George Washington Flowers Memorial Collection DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ESTABLISHED BY THE FAMILY OF COLONEL FLOWERS ON THE Iff if fctsgsif| iif ijtiiif mafiii BY Rector of St. Luke s Church, Salisbury Published at the request of tlie Vestry of St. Barnabas' Church, Greensboro, N. C. 1876. Patriot print Grecnsboto, N. C, t ON THE Rector of SL Ltike' s Church, Salisbury, PublisJied at the request of the Vestry of St. Barnabas' Churchy GreensborOy N. C. Preface, The following discourse is the substance of a sermon which I have preached several times at various places. It contains no reference to the testimony of the Universal Church on this sub- ject, because I wished the argument to rest only on Scripture and reason. Although almost all the matter of this sermon has been drawn from the remarks of various authors, yet I have not quoted any of them, lest by quotations I should distract the mind of my hearers from the subject before them. It is now pubHshed at the solicitation of the Clergy who assisted me in the Eight Day's Mission at Greensboro, and at the request of the Vestry of St. Barnabas' Church, where it was preached on the last day of the mission. F. J. MURDOCH. Salisbury, August 15, 1876. m FLOWERS C0L!.ECTK3r^ THE Acts, Chap. XIX— 2d. Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? When St. Paul came to Ephesus he found there cer- tain persons whom he supposed to be Christians, and the first question he asked them was, Have ye re- ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" He asked this Jirst because it is the most important question that can be put to those who have beheved on the name of Christ. For what advantage have Christians over the fathers who lived before the coming of our Lord ? They had the Law of the Lord which is perfect con- verting the soul. They had part in the attonement, just as we have. But they had not the gift of God, which is the Holy Ghost. This gift was something reserved for our days. Isaiah speaking of the blessings of Christ's kingdom, points out this as the chief, that the Spirit shall be poured on us from on high. — (Is. 32, 15). Another prophet, speaking of the latter days, counts this the chief characteristic of them. I will put My spirit within you." — (Ez. 36, 27.) Another prophet tells how this best gift should be given to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. " It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh." — (Acts 2, 17). Then have ye re- 4 ceived the Holy Ghost? If not, remember that though you Hve in the days of the Gospel Dispensation you are without its greatest blessing. Our Lord Jesus invites us to come to Him and drink Living Water. But if you have not received the Holy Ghost you have not that Water of Life ; " for this He spake of the Spirit which they that believed on Him should receive." — (John. 7, 39). So important is it for us to receive the Holy Ghost that our Lord said, ** It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the comforter will not come to you." Nay, St. Paul says flatly, " Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." — (Rom. 8, 9). Then have ye received the Holy Ghost? Be assured that if St. Paul could come among us to-day, having heard that we profess to be Christians, this is the first question he would ask us, because it is the most important one he could ask. What answer then can we make ? It is a matter in which no uncertainty can be tolerated. Some few of you, perhaps, could answer decidedly yes " or " no," but most would have to admit that they knew not even so much as how this gift of God may be ob- tained. There are indeed some who tJiink that they have received the Holy Ghost because they have prayed for Him, and the Scriptures says, " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your child- ren, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. — (Luke 11, 13). But the mere fact that we have prayed for the Holy Spirit is no sufficient reason to think that we have re- ceived the gift of God. For if God has ordained any 5 means whereby men may receive the Holy Ghost then we must botJi pray and use the appointed means be- fore we have any right* to think that we have obtained the promised blessing. Let me illustrate this by an analagous case. We are told by our Lord "Whatso- ever ye shall ask in My name that w^ill I do that the Father may be glorified in the son. If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do it." — (John 14, 13-14). Now we do ask God for our daily bread, but will prayer obtain it unless we use the appointed means to get it ? If all the farmers in our State had spent the past year in prayer but had not sowed the grain and cultivated the crops, would they not now be in a starving condition ? No one doubts that God can give food to those who only pray and do not use the means of getting it ; but we see that He does not feed those who can nse the meaiis and do not. Thus then it is with regard to obtaining God's best gift If God has appointed any means whereby the Holy Spirit is to be given to men, then we must both pray and use the appointed means, and then, when we have performed all