Part 7 (1/2)
”Yes, mamma.”
”Then what are you to do in order to overcome the one, and to obtain the other?”
”I must ask the Lord Jesus to give me the Holy Spirit.”
”Yes, my child, to him must you come for all help, and he will not send you empty away. Here is a subject on which you must indeed open your mouth wide, in earnest prayer, and wait on the Lord for his gracious answer. 'Ask, and ye shall receive,' he says, and after showing how an _earthly_ father will act towards his child that asks for bread, how does he conclude?”
”He says, 'How much _more_ will your _heavenly_ Father give the _Holy Spirit_ to them that ask Him!'”
”Will you then, my dear Frances, profit by this gracious instruction, and will _you_ ask for the Holy Spirit?”
”Yes, mamma, I will try.”
”Do you believe the Lord will give you the Holy Spirit when you ask?”
”He _says_ He _will_, mamma.”
”That is enough, my child; what the Lord says is yea and amen. It is written, 'Hath he said, and will he not do it?'”
”Yes, mamma, I know G.o.d is _Truth_, He cannot lie.”
”But you know also, my dear Frances, when the Holy Spirit is given, he takes up his abode in the heart, and he _acts_ in the soul, and will not dwell there without producing his holy fruit; and tell me now what is the fruit you particularly want to overcome this sinful desire of appet.i.te which prevails in your heart.”
”Is it not _temperance_, mamma?”
”Yes, and if He comes into your heart, he will give it you, and moreover teach you to _repent_ of your sins; for consider, my Frances, sin is an offence against him, and needs to be repented of.
Do you repent?”
”I am very sorry, mamma.”
”But repentance is more than sorrow; it will make you ashamed before G.o.d, and make you feel yourself vile; and it will also make you carefully watchful against the temptation; it will make you anxious to quit the sin, and clear your soul from its power; it will make you indignant against it, and urge you to seek that strength from the Spirit, which will resist the sin, and overcome it. When, therefore, you ask for the Holy Spirit, be _willing_ that the Lord should _fill_ you. Be ready to _exercise_ the mighty gift for _all_ his offices, to convict you of sin, to lead you to true expectations, and to strengthen you to overcome your sin, giving you that grace which is specially opposed to the leading sin of your heart.”
”I wish I had this gift; for my sin makes me very unhappy: I know it is wrong.”
”Do not stop in _wishes_, dear child, go and _pray_; '_Ask_, and ye shall receive.' 'Open your mouth wide' in the full utterance of all your distress, and of all you desire; pray for what you _want, name_ it; pray for _repentance_, and for _temperance_. Pray that the _l.u.s.t of your appet.i.te_ may be _crucified_, and pray that the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of G.o.d who taketh away sin, may be sprinkled upon your guilty soul, and cleanse it from all sin. He giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. He is angry only when we neglect his promises and his gifts.
”It is not long since, dear Mary, that you and I conversed on this text, 'My people would not hearken to my voice, Israel would none of me: _so I gave them up to their own heart's l.u.s.ts_,' Psa. lx.x.xi.
A dreadful judgment! what would become of _you_, dear Frances, if you were given up to the dominion of your appet.i.te?”
”But, my dear mamma,” Mary said, ”do you not remember the end of that psalm, what a sweet verse there is?”
”Repeat it, dear girl, and let little Frances hear it!”
”'_Had_ they hearkened and obeyed, then should he have fed them with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them.'”
”O my children,” said their mamma, ”here is spiritual food for the spiritual appet.i.te! You know who is the Bread of Life, and who is the Rock of our salvation. Turn unto him your whole heart, and though you feel the burden of the body of this death, you shall soon be able to thank G.o.d, who, through Jesus Christ our Lord, will deliver you.”
”Poor Esau repented too late, That once he his birth-right despis'd, And sold for a morsel of meat, What could not too highly be priz'd.
How great was his anguish when told, The blessing he sought to obtain Was gone with the birth-right he sold, And none could recall it again!