and many more could be
added — will satisfy us: (1) That there is a realm, large
or small, that the Holy Scriptures consider a realm of
light, assurance, certainty, infallibility, comfort, and
unfailing, uninterrupted joy. (2) That this realm of

217. THE HOLY spirit's (illlDANC'E. 173
joy is the rij^htful possessionof the heliever in Christ
on earth. (JJ) That this reahn is the moral and spirit-
ual condition of each man, and his relation under divine
light to his own knovvledj^e and consciousness. (4)
That the ever blessedHoly Spirit bringeth this assur-
ance and certainty to the believer. (5) That in con-
veying this knowledge and establishing this certainty
and sense of security, the Holy Spirit addeth no new
faculties, but dealeth with man as man, and in posses-
sion of his natural and rational faculties. (G) That
the external and physical faculties of seeing, hearing,
and the like, are never clouded, perverted or lessened,
distracted or thrown under a glamor or spell, when
brought into exercise in relati(m to spiritual truth, but
are normal and effective as in any of life's concerns.
(7) That the Spirit of God is an intelligence and acts
as an intelligence, ready that the doctrine should stand
or fall by light and truth, by the laws of conscious-
ness and reason, by which other knowledges are
gained and other issues determined. (8) That this
divine intelligence guides into truth and brings in

218. the positive assurance by recalling facts, sayings,
principles and doctrines to memory ; by suggesting,
directing and strengthening thought and reason ; by
communicating new and positive knowledge, which is
to be verified as all knowl Iges are verified ; by quicken-
ing the understanding itself, as is evidenced by the
unfolding doctrines of Paul's irresistible logic in his
epistles, and leading it upward to intenser, higher
action, keenerinvestigation, and clearer light ; and by
preoccupying the mind and expelling from it what
174 THE OUIDINfJ EYE ; OH,
hinrlers access to truth and increase of knowlodj^e. (0)
Tliat the Holy Spirit is as active in the emotional as
the intellectual nature;, and awakes tlie certainti«.'s of
love, joy, peace, ^''ntleness, ooodness, luiniility, purity,
patience, courage and power as vi(^f)rously, to say the
hast of it, as they are stirred to declare thciniselves in
any liurnan experience, or as any passions or emotions
make themselves infallil)ly known in any of life's
att'airs. (10) Tlwit tlie Sj)irit of (lod riever shuns the
test v^f the positivist, tlie outc^r senses ; hut, true to the

219. higliest philosophy, appeals ultimately to tlie keener
perceptions of the soul. (II) That eomnuuiications of
new and hroader truth, inspirations to proclaim doc-
trine, fact and law, have always been devolv<!d upon
individual men who could die; in attestation of tlieir
declarations, and n< ipon councils with a divi(h.'d re-
sponsihility ; and tliese individual men have di(!d in
attestation of their assurance and «loctrine. (12) That
the Holy .Spirit always moved in hannony with the
Provichjnce of Ood, and that careful study of outward
event, the coincidences and correspondences of Provi-
dence, confirmed the certainty at every stage of
advancement, evenas it is proved over and ov(!r uf^ain,
and comes up to the; mind in many shapes that two
and two are four. (I'i) That everywhere and always
the Spirit r»;<^ajds the written VV^ord, the canon of
Scripture existin<^ at the time, and is governed by it;
till He has empowered and commissioned men to speak
again for (iod, and through the written Word, the
Holy Scriptures, leadeth men into all truth. " Sanc-
tify them through Thy trutli, Thy Word is truth."
THE'^^HOLY spirit's fJUIDANC'E. 17')

220. What moancth all tliis, }>ut that man is as propriily
an obi<!Ct of knowh'df^o to himself as is the dumh
liord, the (h^ep mirx!, the r-oad sc^a, tlie lofty tirma-
m<!nt ? What a sp(!etaclc is here, pliilosophy running
away from the source of all philosophy, man himself !
Even as reli<(ion sometimes i iins avvriy from the source
of all Telij^ion, (iod Hiinself ; Man is surely Jis n^'ar
to himself, as coi^ni/ahie t{; liimself, as valuahle to
himself, as is the horse, th(! }iippo[)otainus, or the
star. And this is th<j eternal wisdom ; first, know
yourself — easiest known, and lost unhiss known ; and
known in the; most pr(;cious and vital relations;
that is, the relations to Ood, truth, virtue, and right-
eousness, I'hon, around this livinfj centre j^ather all
knowled<(e. in the livin;^ c(!ntre may he li<^ht, know-
ledf^e, ahsolut(! certainty, infallihility ; for this is (iod
in the conscience, an<l the consciousnesv tlu; knowled^'e
of (jfod. llun^. we liave the splendors of the Loj^os,
the eternal Word, the unclouded ray f the indwcdlin^
(jiod. Kor in Him dwclleth all th(! fulness of the Oof;-
h(!ad, hodily ; in Him was life, and the lif(! is tno
li^ht of men. H(! is the brightness of the Father's
^f'ory, and the express ima<fe of His Person; and He
ahid(!th in us, as l)eli(!vers >n Him, and is in us the

