s never yet been found or felt, except as it is smelt, so the
spiritual faculty which the anointing gives is the most subtle there can
be. It makes 'quick of scent in the fear of the Lord:' it teaches us by
a Divine instinct, by which the anointed one recognises what has the
heavenly fragrance in it, and what is of earth. It is the anointing that
makes the Word and the name of Jesus in the Word to be indeed as
ointment poured forth.

The great mark of the anointing is thus, teachableness. It is the great
mark of Christ, the Holy One of God, the Anointed One, that He listens:
'I speak not of myself; as I hear, so I speak.' And so it is of the Holy
Spirit too: 'He shall not speak out of Himself: whatsoever He shall
hear, that shall He speak.' It cannot be otherwise: one anointed with
the anointing of this Christ, with this Holy Spirit, will be teachable,
will listen to be taught. 'The anointing teacheth.' 'And ye need not
that any one teach you: but the anointing teacheth you concerning all
things.' 'They shall be all taught of God,' includes every believer. The
secret of true holiness is a very direct and personal relation to the
Holy One: all the teaching through the word or men made entirely
dependent on and subordinate to the personal teaching of the Holy Ghost.
The teaching comes through the anointing. Not, in the first place, in
the thoughts or feelings, but in that all-pervading fragrance which
comes from the fresh oil having penetrated the whole inner man.

3. '_And the anointing abideth in you._' '_In you._' In the spiritual
life it is of deep importance ever to maintain the harmony between the
objective and the subjective: God in Christ above me, God in the Spirit
within me. In us, not as in a locality, but _in us_, as one with us,
entering into the most secret part of our being, and pervading all,
dwelling in our very body, the anointing abideth _in us_, forming part
of our very selves. And this just in proportion as we know it and yield
ourselves to it, as we wait and are still to let the secret fragrance
permeate our whole being. And this, again, not interruptedly, but as a
continuous and unvarying experience. Above circumstances and feelings,
'the anointing abideth.' Not, indeed, as a fixed state or as something
in our own possession; but, according to the law of the new life, in the
dependence of faith on the Holy One, and in the fellowship of Jesus. 'I
am anointed with fresh oil,'--this is the objective si