This comes home very close to some of you, for, alas! it is just there
that your power fails. You must ask yourselves what are the hindrances,
if any, in your hearts and lives? Some of you are weak, wavering,
wobbling, and uncertain. If you look closely you will find the secret
of that in your want of surrender and faith. Do not make a mistake; the
inward experience is closely related to the outward service. God's plan
is first to do the cleansing, and then the filling; first the inward
spring, and then the outward flowing river.

One other important thing. If you have not got the Holy Spirit abiding
within you, _no substitute will meet the need_. Many try to make other
things produce the same effects--religious talking, singing, energetic
service, or the memories of spiritual experiences. These are all very
good, but of themselves they will no more meet the necessities of your
hearts and lives than a picture of a fire will warm the man who spreads
out his hands before it. You must have the real thing--the power of the
Holy Ghost.

Now, the Lord is around and among us, saying, 'Receive ye the Holy
Ghost'; and whether you are an enslaved sinner, or a backslider in
heart; or whether it is the assurance of Salvation, cleansing from sin,
or power for service, which you lack, the Holy Ghost will meet your
particular need. Let God work His will in you, and in Jesus Christ's
name I say, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost'.

_'Tis fire we want, for fire we plead,
Send the fire!
The fire will meet our every need,
Send the fire!
For strength to ever do the right,
For grace to conquer in the fight,
For power to walk the world in white,
Send the fire!_

_To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire!
To live a dying world to save,
Send the fire!
Oh, see us on Thy altar lay
Our lives, our all, this very day--
To crown the offering now we pray,
Send the fire!_

XIV

Lost Earnings

'_He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with
holes._' (Haggai i. 6.)

In our Holiness Meetings we often speak of Full Salvation as a blessing
to be obtained, and also a blessing to be retained; but I want now to
turn the truth the other way round, and speak about 'losing the
blessing'. These words of Haggai about the man who lost his earnings
through a f