e has laid down; but
they know comparatively little of the inner life, or of their oneness
with Christ in resurrection and ascension; they understand little of
what the apostle meant by speaking of Christ being formed in the soul;
and like the disciples at Ephesus they know but little of the mission
and in-filling of the Holy Spirit.

_The dispensation of the Holy Spirit_ includes those who have claimed
their share in Pentecost. In their hearts the Paraclete dwells in
sanctifying grace, on their heads He rests in mighty anointing. The
previous class resemble Ruth the gleaner; the latter, Ruth the bride.
The one dwells in Romans vii. and Hebrews iii.; the other in Romans
viii. and Hebrews iv. For those the water has to be drawn from the
well, in these it springs up to everlasting life. Oh to know the
"in-ness" of the Holy Ghost. Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you
by the Spirit, unless ye be reprobate!

III. THE SYMPTOMS OF THE INDWELLING.--We must distinguish here, as Dr.
Steele suggests, between what is variable, and what is constant.

_These vary_--(1) The joy of realization, which is sometimes
overpowering in its intensity, at other times like the ebbing tide.

(2) Agony for souls, which would be insupportable if it were permanent.
Christ only asks us to watch in Gethsemane for one hour.

(3) Access in prayer. Sometimes the vision is face to face; at others,
though we grasp as in Jacob's night-wrestle, we cannot behold. Like
Esther, we seem to wait in the ante-chamber. As the lark of which
Jeremy Taylor speaks, we rise against the east wind.

(4) The openings of Scripture. The Bible does not seem to be always
equally interesting. At times it is like the scented letter paper,
smelling of aloes and cassia, bearing the handwriting we love; at
others it resembles the reading book of the blind man, the characters
in which, by constant use, have become almost obliterated, so as hardly
to awake answering thought.

(5) The pressure of temptation. We sometimes think that we are getting
out of the zone of temptation. The pressure is so reduced that we
think we shall never suffer again as we have done. Then, all suddenly,
it bursts upon us, as the fury of the storm, when, after an hour's
cessation, it takes the mariner unawares.

All these symptoms are too variable to be relied upon for a diagnosis
of our spiritual condition, or an evidence of the dispensation to which
we belong.

_These are consta