of sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation,
for being "filled with the Holy Ghost." Conviction of our need is one,
conviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have
been already dealt with. "Cleansing" is another; before one can be
filled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be "cleansed." "Giving them
the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and He made no distinction
between us and them, _cleansing_ their hearts by faith" (Acts xv. 8, 9).
God first cleansed their hearts, and then He gave them the Holy Ghost.
How can we be filled with the Holy Ghost if we are filled with something
else? The heart must _first_ be emptied and cleansed. The milkman has
called on his morning round, and the housewife hears his call. There is a
jug standing beside her on the table; it is her own, for she purchased it
only last week. She picks it up, and looks into it to see if it is clean;
she finds it is not. Now she would never think of taking that dirty jug
for the milk; but she empties it and rinses and cleanses it, and then,
having wiped it dry to her satisfaction, she takes it out for the morning
allowance. Indeed, if she brought it out dirty to the milkman, he would
positively refuse to put his sweet new milk into it. So a heart may
belong to God, that is, it may be the heart of a Christian man, and yet
not a "clean" heart, but until it is cleansed God will refuse to put
into it the precious deposit of the "water of life clear as crystal."

_A "New Heart" not necessarily a "Clean Heart."_

But some one objects, "I thought that when one became a Christian, and
was made a partaker of the Divine nature, he had a clean heart?" Not
necessarily. Many, many a one is born again, is pardoned and justified,
and yet has not a "clean heart." "Forgiveness" is one thing, "Cleansing"
is another, and one may possess the former without possessing the latter.
For instance, take the case of David in Ps. li. He was one of God's
people, a restored backslider, when he wrote that Psalm. "The Lord also
hath put away thy sin" (2 Sam. xii. 13), said Nathan to him. But
forgiveness, great and sweet as that gift was, was not enough for
Israel's now so deeply-taught and penitent King. "Create in me a _clean_
heart" (Ps. li. 10), he cries. This is something over and above being
"born again," over and above and beyond and deeper even than "forgiveness"
(compare Ps. li. 2 and Jer. xxxiii. 8). See also the New Testame