The Person and Work of The Holy SpiritTorrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Religion
The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit
Torrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Holy Spirit
“what the church to which you belong teaches, or what the church to which
I belong teaches. The only question with me is, What does the Word of God
teach?” “That is right,” he said. I then handed him my Bible and asked him
to read Acts ii. 39, and he read, “For the promise is unto you, and unto
your children and to all them that are afar off even as many as the Lord
our God shall call unto Him” (R. V.). “Has He called you?” I asked. “Yes,
He certainly has.” “Is the promise for you then?” “Yes, it is.” He took it
and the result was a transformed ministry. Some years ago at a students’
conference, the gatherings were presided over by a prominent Episcopalian
minister, a man greatly honoured and loved. I spoke at this conference on
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and dwelt upon the significance of Acts
ii. 39. That night as we sat together after the meetings were over, this
servant of God said to me, “Brother Torrey, I was greatly interested in
what you had to say to-day on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. If your
interpretation of Acts ii. 39 is correct, you have your case, but I doubt
your interpretation of Acts ii. 39. Let us talk it over.” We did talk it
over. Several years later, in July, 1894, I was at the students’
conference at Northfield. As I entered the back door of Stone Hall that
day, this Episcopalian minister entered the front door. Seeing me he
hurried across the hall and held out his hand and said, “You were right
about Acts ii. 39 at Knoxville, and I believe I have a right to tell you
something better yet, that I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.” I
am glad that I was right about Acts ii. 39, not that it is of any
importance that I should be right, but the truth thus established is of
immeasurable importance. Is it not glorious to be able to go literally
around the world and face audiences of believers all over the United
States, in the Sandwich Islands, in Australia and Tasmania and New
Zealand, in China and Japan and India, in England and Scotland, Ireland,
Germany, France and Switzerland and to be able to tell them, and to know
that you have God’s sure Word under your feet when you do tell them, “You
may all be baptized with the Holy Spirit”? But that unspeakably joyous and
glorious thought has its solemn side. If we may be baptized with the Holy
Spirit then we _must_ be. If we are baptized with the Holy Spirit then
souls will be saved through our instrumentality who will not be saved if
we are not thus baptized. If then we are not willing to pay the price of
this baptism and therefore are not thus baptized we shall be responsible
before God for every soul that might have been saved who was not saved
because we did not pay the price and therefore did not obtain the
blessing. I often tremble for myself and for my brethren in the ministry,
and not only for my brethren in the ministry but for my brethren in all
forms of Christian work, even the most humble and obscure. Why? Because we
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