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THE

TONGUE OF FIRE

OR

THE TRUE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY

BY

WILLIAM ARTHUR, A.M.

AUTHOR OF " THE SUCCESSFUL MERCHANT ", " ITALY IN TRANSITION
AND " THE POPE, THE KINGS, AND THE PEOPLE "

WITH A

NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR

AND AN

Introduction by the Rev. William M. Taylor, D.D.

NEW, YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE

1880

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington.

3

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TO THE

REV. BISHOP SIMPSON

AXD THE

REV. DR. McCOSH

TWO DIVINES WHO WELL ILLUSTRATE

THE LABORS AND THE STUDIES OE THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY IN AMERICA

TWO FRIENDS WHOM I LOYE AND HONOR

THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION IS

SDebicateb

PREFACE TO THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION.

The American publishers request from me some
introduction or supplement to a new edition of
this volume — an edition called for, in part, by the
fact that the work has been placed on the list of
studies of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
Circle. This request reaches me in the city of
New York, where, nearly five- and -twenty years
ago, under the hospitable roof of Mr. W. E. Dodge,
Senior, I employed in correcting the sheets sent
to me from England a good portion of the si-
lent days passed during convalescence from an
attack of fever. It is to that attack, and to my
journey of 1855 in the United States, that allusion
is made in the Preface to the Original Edition,
when it is said that "the work has been inter-
rupted by travel and sickness, and at one, time
seemed likely to be cut short by death." For

VI PREFACE TO THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION.

live weeks, at TTrbana, in Ohio, I had lain ill in
the home of the late Dr. Mosgrove, who, having
been called to the bedside of a perfect stranger,
with a view simply to professional aid, had insist-
ed on removing that stranger in order to tend
him under his own roof. During the five weeks,
he, with his excellent wife, and his son Dr. James
Mosgrove, lavished upon the patient such care as
might have been bestowed on a son of the house.
When the fever was already coming on I had,
at Sandusky, before the Conference of North Ohio,
preached on the theme of the book, and thus were
its thoughts and images the last that followed me
from the active world into the silence of the sick-
room. Naturally, while in that room, my mind
often turned to the partly written volume, of
which, while the earliest pages were in type, oth-
er portions were in manuscript, and yet others
still lying undisclosed in the hidden yet conscious
springs of thought. Often, when revolving what
I seemed to have to say, did it appear to me as if
the Disposer of life and death would spare me to
say it ; and I have been told by my companion on
that tour, Dr. Robinson Scott, who for some twen-
ty days or so watched by my bedside, that I said

PREFACE TO THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION. Vll

to him, "The Master has yet work for me to
do."

Before the volume had been long issued, illness
in another form drove me away from England.
While wandering in Egypt, Arabia Petraea, and
Palestine, with slender hope of again preaching
or speaking in public, more than once, as if sent
to cheer me, came intimations that here and there
my gracious Master was deigning to employ the
book as His instrument of doing some good to my
fellow -servants. Subsequently, on various jour-
neys in the United Kingdom or on the continent
of Europe, persons have greeted me, declaring that
they felt constrained to acknowledge that the
reading of the Tongue of Fire had been to them
a means of blessing. These testimonies some-
times reached me in places where I should least
have expected them, and occasionally came from
persons whom I should have supposed little likely
to read any book of mine. In the course of my
present journey on this continent I have not been
in any part of the United States or Canada with-
out being made glad by similar testimonies. To
these it might, perhaps, sometimes appear that I
listened coldly, just because the things said were

Vlll PREFACE TO THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION.

of a nature to compel me to hide my feelings be-
hind a veil of silence in order that I might in-
wardly thank God. More precious, perhaps, than
testimonies addressed to me personally have been
those which came from mission fields that I had
never visited, or from distant portions of Africa
or Australasia which I cannot hope ever to see.
Touching as such testimonies have been when
proceeding from a soldier, a sailor, or a busy
man of commerce, they have been more touching
when proceeding from a minister who thought
that either in his preparatory studies or in the
course of his labors the Tongue of Fire had
helped him to serve with more success, and yet
more touching still when proceeding from a mis-
sionary whose toils it had helped to cheer or stim-
ulate. But, above all, when some fruitful winners
of souls, alluding to revivals of religion witnessed
in their own spheres of labor, have declared their
belief that the influence of this work had more or
less contributed to the blessed result, my cup has
run over.

