2. The Holy Spirit is always with us, a constant companion, and nothing is hid from Him. In this He witnesses to us the omnipresence of God; He makes God's existence real to us, wherever we happen to be. However vast the numbers of the human race, the Holy Spirit is with every individual and knows every individual's life. Do we speak a word ? It falls upon the Spirit's ear, as well as upon the ear of the person to whom we speak. Do we perform any action, good or bad ? The Holy Spirit sees it and records it. Do we even think a thought ? That thought is mirrored in the multitudinous mind of the Divine Spirit. We cannot escape from His presence.
^ Over the door of a church in Hamburg is a piece of statuary. In a marble chair sits a man upon whose knee rests a parchment. On this parchment his eyes are fixed, and in his right hand he holds a pen with which he seems to be writing. It is John the Evangelist. He thinks himself alone, yet he is not. An angel stands behind him gazing intently over his shoulder upon the parchment, and with his right hand he guides the pen. So the Holy Spirit is ever present with us, seeking to direct us.
3. Though more than an emanation or an influence, and though continually witnessing our character and our ways, the Holy Spirit is so gentle and sensitive that you never read of His wrath. You read of the wrath of God the Father ; you read even of the wrath of the Lamb. But you never read of the wrath of the Spirit: and the imagery employed to describe Him and His influence on mankind is of the gentlest possible character. We have, for instance, the dew that descends silently from heaven, the rain that comes down upon the mown grass, the wind that rustles the leaves of the trees, or that sweeps away the clouds from the fair face of the sky; and if, as is once the case, the coming of this supernatural guest is symbolized by the fire and the tornado, the fire is that which gleams in harmless flame over the thoughtful brows of the first Christian disciples gathered together in the rough upper room ; and the tornado is that which overthrows and destroys nothing, but only announces, by an over-
^ A. Maclaren.
2i6 GRIEVING THE SPIRIT
powering sound, the presence of God, and bids the people assemble together to listen to His overtures of mercy. The Holy Ghost, then, is emphatically gentle and tender and kind. He excites no emotions of alarm, and yet we feel that, if He is a Being capable of entering into personal relations with us, our belief of this capability will necessarily influence in a marked degree the sentiments which we entertain towards Him, and the trust which we are inclined to repose in His help. And when we know the gentleness of the Spirit in His dealing with us, surely we shall deal gently with others.
^ It was indeed a gift of his nature to find out excellences, and to avoid seeing failure ; although the gift was not needed in this case, where the real genius had existed and been attested. But its possession was well known to his friend " Ned Jones," who once said, " Signor admires paintings that would make very good soles for his boots ! " I remember repeating to my husband a remark of Mr. Du Maurier's on the lenient view he always took of the foibles and faults of human nature; alas, I cannot now recall the humorous saying, at which Signor laughed heartily, and said, " Any affection that has been given to me, I am sure is due to the fact that it is difficult for me not to see the best in people. I think I am not deceived, but their good qualities are uppermost tome."i
11.
How WE MAY GkIEVE THE SPIRIT.
1. The Apostle has been referring to certain sins, such as falsehood, anger, bitterness, corrupt speech, and after warning his readers against them, he adds, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." It is sin, then, that grieves Him, sin that pains Him ; and this is exactly the answer we should have expected, for He is the " Holy Spirit of God," and all, therefore, that is evil and sinful He hates with a perfect hatred, and is "grieved" by it. The character of a man is always revealed as much by his deepest sorrows as by his highest joys. And the character of God is re- vealed in all its purity and holiness by the fact that the only thing in human life that grieves Him is sin.
^ A great difficulty with many is that they want power with-
^ Mrs. Watts, George Frederic TFatts, i. 171.
EPHESIANS IV. 30 217
out purity and happiness without holiness; hence, when God puts His finger upon unclean and unlawful things, they shrink from the cost of renouncing them, and thus make it impossible for their prayer to be answered. There are in most lives mountains to be levelled, valleys to be exalted, crooked things to be made straight, and rough places to be made plain before the glory of the Lord can be revealed, and it is just here that so many fail. It often means a very serious matter this renunciation of what is revealed as iniquity, involving changes in many realms of life, possibly touching the sphere of the affections or the possessions, the inner habits of life or the outward details of conduct ; but it is a much more serious thing to continue a controversy with God and thus prevent the Holy Spirit possessing His own temple. It is an actual impossibility to receive the Holy Spirit while grasping any- thing that God has condemned. The hand of faith must be empty in order to receive.^