MANY brethren are inquiring of us about the Spirit, “correct views of the Spirit,” and of “the influence of the Spirit,” and insisting that we should respond to some things that are published, etc.; but, for the present, to all this we must simply say, that the Lord knows our hearts. He knows who have the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit and endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He knows them who are his, who love him and keep his commandments. Blessed be his name; he is able to keep them from falling, make all grace abound to them and preserve them to his heavenly appearing and kingdom. With them, his great work is a reality, a real work, the greatest and best of all the works in which human beings have ever engaged; and they believe he is with them, will be with them while they shall struggle for his cause in this world, and will be with them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to the gospel. In him they have put their everlasting trust;to him they have committed their cause, and to him they look for their final reward. They fear not what man can do to them, nor what he can say of them, but they fear him who is able to save and able to destroy, who is able to kill and able to make alive. We have nothing at stake only the cause of truth, of righteousness and humanity. We have no theory of our own to maintain, no philosophy to defend, nor pride of opinion to guard, but are willing to learn of the most humble disciple in the whole kingdom of God. If any brother really has more of the spirit of the Lord than we have, we envy him not because he has more than we, but we are only sorry that we have less than he.

By the way, as we now appear agreed that the Spirit of God should be actually received and enjoyed by the saints, whether that agreement be enforced by the terms of Scripture merely, or from the heart, God knows. There remains but a single point of importance in our mind. That is not, and has not been, whether the Spirit of God is actually received and enjoyed by the children of God; but whether any teachings are communicated to man, or revelations made, either before or after conversion, to saint or sinner, except through the senses. Are not the revelations of God inscribed upon the sacred pages of the Bible, the only teachings from heaven, for both the church and the world, and are not these imparted to man through the senses? We do not believe that there are any revelations from God, or teachings, binding upon man, for saint or sinner, only those in the Bible, and these are imparted to man through the senses. If this is sensuous philosophy, then we are in for it.