With feet of burning brass,
When times are dark as night, Thou through the world dost pass,
Consuming in our sight Dry trees and withering grass,
With dreadful, happy light. * T. Teignmouth Shore. 2 Sartor Rmartus, Bk. ii.
ACTS ii. 4 35
0 thou consuming fire,
Why should I fear thy flame, Who purpose and desire
To burn what Thou shalt blame, 111 weeds, and every brier
Of folly and of shame ?
With shining beams that smite The chains of darkness through,
Thou smilest in the height, And all things smile anew ;
Thy heat, in subtle might, Works with the gentle dew.
O Thou creating fire,
I feel thy warmth benign; My hopes a flowering spire
Arise, unfold, and shine; And fruits that I desire
Shall soon be mine and Thine.1
(3) And fire is used to purify. Have you ever seen a piece of ore ? It looks like a bit of common, hard, dirty rock, with just here and there a little, tiny, bright spot. You might hammer away at it for a long time trying to get those little pieces of metal out of it, and you would splinter it all about, and not succeed in getting the metal after all. But take it to a fur- nace, and there the fierce red and white heat will burn up all the dross, and the pure metal streams forth. A great deal of what is earthy is mixed up in our natures with a little that is pure ; then the Spirit of God descends like illuminating and purifying fire. By all our trials and discipline, that Spirit purges out of us all that is base, and false, and earthy. "Our God is a consuming fire," but He will consume only the dross, and will set free the true gold of our nature, so that it may be one day pure enough to be formed into part of the Crown of the King, and to flash in its loveliness and beauty in the eternal glory of the Father's presence.
Those delicate wanderers,
The wind, the star, the cloud,
Ever before mine eyes
As to an altar bowed,
Sighs and dew-laden airs
Offer in sacrifice.
1 T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 121.
36 WHITSUN DAY
The offerings arise: Hazes of rainbow light, Pure crystal, blue, and gold, Through dreamland take their flight; And 'mid the sacrifice God moveth as of old.
In miracles of fire He symbols forth His days; In gleams of crystal light Eeveals what pure pathways Lead to the soul's desire, The silence of the height.1
II.
Filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let us now inquire what is meant by the words " filled with the Holy Spirit." Very many people have had their minds more or less exercised touching the blessing of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit," as it is often termed. Not a few have been hindered, if not actually thrown back, in their spiritual course, simply for lack of a little instruction in the very first principles of the doctrine concerning the Person, offices, and work of the Holy Spirit.
1. The first point to be recognized, as clearly set forth in the Scriptures, is the fact, that all Christians have the Holy Spirit. They have not only been brought under His influence, but they have received the Holy Spirit Himself. " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his " (Kom. viii. 9).
2. At the same time we must recognize the fact that to have the Spirit is one thing, but to be filled with the Spirit is quite another thing. We know from what is recorded in St. John's Gospel that even before the Ascension the Holy Ghost had actually been given to the disciples, that Christ breathed upon them the Holy Ghost. But on the Day of Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Ghost.
^f There are upon the whole two main aspects or phases of the
1 "A. E,"
ACTS ii. 4 37
fulness of the Spirit. There is a special, critical phase, in which at a great crisis it comes out in marked, and perhaps wholly abnormal, manifestation, as when it enables the man or woman to utter supernatural prediction or proclamation. And there is also what we may call the habitual phase, where it is used to describe the condition of this or that believer's life day by day and in its normal course. Thus the Seven were not so much specially " filled " as known to be " full " ; and so was Barnabas. Into this holy habitual fulness Paul entered, it appears, at his baptism. On the other hand, the same Paul experienced from time to time the other and abnormal sort of filling ; and it thus results that the same man might in one respect be full while in another he needed to be filled.1
3. What, then, have we to do in order to be " filled with the Spirit " ? The answer to this question is not far to seek, for Christ has said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." For " if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ?" (Luke xi. 9-13). If, therefore, we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, then indeed we are not far from receiving the rich blessings of the gift, but we must want the blessing and want it earnestly, for the Holy Spirit will not fill unwilling hearts. But we have great encouragement to ask. He has promised, and He has repeatedly fulfilled His promise. We cannot ask more than He has already given in many lives.