There are other aspects of consecration in the Divine Word which have not been touched upon, but enough has been said for our purpose to show what it is, and what its blessed results will be. Our life and service will be enriched beyond telling by enthroning Christ. This, of course, involves the breaking of all our idols, for He will not share His throne with any. When Mahmoud, the conqueror of India, had taken the city of Gujarat he proceeded, as was his custom, to destroy the idols. There was one, fifteen feet high, which its priests and devotees begged him to spare. He was deaf to their entreaties, and seizing a hammer he struck it one blow when, to his amazement, from the shattered image there rained down at his feet a shower of gems, pearls and diamonds--treasure of fabulous value, which had been hidden within it! Had he spared the idol he would have lost all this wealth. Let us not spare _our_ idols. It is to our interest to demolish them. If we shatter them there will rain about our hearts the very treasures of Heaven, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; but if we spare our idol we will miss riches unsearchable. The consecrated life is a Christ-centered life, the only truly-centered life; every other life is eccentric: yet how often do we hear worldly people or worldly-minded Christians (what a contradiction in terms!) criticising some devoted Spirit-filled man or woman as "so eccentric," simply because of their loyalty to Christ their King! when all the while it is the critics that are "eccentric,"--off the true center. Indeed, so eccentric did the first Spirit-filled band appear, that "others mocking said, they are filled with new wine;" _so they were_ "full of new wine," the "new wine" of the kingdom. And in God's sight these drunken, eccentric men were the only truly-centered spiritually-adjusted men in the throng. CHAPTER XIII. _CLAIMING._ Having considered the two conditions necessary to being filled with the Spirit, viz., the cleansing of the heart, and the consecration of the cleansed heart to God, we come now to the very practical question--How is this Fullness to be obtained by the cleansed and consecrated believer? Before proceeding to consider the answer, "Claim it," let us notice what the Divine Word has to say about (1) prayer and (2) laying on of hands in connection with the obtaining. _1. Prayer._ "How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke xi. 13.) This promise is given to God's children. It is the dearest wish of the great Father-heart of God that His children should be filled with His Spirit. Who has a fathoming line long enough to sound the depths of that "how much more"? You "ask;" Father "gives." What is the next step? Why, of course, you "receive!" else all Father's "giving" will be of no avail. "When they had prayed ... they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts iv. 31).