2. Those who emphasise the baptism with the Holy Ghost and
fullness of the Spirit, but say little or nothing of cleansing
from inbred sin and the destruction of the carnal mind.
3. Those who say much of both, but separate them into two
distinct experiences, often widely separated in time.
4. Those who teach that the truth is in the union of the two, and
that, while we may separate them in their order, putting
cleansing first, we cannot separate them as to time, since it is
the baptism that cleanses, just as the darkness vanishes before
the flash of the electric light when the right button is touched;
just as the Augean stables were cleansed, in the fabled story of
Grecian mythology, when Hercules turned in the floods of the
River Arno; the refuse went out as the rushing waters poured in.
There are three very blessed portions of Scripture which show us
that this is God's order, and two that plainly show us that
cleansing and the baptism are not separate in time.
In Psalm li. 10 and 12, David prays, "Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me.... Uphold me with Thy
free Spirit." First the cleansing, then the filling that upholds:
for as it is my spirit within me that upholds my body, so it is
God's Spirit within that upholds my soul.
In Ezekiel xxxvi. 25 and 27, the Lord says, "Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
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