dwelleth with you." But when the house is finished, the owner
sweeps out all the chips and saw-dust, scrubs the floor, lays
down his carpets, hangs up his pictures, arranges his furniture,
and moves in with his family. Then he is in the fullest sense
within it. He abides there. Now, it is in that sense that Jesus
meant that the Holy Spirit should be in them. This is fitly
expressed in one of our songs:--

"Holy Spirit, come, Oh, come!
Let Thy work in me be done!
All that hinders shall be thrown aside;
Make me fit to be Thy dwelling."

Previous to Pentecost He was with them, using the searching
preaching of John the Baptist, and the life, the words, the
example, the sufferings, and the death and resurrection of Jesus
as instruments with which to fashion their hearts for His
indwelling. As the truth was declared to them in the words of
Jesus, pictured to them in His doings, exemplified in His daily
life, and fulfilled in His death and His rising from the dead,
the Holy Spirit wrought mightily within them; but He could not
yet find perfect rest in their hearts; therefore He did not yet
abide within them.

They had forsaken all to follow Christ. They had been
commissioned to preach the Gospel, to heal the sick, to cleanse
the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out devils. Their names
were written in Heaven. They were not of the world, even as Jesus
was not of the world, for they belonged to Him and to the Father.
They knew the Holy Spirit, for He was with them, working in them,