the conditions, we can be stire that we have received the Holy Ghost. But would God appoint any means whereby the Holy Spirit may be given and received ? It is to be expected that He would. For we notice throughout Holy Scripture that God always at first gives his gifts directly and immediately, and afterwards he gives them mediately. For example, at first God himself gave light to the earth, but on the fourth day He began to give us light by mea^is of the sun, moon and 6 stars (Gen. i), and since then the natural h'ght of the world is received from God only by these appointed means. Again, God Himself at first spoke directly to the Isrealites, for at the head of the ten command- ments it is said, " God spake all these things and said." — (Ex. i, i). These commandments God spake to them face to face, with a great voice and He added no more. — (Deut. 5). Afterwards God spoke to them only by means of the Prophets. Christ the Son of God at first Himself preached to men, but after He ** began both to do and to teach," He ascended into Heaven and committed the work unto men, and now He preaches the Gospel only by means of men. So it is to be expected that in the first instance God would give His Holy Spirit directly to men and that after- wards the Spirit would be given only by some ap- pointed means. And, just as we might have expected, so we find God has done. At first on the day of Pente- cost the Holy Spirit came down upon the Church di- rectly from God without the intervention of any means as we see in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. But how is it in the next recorded instance where the Spirit is given to men ? Just as we might have expected, it is by a certain appointed means, that is, by the laying on of the Apostles' hands. The record is in the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. There we are told that Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them, and that by him great miracles were wrought, devils were cast out, and many that were taken with palsies and that were lame were healed. We are told that many that 7 saw and heard, believed and were baptized, both men and women. " Now, when the Apostles, which were at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost." — (Acts 8, 14-17). Here we are to notice that though the Samaritans believed on the Lord, and though it was promised that those who should believe on Him should receive the Spirit (John 7, 39), yet they received Him not tcntil the appointed meo.ns had been used. Again though they were baptized, and in that baptism the Holy Spirit beyond doubt wrought upon them for " By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body," — (I Cor. 12, 13), — yet they received not then the Spirit (for as yet He was fal- len upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Notice that the Apostles prayed for them that they might receive the Spirit and doubtless these Samaritans prayed for themselves — but as yet He fell upon none of them — not even one. ''Then laid they their hands on thqm and they received the Holy Ghost" The Holy Ghost was given to them by ce^'tain means, and that means was the laying on of the Apostles' hands — for in the same narrative it is recorded ''that through the laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given." Then just as we might have expected in the first instance 8 God gave the Holy Spirit directly and without the intervention of any means, but the next time only after certain appointed means had been used. But why do we say that the laying on of hands had been appointed as a means ? Because what was done by the Apostles in this matter, and what the Holy Ghost records in Holy Scripture as done by them, and what God sanctioned by visible marks of His own favor and approval wa^ not done of their own mind but by the will of God. The Scriptures told them too that the gifts of the Spirit had once before been imparted by this very means of the laying on of hands, for it is written, ''And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him." — (Deut. 34, 9). In the next instance too, the Holy Ghost was given by the laying on of hands. Saul was converted by a vision from heaven, but just as neither his faith nor his penitence, nor both, could take away his sins until he washed them away by the appointed means of baptism — (Acts 22, 1 6) — even so he could not obtain the gift of the Spirit, except by the appointed means of the laying on of hands, for it is written, "And Annanias* * The New Testament never records that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of hands of any others except Apostles. And in the 8th chap- ter of the Acts it is expressly said that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the Afostles hands, to show that none but Apostles could im- part that gitt. But Annanias, who was sent by the Lord Jesus to impart the gift of the Spirit to Saul, and who worked a miracle in proof of his mission, was vested by the Lord Himself, either with temporary or per- manent Apostolical authority. There is no reason to think then that the Holy Spirit was ever imparted by the laying on of hands of one who was not an Apostle. It is for this reason that no one need expect the gift of the Spirit except by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles. And those who are Bishops, having the Apostolical succession, are not bishops in the Scriptural sense of the word, but are Apostles. There are some who think that the order of Apostles has ceased. But Eph. 4. 