I am not able, with accuracy, to state what is
the number of lan^ua^es into which the vol-
ume has been translated ; but I believe that the

PREFACE TO THE NEW AMERICAN EDITION. IX

Welsh, Kafir, Italian, and French are not the only
ones.

If the work has been in any degree useful in
the past, no reason can exist why it should not be
equally or even more so in the future. The Lord,
who has graciously granted to it his blessing, will
not now withdraw that blessing. Its theme is
one of interest as enduring as are the relations of
the spirit of man to the spirit of God. May this
new edition go forth with a fresh mandate of use-
fulness from Him who worketh all good. May
every one who shall peruse these pages rise from
them refreshed for his task in the Church; and
may he, endued with new power, seek and behold
triumphs of our Redeemer's kingdom such as will
cause him to rejoice with exceeding great joy.

Nkw York, June 18th, 1880.

INTRODUCTION.

John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets,
gathered together the scattered rays of Old Tes-
tament prediction into these two sayings, which
will be forever associated with his name, "Be-
hold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of the world!" and "He shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire." The first is the
Gospel of atonement; the second is the Gospel of
regeneration ; and both' together give a compre-
hensive summary of all that Jesus brings to men.
The one describes what Christ has done for us, in
giving Himself a sacrifice for human guilt ; the
other depicts what He does in us, in the renova-
tion and energization of human character. The
first was completed, " once for all," upon the cross ;
the other is repeated by Him in the case of every
new convert whom He creates unto good works,
" which God hath before ordained that he should
walk in them." Naturally, therefore, we might
suppose that the second would have the greatest
prominence, and the highest appreciation in the

Xll INTRODUCTION.

present clay. But, though we are living under
the dispensation of the Spirit, it is remarkable
that the work of the Holy Ghost has not received
anything like the attention which it demands and
deserves. Few sermons are preached upon it —
few treatises are written upon it — it does not enter
as it ought to do into the thoughts and prayers
of the people of God ; and in this, perhaps, more
than in most other things, we may find the expla-
nation of the comparative feebleness, and ineffi-
ciency of modern piety. Whatever, therefore,
tends to turn the eyes of the members of the
Church of Christ to the great Pentecostal Gift,
which has never been revoked, and which is still
as available for us as it was for those on whom it
was first bestowed, must be fraught with blessing
both to believers generally and to the world at
large. And as sometimes the design of a painter
may be better seen from his first outline than from
his finished work, so we may perhaps obtain a
simpler view of the nature of the Spirit's work
from the words of the Baptist than from the full-
er revelations of the Evangelists and Apostles.

" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire." The two expressions refer to one and
the same thing. Some, indeed, with Neander,
would affirm that the Holy Ghost is, so to say,
the element for the baptism of believers, and that
the fire is that for the baptism of unbelievers ; as
if the Baptist had said, "When the Messiah

INTRODUCTION. XI U

cometh, he will baptize all men ; those who re-
ceive Him he will baptize with the Holy Ghost,
and those who reject Him he will baptize with
fire." But, though that view receives apparent
confirmation from the words," Whose fan is in his
hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and
gather his wheat into the garner; but he will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire," there
is one insuperable objection to it in the fact that
John's language fairly implies that all those who
were to be baptized were to be baptized both with
the Holy Ghost and with fire. He explains the
one blessing by the two clauses — the one literal,
and the other figurative. As in his conversation
with Nicodemus the Lord says, "Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God," so John describes the
one experience by the two expressions. The fig-
ure is added to give definiteness to our concep-
tion of the reality ; and thus, like the pictures in
the stereoscope, the two expressions are blended
into one finely relieved and beautifully distinct
representation of that which they set before us ;
to wit, that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a bap-
tism, and that it is a baptism with fire.

