shall see the Lord!  All ashore who are going ashore!  All ashore who are going ashore!” Immediately “there is no small stir.”  Some leave the boat by way of the gang-plank carping at the words of the officer and arguing as they go; some in great haste vault the balustrades and railings and leap for the pier; still others climb out the windows of staterooms and run screaming toward the nearest ladder which will enable them to leave the “good ship Zion.”  Gradually quiet is restored.  The company is smaller, and of whom is it composed?  The genuinely converted.  What are they doing?  They are asking the nearest officer how soon the boat leaves for New England.  “When can I be sanctified wholly?  O, pray for me!  I want the blessing now!” They are “going through.”

CHAPTER IV.

Christ’s prayer answered.

GOD LISTENS.

When Christ opens His mouth, God bows down His ear.  “I know that thou hearest me always.”  The disciples did not wait long until they were baptized with the Holy Ghost.  Christ’s prayer found audience and the answer was not long delayed.

Heart cleansing.

The baptism with the Spirit which was administered to the one hundred and twenty effected their sanctification.  The cleansing of their hearts was one of the effects of the out-pouring of the Spirit.  Sanctification and the baptism with the Spirit are therefore coetaneous—­they take place at the same time.

 Peter’s proof.

This is proven by an inspired statement made by Peter.  Referring to the Gentiles he says that God “put no difference between them” and us Jews who were sanctified at Pentecost, “purifying their hearts by faith.”

 The manner of cleansing.

There need be no confusion as to the manner of cleansing.  Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth.”  It is by means of the truth preached of and read, that we first hear of a full deliverance from all sin.  It is “through the truth” that we learn of God’s willingness as well as His power to sanctify.  If it had not been for the blood, Jesus could never have guaranteed the coming of the Comforter; the blood is “the procuring cause” of all the blessings which we receive.  Everything comes through the atonement.  Faith is the human condition necessary for the cleansing of the soul; so that, in a very important sense, we are sanctified by faith.  The divine omnipotent holy ghost is the immediate agency of heart-cleansing.  He is the baptizing element administered by Christ the Divine Baptizer:  “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”

Fire!

It would be well for us to notice some of the characteristics of the Pentecostal anointing.  John the Baptist, minister of the gospel and preacher of genuine regeneration, said of Jesus that “he should baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire,” thus using a most powerful symbol to characterize the nature of the work of the Holy Ghost.  Everyone is familiar with the action of fire; it burns everything combustible with which it comes in contact.