This is faith's triumph over the worst the world can offer through the blessed fullness of the indwelling Comforter. Bless His Name! "Here speaks the Comforter, Light of the straying, Hope of the penitent, Advocate sure, Joy of the desolate, tenderly saying, 'Earth has no sorrow My grace cannot cure.'" "HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?" XXI. THE OVERFLOWING BLESSING. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." THE children of Israel were instructed by Moses to give tithes of all they had to the Lord, and in return God promised to richly bless them, making their fields and vineyards fruitful and causing their flocks and herds to safely multiply. But they became covetous and unbelieving, and began to rob God by withholding their tithes, and then God began to withhold His blessing from them. But still God loved and pitied them, and sent to them again and again by His prophets; and finally by the prophet Malachi He said: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi iii. 10). He promised to make their barns overflow, if they would be faithful, if they would pay their tithes and discharge their obligations to Him. Now, this overflow of barns and granaries is a type of overflowing hearts and lives when we give ourselves fully to God, and the blessed Holy Ghost comes in, and Jesus becomes all and in all to us. The blessing is too big to contain, but just bursts out and overflows through the life, the looks, the conversation, the very tones of the voice, and gladdens and refreshes and purifies wherever it goes. Jesus calls it "rivers of living water" (John vii. 38). There is an overflow of _love_. Sin brings in an overflow of hate, so that the world is filled with wars and murders, slanders, oppression, and selfishness. But this blessing causes love to overflow. Schools, colleges, and hospitals are built; shelters, rescue homes, and orphanages are opened; even war itself is in some measure humanised by the Red Cross Society and Christian commissions. Sinners love their own, but this blessing makes us to love all men--strangers, the heathen, and even our enemies. There is an overflow of _peace_. It settles old quarrels and grudges. It makes a different atmosphere in the home. The children know it when father and mother get the Comforter. Kindly words and sweet goodwill take the place of bitterness and strife. I suspect that even the dumb beasts realise the overflow.