oth of Christians in the present day and of the early church, as
recorded by inspiration, that in addition to the gift of the Spirit
received at conversion, there is another blessing corresponding in its
signs and effects to the blessing received by the apostles at
Pentecost--a blessing to be asked for and expected by Christians still,
and to be described in language similar to that employed {86} in the
book of the Acts. Whatever that blessing may be, it is in immediate
connection with the Holy Ghost; and one of the terms by which we may
designate it is 'to be filled with the Spirit.' As with the early
Christians so with us now, the filling comes when there is special need
for it. . . And there is an occasion when that blessing comes to a man
for the first time. That first time is a spiritual crisis from which
his future spiritual life must be dated. There may be a question as to
what it is to be called, or at least by what name in Scripture we are
authorized to call it. . . Whether consciously or not, it is to the
fact of the Holy Spirit's coming in new power to the soul that all new
life is due; and the more that this is consciously understood the more
is the Holy Ghost in his due place in our hearts. It is only when he
is consciously accepted in all his power that we can be said to be
either 'baptized' or 'filled' with the Holy Ghost. I should like to
add that it is possible to maintain that God from the first offered to
his own people a higher position in this matter than they have
generally been able to occupy, in that the fullness of the Spirit was
and is offered to each soul at conversion; and that it is only from
want of faith that subsequent outpourings of the Holy Ghost become
needful."[8]

{87}

That the filling of the Spirit belongs to us as a covenant privilege
seems to be clear from the exhortation in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
which is confessedly of universal application: "Be not drunken with
wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18).
The passive verb employed here is suggestive. The surrendered will,
the yielded body, the emptied heart, are the great requisites to his
incoming. And when he has come and filled the believer, the result is
a kind of passive activity, as of one wrought upon and controlled
rather than of one directing his own efforts. Under the influence of
strong drink there is an outpouring of all that the evil spirit
inspires--frivolity, profanit