11-13 teaches us that the order of Apostles is to be continued until we all come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 9 went his way, and entering into the house put his hands on him and said, Brother Saul the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghosts — (Acts 9, ■7). These all are instances where Jews received the Holy Spirit. In the first case directly from God, in the others by the use of the appointed means. Now since the Gentiles were to be received into the church as well as the Jews, and since it was God's will that there should be no difference between them, it was to be expected that in the first instance the Holy Spirit would fall directly from God upon the Gentiles, but afterwards that He would be given by the appointed means — i. e., the laying on of hands. And so it was. The first instance we have of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit is that of Cornelius and his household. St. Peter having come to them preached the Gospel to them, "And while Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." But after this first instance the Holy Spirit is ever giv- en by the laying on of hands. At Ephesus, as we read in the 19th chapter of the Acts, it was when St. Paul laid his hands on the Gentiles that they received the Holy Ghost. But again notice that St. Peter makes his defence before them of the circumcision for eating with uncircumcised men, — Cornelius and his family — he says, " The Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning." — (Acts 11, 15), This means of course that the Gentles received the Holy Ghost 10 juat as the Jews did on the day of Pentecost, directly from God. But why does St. Peter not say He fell on them as He does always fall on us ? Why does he say as on us at the beginning ? Because after the day of Pentecost He fell on the Jews in another way, that is, by the laying on of hands, and never more as in the beginning. But again we have an epistle writ- ten to the whole Hebrew Church, and in it they are told to go on to perfection, " not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptism, and of the laying on of ha7ids, of the resurection of the dead and eternal judgment." Now when you tell me not to do a certain thing again, you imply that I have done it once already. So when the Apostle tells the Hebrew Church not to lay again the foundation of the laying on of hands it implies that they had all laid that foun- dation already. Therefore the ivhole Hebrezv Church had received the laying on of hands. Confirmation, as we call it, doubtless that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for He now no longer falls on them as at the beginning. To sum up then this part of my sermon ; Unless we receive the Holy Ghost we are without the greatest blessing offered us by Christ, and are none of His. The Holy Ghost is to be received by prayer and the use of the appointed means. The appointed means is the laying on of the Apostle's hands. It was to be expected that in the first instance the Church would receive the Holy Ghost directly from God. So did both the Jewish and Gentile first fruits. It was to be 1 1 expected that all afterwards would receive the Spirit by certam means. So they did by the laying on of Jiands. The Samaritans did (Acts 8) ; Saul did. (Acts 9) ; the converted Jews generally did (Acts 1 1, now no longer directly as at the beginning) ; they at Ephesus did (Acts 19); the whole Hebrew Church did (Heb. 6); And there is no other means revealed in Scripture whereby we may receive the Holy Ghost, who is now given no longer, as in the beginng, directly from God. Confirmation then, that is, the laying on of hands, is to be received by all. For we put our souls in peril if we neglect it, seeing that it is the only appointed means whereby the ful- ness of the Holy Ghost is given. But there are other reasons whereby we may see the great importance of this ordinance. In the Epis- tle to the Hebrews the Apostle says, " Leaving there- fore the principle^of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of the laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." Now these six things, repentance, faith, baptism, the laying on of hands, the resurrection, and eternal judgment, are called ; i. The first principles of the oracles of God — (Heb. 5, 12); 2. The principles of the doctrine of Christ, and, 3. Foundations. Now an oracle of God is that which proceeds out of God's mouth, and, therefore, these six are just as much or- acles of God — revelations of His will — as the ten Commandments. Confirmation, then, is not a Jutnian 12 invention, but a divine institutioji. But, as no man can understand any science until he has mastered the first principles, so no man can understand the oracles of God until he has mastered their first principles. But