bestow His trouble upon them in taking away this temper, or that other sin,
though in their hearts they have not yielded themselves utterly to His
command and His keeping. It can not be. But if you will come and give your
whole life into His charge, Christ Jesus is mighty to save; Christ Jesus
waits to be gracious; Christ Jesus waits to fill you with His Spirit.

Will you not take the step? God grant that we may be led by His Spirit to
a yielding up of ourselves to Him as never before. Will you not come in
humble confession that, alas! the carnal life has predominated too much,
has altogether marked you, and that you have a bitter consciousness that
with all the blessing God has bestowed, He has not made you what you want
to be--a spiritual man? _It is the Holy Spirit alone who by His indwelling
can make a spiritual man_. Come then and cast yourself at God's feet, with
this one thought, "Lord, I give myself an empty vessel to be filled with
Thy Spirit." Each one of you sees every day at the tea table an empty cup
set there, waiting to be filled with tea when the proper time comes. So
with every dish, every plate. They are cleansed and empty, ready to be
filled. Emptied and cleansed. Oh, come! and just as a vessel is set apart
to receive what it is to contain, say to Christ that you desire from this
hour to be a vessel set apart to be filled with His Spirit, given up to be
a spiritual man. Bow down in the deepest emptiness of soul, and say, "Oh,
God, I have nothing!" and then surely as you place yourself before Him you
have a right to say, "My God will fulfill His promise! I claim from Him the
filling of the Holy Spirit to make me, instead of a carnal, a spiritual
Christian." If you place yourself at His feet, and tarry there; if you
abide in that humble surrender and that childlike trust, as sure as God
lives the blessing will come.

Oh, have we not to bow in shame before God, as we think of His whole Church
and see so much of the carnal prevailing? Have we not to bow in shame