These manifestations must be briefly noticed. Wind and lire are elemental emblems of the Spirit occurring from time to time in the OT. ' He shall baptize 3'ou with the Holy Ghost and with fire' (]\lt 3^') was the Baptist's prediction concerning the Messiah, now clearly fulfilled. ' The wind blowetli where it listeth . . . so is every one that is born of the Spirit ' ( Jn 3*'), was the Lord's own shadowing forth of the Spirit's power to Nicodemus.
To the miraculous associ.ations of Pentecost belong the 'tongues' with which the Apostles sjjake. Not unknown tongues, however, nor such ecstatic utterances as became familiar afterwards at Corinth and in the early Church, but tongues in which the strangers from distant countries, who had come to Jerusalem for the Feast, at once recognized their own speech, and heard the mighty works of God proclaimed. That the gift of tongues was a permanent endowment of the Apostles for their great work of proclaiming redemption to all the kindred of mankind, cannot be maintained. Tliere is no proof that any of the Apostles of whose labours we have a record in the Acts was thus saved the trouble of acquiring foreign tongues, and supplied with the linguistic qualifications necessary for ministering to people of other races than their own. In fact, within the Roman world of that day such tongues were by no means indispensable. The Roman world, whithersoever the Apostles went on their missionary journeys, was to all intents and purposes of one speech, ami they could make themselves understood in Greek in almost every ordinary case. It was onl}' when they travelled to the far East, or to the bounds of "the West, or away up the Nile, that their message required another tongue. The Jews who had come to the Feast at Jerusalem, or perhaps, as was the case with some, were sojourners in the Holy City, from out of every nation under he.aven, recognized at once the vernacular of the several peoples among whom they were scattered — the tongue of Parthia, of Mesopotamia, of Phrygia, of Egj-pt, of Arabia — on the lips of one or other of the Apostles ; but Greek was yet the lingua franca by which they could almost eveiywhere make themselves understood. 'The tongues' served the immediate purpose on this historic occasion of con- veying to the assembled multitudes the great facts of the completed redemption, in familiar speech, yet with unwonted impressiveness and solemnity. But they were, over and above this, a supernatural
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sign, not only affording a striking proof at the moment of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit with the Apostles, but also furnishing a symbol of the universality of the new faith, and pointing forward to the proclamation of the glad tidings of great joy to all the families of mankind. Thus the legend of the giving of the Law in seventy languages on Mt. Sinai was matched by the fact of ' the tongues ' at Pentecost ; and the preaching of the gospel, first in all the lands of the Jewish Dispersion and then in all the earth, was emphatic- ally shown forth.
5. Abiding significance. — The gift of tongues which marked the effusion of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was only one of several extraordinary gifts bestowed at first upon the Church by the Ascended Lord. These gifts continued through the Apostolic Age, and were not only varied in their character, but wholly distinct from the ordinary quickening, sanctifying, and ministerial gifts which abide in the Church through all her history. They have passed away, and though in an Edward Irving and other saintly and gifted souls some of them may seem for a little while to re- appear, it is His gifts of quickening, sanctifying, and enabling that are the abiding blessing of the Holy Spirit to the Church, and that perpetuate the grace of Pentecost. The permanent blessing is not for a few, but for all believers. The Spirit had at the Creation brooded over the face of the deep ; He had moved holy men to utter the oractes of God ; He had rested upon anointed kings, like Saul and David ; and He had dwelt without measure in the Incarnate Son of God. Now the blessing was to be for all. • They were all filled with the Holy Ghost,' is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel {2^^- ^^). It is the realization also of our Lord's promise (Jn -jsT-sgj^ ^j^^i y<^ Peter in his discourse to the multi- tudes on the day of Pentecost confirms the univer- sality of the gift (Ac 2-^«-3»).
Whilst the experience of the disciples on the day of Pentecost shows the universality of the gift, it also attests the working of a new power of spiritual quickening and transformation. The Apostles themselves were transformed into new men. By the baptism of fire they were made courageous and brave ; their eyes were opened to see the spirituality of Christ's Kingdom ; and they were filled with a great enthusiasm for the sal- vation of men through the preaching of the cruci- fied Christ. And such was the power of the Spirit accompanying St. Peter's words, that the multitude who had asseml)led to see and to hear were pricked to the heart, and cried, ' Men and brethren, what shall we do?' And with three thousand souls added to the little band of Apostles and believers, a Church was born in a day. ' With great power gave the apostles witness,' and that power was the gift of the Holy Ghost. Under the working of the Pentecostal gift a new spirit of love takes pos- session of them that believe, a new fellowship is established, a new service and varied ministry in- stituted. Throughout the course of the Church's history it has been the mission of the Comforter to convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment ; to glorify Christ to His believing people ; to lead the Church into all truth, and to show her things to come ; to sanctify them that believe ; and to bestow grace upon all who serve in any ministry according to the requirement of the office which they fill. It is His mission still ; and the great hope of the Church and of the world lies in the renewal of Pentecost, with its breath of refreshing and its tongue of fire, in each successive age.