ied and had gone back to the Father, He
came as the other Comforter, the One who takes the place of the absent
Christ. He is come to earth to accomplish God's purpose in this
present age. Nowhere do we read in the New Testament that the purpose
of the coming of the Holy Spirit is to convert the world, and establish
universal righteousness and peace. These blessings are not promised
for the age in which we live. The great purpose for which the Spirit
of God came in the beginning of our age is for the out-taking of the
Church, the Body of Christ. He is gathering together Jews and Gentiles
who believe on Christ and puts them into this Body. On the Day of
Pentecost this Body began; then all the gathered believers were
baptised by the One Spirit into one Body. This work continues
throughout this age. Then He Himself bestows the gifts which are
needed for the upbuilding of that Body. In the beginning of this age
He unfolded His special energy in sign gifts, confirming by these the
truth of Christianity. These special gifts and signs were only
confined to the beginning of the age. Nowhere is it stated that they
were to continue to the end, for this age is an age of faith and not of
sight.

+Third+, during this age there is preached a special message which was
unknown in former ages. This message is the Gospel of Grace. It is
true that before Christ died an innumerable company of people were
saved, and salvation of course was always by grace. They believed God,
confessed themselves sinners, trusted in the promise, and then they
were saved. But the Gospel message as it began to be preached after
Christ died and the Holy Spirit came to earth, was not known in Old
Testament times. That Gospel not only offers remission of sins, but
tells the believing sinner that he becomes in Christ a Son of God and a
joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ; that eternal life is his present
possession and that he is one spirit with the Lord, for the Holy Spirit
makes His abode in him. This then is the great message which was
preached with the beginning of this age, and which is to be preached to
its very end. It is the only power of God unto salvation, and anything
else is a miserable, good-for-nothing substitute and counterfeit, which
not alone cannot please God, but upon which the curse of God rests; for
anything short of the Gospel of Christ is an insult to God and a denial
of His righteousness and love. And this Gospel is to b