tions of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there will be some
i88 The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
is no function in the church of Jesus Christ to-day more holy and sacred than that of sanctified mother-
hood, she will say3 "The evangelist may need this
baptism, my minister may need this baptism 5 but I
must have it to bring up my children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord."
2. While there are diversities oflifts and manifesta-
tions of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there will be some
gift to every one thus baptized. We read in I Cor
xii. 7, R. V., " But to each one is given the manifesta-
tion of the Spirit to profit withal." Every most in-
significant member of the body of Christ has some
function to perform in that body. The body grows
by that u which every joint supplieth
(Eph. iv. 16), and to each least significant joint, the Holy Spirit im-
parts power to perform the function that belongs to
him.
3. // is the Holy Spirit who decides how the baptism with the Spirit shall manifest itself in any given case. As we read in I Cor. xii. n, " But all these worketh the
one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to each one
severally, even as He will" The Holy Spirit is ab-
solutely sovereign in deciding how, that is, in what
special gift, operation, or power, the baptism with the
Holy Spirit shall manifest itself. It is not for us to
pick out some field of service and then ask the Holy
Spirit to qualify us for that service. It is not for us to
select some gift and then ask the Holy Spirit to impart
to us this self-chosen gift, (ft is for us to simply put ourselves entirely at the disposal of the Holy Spirit to
send us where He will, to select for us what kind of
The Baptism With the Holy Spirit 189
service He will and to Impart to us what gift He will* He is absolute sovereign and our position is that of
unconditional surrender to Him, I am glad that this
is so. I rejoice that He, in His infinite wisdom and
love, is to select the field of service and the gifts, and
that this is not to be left to me in my short-sightedness and folly. It is because of the failure to recognize this
absolute sovereignty of the Spirit that many fail of the
blessing and meet with disappointment. They are
trying to select their own gift and so get none. I once knew an earnest child of God in Scotland, who hear-
ing of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the power
that resulted from it, gave up at a great sacrifice his work as a ship plater, for which he was receiving large
wages. He heard that there was a great need of min-
isters in the northwest in America. He came to the
northwest. He met the conditions of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit and I believe was really baptized with
the Holy Spirit, but God had not chosen him for the work of an evangelist, and the power as an evangelist
did not come to him. No field seemed to open, and he
was in great despondency. He even questioned his
acceptance before God. One morning he came into
our church in Minneapolis and heard me speak upon the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and as I pointed out
that the baptism with the Holy Spirit manifested itself
in many different ways, and the fact that one had not
power as an evangelist was no proof that he had not
received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, light came
Into his heart. He put himself unreservedly into God's
hands for Him to choose the field of labour and the