d when the test came he found it involved the sacrifice
of one who was all the world to him--his daughter, and she was his only
child. Jephthah rent his clothes, and almost broke his heart; and, no
doubt, everybody expected him to set aside his vow; but, no, he stood
to it, declaring, 'I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot
go back'. There are some, thank God, who equally stand to their
covenants with Him; but, alas! that so many open their mouths, and sing
and say words of consecration, but when the temptation comes they do
not stand to their vows.

Of all the people who hinder the cause of Jesus Christ, I think the
most lamentable cases are those who go back upon their Lord. Having
spoken, they do not fulfil their word; having vowed, they do not
perform their vows. They lack that decision which can be expressed in
the words, 'I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of His
people', and I want to urge all such to join with those of us who,
bowing before the Divine altar, renew our covenant, resolving by His
grace to bind ourselves in perpetual devotion and service.

_Take my poor heart, and let it be
For ever closed to all but Thee;
Seal Thou my breast, and I shall wear
The pledge of love for ever there._

XIII

The Baptism of the Spirit

'_And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind.... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost._' (Acts ii.
2, 4.)

The Holy Ghost is the active force in all spiritual life. It is,
therefore, important that we should realize the close connexion between
the experience of Holiness and that 'Promise of the Father' for which
the early disciples were to wait. All followers of Jesus should
realize, as truly as the disciples did on that historic day, that their
day of Pentecost has fully come, and each of us should be able to say,
'Not only was the Holy Ghost outpoured upon the waiting host in that
Jewish centre, but Pentecost has come to my heart. The Spirit of the
living God has come to me.'

Now, whatever manifestations of the Holy Ghost there might have been in
Old Testament times--and without question there were some wonderful
displays--the age in which we live is the dispensation of the Holy
Ghost for us. Our Lord said that He should come to convince the world
of sin, and to produce many other mighty effects.

To my mind, that Pentecostal event was like the launching of God's
great campaign for the