Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
Such is the love of God. . . . See, then, the need of having the
love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. C. H.
Spurgeon.
830. The above writer says that in the early times, when
land was sold, the owner cut a turf from the greensward
and cast it into the cap of the purchaser as a token that it
was his ; or he tore off the branch of a tree and put it into
the new owner's hand to show that he was entitled to all
the products of the soil; and when the purchaser of a house
received seizin or possession, the key of the door, or a bundle
of thatch plucked from the roof, signified that the building
was yielded up to him. The God of all grace has given
to His people all the perfections of heaven to be their
heritage forever, and hte earnest of the Spirit is to them
the blessed token that all things are theirs. The Spirit's
work of comfort and sanc.tification is a part of heaven's
covenant blessings, a turf from the soil of Canaan, a twig
from the tree of life, a key to mansions in the skies. Possessing
the earnest of the Spirit, we have received seizin of
heaven.
831. In "An Outline of My Life," James Anderson makes
reference to a debate he held in Braidwood with a Mr.
Steele, a Plymouth brother. Mr. Steele insisted on the Holy
Spirit presiding. They agreed to ten-minute speeches. In
his opening prayer, Mr. Steele poured out his complaint about
"flesh desiring to have a chairman." James Anderson writes
"When a man insults you in a speech you can reply, but
when a man insults you in a prayer, it is not so easy knowing
what to do. He sent his insult to Heaven, and I left
Heaven to deal with it. I took no notice of it. He spoke
longer than his time, every time he got up." . . . Afterwards,
Mr. Anderson said to a friend, a Plymouth brother, thinking
of the long speeches, and trespass of his time : "There
is
one thing that I have made up my mind upon, and that is,
your 'spirit' will never be chairman for me any more. If
ever I have anything more to do with you people, I shall have
some spirit in the chair that will make your man sit down
when his time is up."