By use and experience men learn how to do successfully their worldly, temporal business, and in the same way God expects everyone in His service to improve the talents He has entrusted, and to become wise, faithful workmen in spiritual and eternal things. If men exercise the gifts of grace that God has bestowed, they will have grace for grace, and the promise will be fulfilled that they shall be endowed with the Holy Spirit.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 1

At infinite cost provision has been made that men shall reach the perfection of Christian character. Those who have been privileged to hear the truth, and have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to receive the Word of God as the voice of God, have no excuse for becoming dwarfed in religious life. By exercising the ability which God has given, they are to be daily learning, and daily receiving spiritual fervour and power which has been provided for every true believer. If we would be growing plants in the Lord's garden we must have a constant supply of spiritual life and earnestness. Growth will then be seen in the faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no halfway house where we may throw off responsibility, and rest by the way. We are to keep advancing heavenward, developing a solid religious character.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 2

The measure of the Holy Spirit we receive will be proportioned to the measure of our desire, and the faith exercised for it, and the use we shall make of the light and knowledge that shall be given to us. We shall be entrusted with the Holy Spirit according to our capacity to receive, and our ability to impart to others. Christ says, “Everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth.” He who truly seeks for the precious grace of Christ will be sure not to be disappointed. This promise has been given to us by Him who will not deceive us. It is not stated as a maxim or a theory, but as a fact, as a law of the Divine government. We can be assured that we shall receive the Holy Spirit, if we individually test God's word. God is true, His order is perfect. “He that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.” Light and truth will shine forth according to the desire of the soul. O that all would hunger and thirst after righteousness, that they might be filled.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 3

Those men who calculate just how religious exercises should he conducted, and are very precise and methodical in diffusing the light and grace that they seem to have, simply do not have much of the Holy Spirit. If they had more of the Holy Spirit, they would meddle less with the experiences of men who have received this Divine gift in large abundance.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 4

There is much need of the testimony that was given to Nicodemus. Jesus said unto Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Expect a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was astonished as well as indignant at these words. He considered himself not only an intellectual but a pious and religious man. But Christ said again to him, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?”PrT November 2, 1899, par. 5

Nicodemus was unbelieving. He could not harmonise this doctrine of conversion with his understanding of what constituted religion. He could not explain to his own satisfaction the science of conversion; but Jesus showed him by a figure that it could not be explained by any of his precise methods. He pointed out to him the fact that he could not see the wind, yet he could discern its action. He might never be able to explain the process of conversion, but he would be able to discern its effect. He heard the sound of the wind, which bloweth where it listeth, and he could see the results of its action. The operating agency was not revealed to view; men could not tell whence it came or whither it went. They could not define by what law it was governed, but they could see that which it produced by its action. So no human reasoning of the most learned man could define the operations of the Holy Spirit upon human minds and characters; yet men could see the effects upon the life and actions. The Holy Spirit is a free, working, independent agency. The God of heaven uses His Spirit as it pleaseth Him, and human minds and human judgment and human methods can no more set boundaries to its workings, or prescribe the channel through which it shall operate, than they can say to the wind, I bid you to blow in a certain direction, and to conduct yourself in such and such a manner.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 6

Though we cannot see the Spirit of God, yet we know that men who have been dead in trespasses and sins, become convicted and converted under its operations. The thoughtless and wayward become serious. The hardened repent of their sins, and the faithless believe. The gambler, the drunkard, the licentious become steady, sober, and pure. The rebellious and obstinate become meek and Christ-like. When we see these changes in the character, we may be assured that the converting power of God has transformed the entire man. We saw not the Holy Spirit, but we saw the evidence of its work on the changed character of those who were hardened and obdurate sinners.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 7

As the wind moves in its force upon the lofty trees, and brings them down, so the Holy Spirit can work upon human hearts, and it is not the work of finite man to circumscribe the work of God. The Spirit of God is manifested in different ways upon different men. One under the movings of the Spirit's power will tremble before the Word of God. His convictions will be so deep that a hurricane and tumult of feeling seems to rage in his heart, and his whole being is prostrate under the convicting power of the truth. When the Lord speaks forgiveness to the repenting soul, he is full of ardour, full of love to God, full of earnestness and energy, and the life-giving spirit which he has received cannot be repressed. Christ is in him, a well of water springing up into everlasting life. His feelings of love are as deep and ardent as was his distress and agony. His soul is like the fountain of the great deep, broken up, and he pours forth his thanksgiving and praise, his gratitude and joy, until the heavenly harps are tuned to notes of rejoicing. He has a story to tell, but not in any precise, common, methodical way. He is a soul ransomed through the merits of Jesus Christ, and his whole being is thrilled with the realisation of the salvation of God.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 8

Others are brought to Christ in a more gentle way. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” You cannot see the operating agency, but you can see its effects. When Nicodemus said unto Jesus, “How can these things be?” Jesus said to him, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” A teacher in Israel, a man among wise men, a man who supposed that he was able to comprehend the science of religion, and yet stumbling at the doctrine of conversion! He was not willing to admit truth, because he could not understand all that was connected with the operation of the power of God; and yet he accepted the facts of nature, although he could not explain or even comprehend them. Like others of all ages, he was looking to forms and precise ceremonies as more essential to religion than the deep movements of the Spirit of God. The work that Christ declared necessary in the case of Nicodemus is the very work that needs to be done for those men who think that everything pertaining to religion must be done in a precise, methodical way. They need to be born again, and how the new birth is accomplished matters not, so long as the heart is renewed.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 9

When the prayer is sincerely offered, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” the voice of the Lord answers, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” The renewed heart will have no plants of selfishness to cultivate. Pride will be seen in its sinfulness and will be expelled. It is not for the human clay to find fault with the moulding process of the potter, but to submit to be moulded in any way. Every soul must submit to the Lord before he can be made a vessel unto honour, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ.PrT November 2, 1899, par. 10

Mrs. E. G. White.

September 14, 1899

April 26, 1900