221. ]()[)o. of ^lory ; "and we all, with open facc^ beholdiuf^
as in a ^lass tlie jjlory of the Lord, are chanj^ed into
the same image, from glory to glory, evenas hy the
Spirit of the Lord. Now, the Lord is that Spirit."
Can there he such a work going on within us in the
clear light of the Spirit, under the open eye of con-
sciousness, and we know nothing of it? Nay, ver-
176 THE GLTIDING EVE ; OR,
ily, we are sure of these things — we know them.
Hero, pre-eminently, we have certainty ; and, in our
conclusions on these conditions and relations under the
Word, by this same Spirit we have infallibility. What-
everdoubts, mistakes, unrest we have elsewhere, here
we have assurance, absolute certainty, the ([uiet mind ;
for God has so purposed and provided.
" Faith lends its realizing liglit —
The clouds disperse, the shadows fly ;
The invisible appears in siglit,
And God is seen])y mortal eye."

222. Why sing such thoughts, admit such sentiments in
our worship, if they be not true, and if W3 do not be-
lieve thom. But they are true, though we often
forget to believe them, and fail to apprehend them.
Well may we pray, " Cleanse thou the thoughts of our
hearts by the inspiration of Thy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy holy
name."
This supreme and eternal wisdom, the knowledge
of God and ourselves, and of the mutual relations of
God and ourselves, centre and life of all other know-
ledge, is the one aim, the entire tenor and purport of
Holy Scripture. Enough other science it has and
employs, but to teach what we call human science is
by no means its scope or design. To keepGod in our
knowledfje is its ijreat thou<];ht and effort. " Because
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Here is the
ane and tlie rain of the nations and the ages ; and
THE HOLY spirit's GUIDANCE. 177

223. here lost Edens all along our pathway, yea, the original
forfeiture of Eden, seeking the power of knowledge
without the preservative energy of the indwelling
God, the true light, the saving knowledge, the eternal
wisdom ; for it is rending God from His creation, and
divorcing God from Himself to exclude Him from
the living principles on which He made the world,
with which He upholds the world and vitalizes all
things. No wonder they seek a Brahma retired and
shut up in himself, a Jupiter in the clouds of Olympus,
or a deity in a scarecrow of a fetich.
Yet let none say the Bible despises or decries human
science truly so-called ; for what is human science but
the best thought, apprehension and knowledge man
can obtain — not of God, for who, by searching, can find
out God, but of His way of working in the universe.
And herein the difference betwixt science and revela-
tion, and the certainties within their respective spheres.
In science, man searches ; in religion, God reveals. In
science, man searches everywhere midst doubts, and
ignorance and growing knowledge. In religion, God
reveals definitely and conclusively within a very
narrow sphere, gives a bright, central, unmistakable

224. point of light, whose ray is to be diffused through the
entire being. Science the Bible employs, and makes
it the means and channel of revelation. And with the
definition here given, knowledge of God's way of
working, how else shall there be demonstration and
instruction than in God's way of working to suit the
case in hand, whether it be in the stars of heaven, the
strata of earth, the laws of mind, or the requirements
of divine revelation ? Hence no other book touches
human science at so many points directly as the Bible,
as indirectly it must touch it at every point ; for
science, ordinarily so-called, is of man, and the funda-
mental science, the eternal wisdom, is in man as in
God, and must go forth through all his legitimate in-
vestigations and acquisitions.
In the Bible we have the best cosmogony, the most
ancient history, the most trustworthy chronology.
We have the primitive ethnology, the original philo-
logy, and the unquestionable biology. We have gram-
mar, logic and rhetoric, politics, ethics, social economy,
and theology. We have the starting points of botany,
comparative anatomy, astronomy, geology, and all
their various subdivisions. It had been strange if
God had left nothing for man to do. It had been

225. strange if He had shown man all the possible varia-
tions and combinations of flowers, all the miscegena-
tions and types of animals, and all the modifications
and adaptations of minerals, and all the relations of
all these kingdoms one to another, and to the multi-
form forces of nature all about us. Yet, because God
has not shown us everything, we are apt to say He
has shown us nothing. Because God, with a father's
love and a teacher's skill, has given us the exercise
and the triumph of finding out one or two things, we
are apt to claim the honor of knowing all things, and
finding all, and, perhaps, producing all. How easy for
proud, rebellious man to expel God from His own
universe. But God has given us to investigate in
some cases, yea, in infinitely the majority of cases: and
in tlie few cases where we had perished while investi-
gating, He has graciously, certainly, positively made
known that narrow area of truth indispensable continu-
ally to our life. We cannot live without God, with-
out love, truth and righteousness, without knowing
and correcting our relations to God; so these things
are made clearly, indubitably known, and we can wait
for the rest, and are waiting, laboring, and plodding
on. Science is coiled up in nature, and we are ever
winding off the thread. Theology permeates the

226. ethnology of Ezra, the logic of Paul, the philology
and institutes of Moses, and we are all the time open-
ing up the hidden, reviving streams. In the mean-
time it is given us, eventhe most unlearned of us, to
know ourselves, to know God, and to know God our
Father and friend perpetually, constantly, infallibly.