It is a baptism, and so marks our initiation into
the kingdom of God; for whatever other ideas
may be associated with baptism, there is no doubt
that, as practised by John, it marked the begin-
ning: of a new course. So regeneration is needed

XIV INTRODUCTION.

for entrance into the new life. The great law is,
^ "Ye must be born again." Oh that must! How
i it levels all human pride ! How it cuts at the
t root of all mere externalism, and lays open the
depravity that is working like leaven in every
heart ! And yet how comforting it is also ! for
" must " implies " may." If I must be born again,
I may be born again ; and he who uttered the aw-
ful and humiliating sentence is ready to bestow
upon me the Holy Ghost, so that the great work
shall be accomplished in me.

It is a baptism, and so marks our consecration
4^ to the Lord. Under the ancient law, the things
which were specially set apart to the service of
Jehovah were washed with water, and, in like
manner, the Christian who has received the Holy
Ghost regards himself as not his own but God's.
Where that Spirit dwells, he marks everything
with the name of Jehovah. Where he abides, self-
ishness dares not enter. Where he is enshrined in
the heart, the conscience responds with eager sen-
sitiveness to Paul's appeal — "What! know ye not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye
are not your own? For ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's."

But it is a baptism " with fire," and that im-
plies, in the first place, that it purifies the soul.
It might seem, indeed, that the figure of water

V

INTRODUCTION. XV

is enough to bring out before us this cleansing
efficacy of the Holy Ghost. But there are two
characteristics of His work which can properly be
symbolized only by fire. The first is its search-
ingness. Fire finds out every thing that is inflam-
mable, and consumes it forthwith ; so the Holy
Spirit burns up every thing that is impure. Noth-
ing escapes his ordeal. Whatever of " wood, hay,
or stubble" there may be in the character or heart
is not merely charred, but destroyed by His flame.
He spares no darling lust. He misses no treasured
secret. He passes by no hidden pride. In the
proportion in which He is in the soul, sin is burned
out of it. Furthermore, the continuousness of His
work is suggested to us by the element of fire.
One washes, and forthwith he is clean ; but the op-
eration of fire is not momentary but constant, and
so the work of the Holy Spirit goes on while life
in the believer lasts. He burns while He blesses ;
nay, He burns in order to bless; and so it is a
solemn thing to receive this heavenly gift.

And, to mention no more, it is a baptism with
fire, and so marks the communication of energy
to the soul. "Ye shall be endued with power
from on High ;" and again, " Ye shall receive pow-
er after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ;"
thus did the Lord himself translate to his disci-
ples the language of the Baptist. And we can
not wonder that fire is taken for a symbol of pow-
er. Who that has looked upon a terrible confla-

XVI JNTKODUCTION.

gration as it marches on in its devouring way, but
has felt overwhelmed by the presence of an agent
so much mightier than himself? So when, on the
Day of Pentecost, "cloven tongues like as of fire"
sat upon each of the disciples, the meaning was
that, by the burning earnestness and fiery force • j
of their speech, they should be the means of car-
rying forward the work of God in the world in
the face of fiercest opposition. Their words
would be " in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power;" not the power of miracles, for that was
only a temporary possession in the Church ; not
the power of stately rhetoric or scholastic logic,
for their speech never was " with enticing words
of man's wisdom ;" not the power that is wielded
by those who have imperial authority at their
command, for "the princes of this world" have
been among the most implacable enemies of the
Gospel of Christ; no, but " power from on high"
the power of characters moulded by the Holy
Spirit after the likeness of Christ ; the power of
hearts in closest union to the Holy Ghost, yea,
the power of the Holy Ghost himself working
in them, and through them, and with them.
Thus we account for the triumphs achieved by
the apostles, who were, for the most part, " un^ . S
learned and ignorant men." Thus we explain the
wondrous things which are told regarding the re-
sults produced by the sermons of the Reformers.
Thus we find an adequate cause for the effects

