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Have Ye Received the Holy Ghost?

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Sep 26, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 39.

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"Have Ye Received the Holy Ghost?"

By Geo. E. Hollister

GEO. E. HOLLISTER
"He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Acts 19:2. This is a question for us to-day as truly as it was for the believers in the days of the apostles. We should be studying this all-important theme with the greatest earnestness and the deepest interest. Let us read that question again, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" That question was indited by the Holy Spirit, and to-day it is put to us through the same divine agency:—
"In my dream last night a sentinel stood at the door of an important building, and said to every one that came for entrance, 'Have you received the Holy Ghost?' A measuring line was in his hand, and only few, very few, were admitted into the building. Suppose, brethren, that it had been the question at the door as we came in, what would we have said?"—General Conference Bulletin, 1909.
What do you suppose was the purpose of that "measuring line"? Perhaps it was to measure the character of each applicant, and thus to ascertain whether or not he had received the Holy Ghost; for that was the passport, or qualification, for entrance into that building. Well, then, what must be that measuring line, or standard, by which we are tested? The inspired writers reply, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:14. "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Rom. 2:16. "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Dan. 5:27), God said to Belshazzar.
"Few, very few, were admitted into the building." May God in his infinite mercy spare us a little longer, and help us to be willing to receive that priceless gift. "That wondrous gift abused, forever turns away." "It is not so much a question of receiving the Holy Spirit [in the great outpouring] as in yielding to the Holy Spirit already given." We may ask, When, where, and how has the Spirit been given? Nehemiah says: "Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them," and "yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by the Spirit in thy prophets." Neh. 9:20, 30. Thus we see, beloved, that the question is easy to answer. Jesus says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. If we have been receiving those words, we can answer in the affirmative.
"Those who follow in the light need have no anxiety lest that in the outpouring of the latter rain they will not be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If we would receive the light of the glorious angel that shall lighten the earth with his glory, let us see to it that our hearts are cleansed, emptied of self, and turned toward heaven, that they may be ready for the latter rain."—Mrs. E. G. White, in Signs of the Times, Aug. 11, 1892.