lest any man should say that these are the first principles of the old oracles of God, and are super- fluous nozv, we are told secondly, that they are the priyiciples of the doctri^ie of Christ. Now, the princi- ples must last as long as the system which depends on them lasts. If you could overthrow the principles on which Geometry rests that science would be gone. Change one of the principles of our law, as, for example, abolish trial by jury, and the whole system of law is changed. Change 07te of the principles of our gov- ernment and give us an Emperor instead of a President and our whole system of government is changed. So if you abolish one of the prijiciples of the doctrine of Christ — that is, of the Christian religion — you change the religion itself So long, then, as the religion of Christ lasts men must hold to these principles ; they must believe, must repent, must be baptized, must be confirmed, must believe in the resurection of Christ and in eternal judgment. But again, thirdly, they are called foundations, and they are the foundations on which personal religion rests. But a man may say, May I not lay five of these foundations and leave out the other ? Suppose a man lays the other five and leaves out the one foundation of repentance, then he perishes, for it is said, " Except ye repent ye must all likewise perish." — (Luke 13). Suppose a man lays the other five and leaves out faith, thejt he perishes, for 13 it is written, He that believeth not shall be damned." — (Mark i6). Suppose he lays the other five and leaves out the one foundation of baptism then he perishes, for it is said, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." — (John 3). Suppose he lays the five other foundations and leaves out the belief in the resurrection of the dead, then he pe^'ishes, for it is written, "And their word will eat as doth a canker : of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus ; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection of the dead is past already ; and overthrow the faith of some T — (2nd Tim. 2, 17-18). And because Hymeneus had thus made ship-wreck of faith St. Paul delivered him over to Satan. — (istTim. I, 20). Suppose a man lays the other five foundations and does not believe in an eternal judgment, then he perishes, because it is written that when one's faith in this article grows weak then his feet are almost gone and his steps have well nigh slipped, (Ps. 73) and a part of that faith, without which no man can please God, nor come to Him, is the belief in a judgment--- i. e., that God is a " Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."---(Heb. 11). If a man then leaves out any one of these five foundations he perishes. What then is the peril of the man who leaves out the foun- dation of the laying on of hands ? He who wilfully leaves this out, without doubt, is putting his soul in infinite peril. For who is it that calls them all foun- dations ? Who is it that has put them all on a level 14 as the principles of the doctrine of Chist ? Is it man or God? In conclusion, then because Confirmation is the only appointed means whereby we may receive the Holy Ghost, because it is one of the principles of the oracles of God, because it is one of the principles of the doc- trine of Christ, because it is one of the foundations on which personal religion is to rest, it is something that can be neglected only at the peril of the soul, and therefore ye may perceive the great necessity of this ordinance where it may be had. NOTE. — It has been pretended by some that the Apostles at Samaria and St. Paul, at Ephesus, laid hands on the converts ; first, to ordain diem, or, second, to convey to them the power of working miracles. But who can believe that St. Peter and St. John ordained both 7nen and women (for such were the converts at Samaria) ? And who can believe that St. Paul, who re- quires for the very lowest officer of the Church — the deacon — that his faith and hohness must first be proved, coxAdi presently ordain men that were so ig- norant that they did not know there is a Holy Ghost. And since it is said expressly in both cases that they received the Holy Ghost, who shall dare to say that they did not receive the Holy Ghost Himself, but only some of His gifts, such as the gift of tongues, the gift of healing and the like? More- over the passage in Hebrews declares the laying on of hands to be a prin- ciple of the doctrine of Christ, and as necessary for every man and woman as faith, repentance, baptism, and the others, but who shall say that ordi- nation or the power of miracles is necessary for every one ? And if these persons at Samaria and Ephesus were not confirmed, but only ordained, or provided with the gifts of the Spirit, then they were taught by the Apostles to leave out one of the principles of the doctrine of Christ ; but who can believe this ? Scripture is very plain — they were confirmed that they might receive the Holy Ghost Himself 2ind. then " They received the Holy Ghost." % 204 Z99M v.l 372436 Nos,l-16 N.C. Fleligion.s P-a7iphle4;s— CALL NUMBER VoL Date (for periodical) \ i Copy No. I" N.C, 204 Z99M v.l 37243 ""OS. 1-lS