Preface to Volume II

In issuing the second volume of the Holy Spirit or Power from on High, after an interval of a year since the publication of the first volume, the author is deeply conscious of the imperfections of his work. In view of the vastness and grandeur of the theme, he asks the kind indulgence of his readers and friends, and begs them to remember that these chapters are the substance of his weekly pulpit ministrations amid the pressure of a life of almost overwhelming work and care.

He is, however, encouraged by the numerous letters that have come from those who have read these messages in the weekly columns of the Christian Alliance (now the Alliance Weekly), to believe that they have often been bread for God's hungry children. He is reassured by the humble consciousness that he is not attempting to minister entertainment or instruction for the wise, the scholarly and the critical, but to provide simple and satisfying bread for the King's children.

He need scarcely say that this sublime theme has continually grown upon him during the two years that it has been the subject of his regular pulpit ministrations, and that, although he has now been able to complete the survey of the whole sacred volume in unfolding this theme, he feels, at the close, as if he were only standing upon the shore of an infinite ocean of truth and love, without a fathoming line or a shore.

He would humbly commend these pages to the blessing of God and the earnest prayers of his friends, that this volume may be used for the honor of the Holy Spirit and the deepening of the interest of God's people in this great theme which, happily today, is occupying the profoundest attention of the church of God, and which, perhaps more than any other, is the "present truth" which God is pressing upon the attention of His people in these last days.

The first edition of Volume I having been quite exhausted, another large edition is being rapidly pushed through the press.

New York, April 1, 1896.