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The Fundamentals Such belief contradicts the very grace of God and implies that sonship depends upon the gift of the Spirit and not upon redemption and the remission of sins, and would read, “Because ye have the Spirit ye are sons,” instead of, “And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” I t also follows that such justified ones devoid of the Spirit are not Christ’s nor Christians, for it is plainly written, “But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His;” and also, “No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.” And as to the proof of the presence of the Spirit at such times, whatever emotions or high raptures may attend the discoveries of the love and power of God in the case of some, they are not to be the tests and measures for all. Conversions are not alike in all, neither are the manifestations of the Spirit. He may come like the sun at high noon through rifted clouds or like a slowly deepening dawn; like a shower or like the dew; like a great tide of air or like a gentle breathing; but “all these worketh the one and self-same Spirit.” But more than all, the proof is seen in growth in holiness, in self- denials for Christ’s sake, in the manifold graces and abiding fruit of the Spirit. As in the apostolic day so now the desire exists for the manifestation of the Spirit in marvelous ways; but a life sober, •righteous, holy, lived in the hope of the glory to come, is the more excellent way of the Spirit’s manifestation and undeniable proof of His indwelling. Positively, the requirements or inseparable accompani ments of the manifestation of the indwelling Spirit, whether for holy living or faithful service, must be drawn from the example of the Son of God our Lord Jesus. And they are prayer, obedience, faith, and above all a desire and purpose to glorify Christ. All, indeed, may be summed up in one condition, and that is, to let God have His own will and way with us.
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