way, we are told that the good angels are sent forth to minister to the sons of God, and again it is difficult to realise this if we have no such experience to help us. These gifts are then given to us to make the unseen world real and vivid to us and to quicken our faith in the Bible accounts of such encounters, which to many non-Pentecostal believers seem strange and frightening. Unbelievers, too, like Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:24-30) and Belshazzar (Daniel 5:5-7) were convinced of the truth of the witness of God's servants in their kingdom by what they saw.

There are also cases where the gift was given to enable some unwilling person to do the will of God; e.g. Hagar to return to Sarai (Genesis 16:7-13) and Gideon to fight the Midianites (Judges 6:11-24). So, too, the three children and Daniel were enabled to survive their fearful ordeals by the presence of heavenly beings with them. Again the discernment of wicked spirits by Our Lord (Luke 8:26-36) and Paul (Acts 16:16-18) enabled them to deliver those who were possessed.

I remember Mr. T. D. Dorling telling me of an occasion when in the great Sunderland revival a spirit successfully resisted the efforts of five believers to cast him out, and asserted that he was stronger than they were. Our Lord said that there were those who could not be defeated except with prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). It is then of no avail to try to cast out a spirit from a sick person, unless (a) you have discerned that there is such a spirit inside, and (b) you are stronger than the spirit.

It is impossible to exaggerate the blessing which such gifts impart to the recipient by creating a