Did we dare
In our agony of prayer, Ask for more than He has done?
When was ever His right hand
Over any time or land Stretched as now beneath the sun ?
III.
Transformed by the Holy Spirit.
" They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
The words of the text are significant, and not the less so
1 H. C. G. Moule, Veni Creator, 211.
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because, in some measure, symbolic. We must find the meaning which the symbolism contains. We have already been thinking of the symbols under which the Holy Spirit came — wind and fire, and how these symbols characterise the work of the Holy Spirit in us ; we shall now see how the same symbols are connected with the gift of speaking with tongues. Wind is symbolic of power ; fiery tongues are symbolic of inspired speech — "they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance."
i. The Immediate Results.
1. Speaking with tongues. The Authorized Version by speaking of " cloven " tongues, and Christian painters by their pictorial representations, have imported into the scene an unauthorized feature. It has been supposed that a bishop's mitre, with its divided crest, was first suggested by this erroneous idea of the shape of the tongues which rested upon the heads of the Apostles. The word translated " cloven " should be rendered " dividing " or " distributing themselves." The flame-like forms descended into the Upper Chamber in a body or compact mass, and then at once scattered themselves over the assembled company, one lighting upon the head of each. The original language seems to imply that it rested there for a moment only, and then suddenly vanished, symbolizing perhaps its transitory nature as a gift of tongues.
Now in histories of this kind we are always under a tempta- tion to seize upon the most extraordinary feature of the story, and to take that as the essence of the whole. Thus one of the popular ideas of Whitsun Day has been that it commemorates the gift of languages to the Apostles, by which, though uneducated men, they were qualified in a moment of time to preach the Gospel to every nation under heaven. But, indeed, this gift of tongues (even if it were what is here supposed) is but a small part of the matter. The gift of tongues concerned only one generation, at any rate, and a very few individuals.
2. The greatest miracle of that day was the transformation wrought in the waiting disciples. Their fire-baptism transfigured them. Every part of their nature was vitalized, invigorated, and transformed in fire. Its effect upon their knowledge was all that
ACTS ii. 4 39
Christ had promised it should be. Their eyes were opened, their memories quickened, and their minds inspired. How clear all things appeared now that the Spirit shone upon them ! The Cross, the Eesurrection, and the Kingdom were all seen in their true meaning. Peter's address reveals an illumined intelligence, an apt and accurate interpreter, an Apostle on fire. The coming of the Spirit had turned the fisherman into a teacher, orator, and evangelist. The tongue of fire gave forth the word of wisdom and of power. As men listened they found their minds informed, their reasons convinced, their souls convicted, and their wills persuaded. The Apostles themselves became new men. They now no longer coveted wealth or power, or the honour of this world; they no longer desired to have again the kingdom restored to Israel, so that the Jewish dream of earthly dominion should be theirs, one of them sitting on the right hand of the King, and one on the left, each and all anxious to be first and highest. No, the unseen and everlasting world had been opened to their gaze, and they now saw all earthly things in their true light. The only real wealth was wealth within, purified and loving hearts. The only real honour was the honour that comes from God, the honour of God's likeness ; above all, the honour of bringing many sons to God, multitudes of men and women delivered from evil and saved eternally. So they now preached with power ; even the power of the Holy Ghost Himself ; and this very day of Pentecost three thousand were added to their number, three thousand who the other day might have been among those that cried, "Crucify him, crucify him."
Tf The moral change wrought in the disciples, by the new baptism of the Spirit, is strikingly displayed in the case of one man. A difficult service was to be performed in Jerusalem that day. Had it been desired to find a man in London who would have gone down to Whitehall a few weeks after Charles was beheaded, and, addressing Cromwell's soldiers, have endeavoured to persuade them that he whom they had executed was not only a King and a good one, but a Prophet of God, and that, therefore, they had been guilty of more than regicide, of sacrilege ; although England had brave men then, it may be questioned whether any one could have been found to bear such a message to that audience.
The service which had then to be performed in Jerusalem was
4o WHITSUN DAY
similar to this. It was needful that some one should stand up under the shadow of the temple, and, braving chief priests and mob alike, assert that He whom they had shamefully executed seven weeks ago was Israel's long-looked-for Messiah; that they had been guilty of a sin which had no name ; had raised their hands against "God manifest in the flesh"; had, in words strange to human ears, "killed the Prince of Life." Who was thus to confront the rage of the mob, and the malice of the Priests? We see a man rising, filled with a holy fire, so that he totally forgets his danger, and seems not even conscious that he is doing an heroic act. He casts back upon the mockers their charge, and proceeds to open and to press home his tremendous accusation, as if he were a king upon a throne, and each man before him a lonely and defenceless culprit.