the Spirit_.
As a person of {209} the God-head, he is here in his entirety; but as
to his ministry, we have as yet but a part or earnest of his full
blessing. To make this statement plain, let us observe that the work
of the Holy Spirit, during this entire dispensation, is elective. He
gathers from Jew and Gentile the body of Christ, the _ecclesia_, the
called-out. This is his peculiar work in this gospel age. In a word,
the present is the age of election, and not of universal ingathering.

But is this all we have to hope for? Let the word of God answer.
Paul, in considering the hope of Israel, says that there is at this
present time "_a remnant according to the election of grace_"; and a
little farther on he declares that in connection with the coming of the
Deliverer "_all Israel shall be saved_" (Rom. 11: 5, 26). Here is an
elective out-gathering, and then a universal in-gathering; or, as the
apostle sums it up in this same chapter: "_If the first-fruits be holy,
so also the lump_." On the other hand, James, speaking by the Holy
Ghost concerning the Gentiles, says first that "God did visit the
Gentiles _to take out of them a people for his name_," and "after this
will I return," etc., "that the residue of men might seek after the
Lord, and _all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the
Lord_" (Acts 15: 14, 17). Here, again, is first an elective
out-gathering and then a total in-gathering.

{210}

Now, by looking at other scriptures, it seems clear that the Holy
Spirit is the divine agent in both these redemptions, the partial and
the total. If we refer to Joel's great prophecy: "_I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh_," and then to Peter's reference to the same, as
recorded in the Acts, we are led to ask, Was this prediction completely
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost? Clearly not. Peter, with inspired
accuracy, says: "_This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel_,"
without affirming that herein the prophecy of Joel was entirely
fulfilled. Turning back to the prediction itself, we find that it
includes within its sweep "the great and the terrible day of the Lord,"
and the "bringing again of the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" (Joel
2: 31; 3: 1), events which are clearly yet future. If again we examine
the vivid prophecy of Israel's conversion, we observe that their
looking upon him whom they pierced, and mourning for him, follows the
prediction: "And I will pour upon the house o