INTRODUCTION-. XV11

that followed the discourses of Whitefield and
Wesley at a later date. We read them now, and
they seem in no way remarkable to us. We can not
understand how they wrought such results; and,
indeed, it is unaccountable unless we concede that
the men themselves were "filled with the Holy
Ghost," and so robed with that power from on
high whereof the ascending Saviour spoke. And
if wTe are to have similar success in these days,
we must seek for it through the same instrumen-
tality.

To help forward such a consummation is the
design of the treatise which we now introduce
to the reader. The " Tongue of Fire " has taken
its place among modern Christian classics, and it
ought to be in the hands of every minister of the
Gospel, and every one engaged in any department
*of evangelistic work. It is distinguished by sim-
plicity, directness, fervor, and unction; and is it-
self an illustration of the principles on which it in-
sists. Our own copy of it came into our hands
many years ago as the gift of a Christian layman,
, who presented it to all the students of Divinity
in the Scottish seminaries of the time, and its pe-
rusal stirred our heart to its depths, and gave
an impulse to our soul which has not spent itself
even now. We are delighted to learn that it is
to be studied in the Chautauqua course ; and if the
members of theological seminaries of higher grade

and of loftier pretensions throughout the land

2

XV111 INTRODUCTION.

could be induced to pore and pray over its pages,
the results would be speedily apparent in revived
churches, and in a wider diffusion among us of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

William M. Taylor.

New York, May 17thy 1880.

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

The following pages are the fruit of meditations
entered upon with the desire to lessen the dis-
tance painfully felt to exist between my own life
and ministry and those of the primitive Chris-
tians. This fact may, in some measure, account
for the plan of the work. Many topics which
would have been fully discussed in a treatise on
the work of the Holy Spirit, or on the charac-
ter and usages of the primitive Christians, are
passed by, or very slightly touched : while some
others have greater prominence than would have
been given to them in such a work.

As to the mode of conceiving of events and
characteristics, nothing has been adopted with-
out deliberation. In several cases I should have
felt interest in discussing other modes of con-
ceiving them; but this would have diverted me

Xll PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

from the direct practical aim with which I set
out.

The work has been interrupted by travel and
sickness; and, at one time, seemed likely to
be cut short by death. Spared to complete it,
though feeling how for it falls short even of
my own ideal, I humbly trust it may not be
useless.

Kensington, April 2ith, 185G.

CONTENTS

CHAPTEE I.

The Promise of a Baptism of Fire 1

CHAPTER II.
The Waiting for the Fulfillment. . . . 12

CHAPTEE III.
The Fulfillment of the Promise 31

CHAPTEE IV.

Effects which immediately followed the Baptism

of Fire il

Section I. — Spiritual Effects 41

Section II. — Miraculous Effects c>7

Section III. — Ministerial Effects 88

Section IY. — Effects upon the World 106

CHAPTEE Y.
Permanent Benefits resulting to the Church 150

CHAPTER VI
Practical Lessons 297

\

THE TONGUE OF FIRE

CHAPTER I.

THE PROMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIRE.

When Jolm the Baptist was going round Judea,
shaking the hearts of the people with a call to re-
pent, they said, " Surely this must be the Messiah
for whom we have waited so long." " No," said
the strong-spoken man, " I am not the Christ ;* but
One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to unloose : He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."f

This last expression might have conveyed some
idea of material burning to any people but Jews ;
but in their minds it would awaken other thoughts.
It would recall the scenes when their father Abra-
ham asked Him who promised that hi. should inherit
the land wherein he was a stranger, " Lord, whereby
shall I know that I shall inherit it?" The answer

* John L 20, f Luke m- 1S-

2 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

came thus: he was standing under the open sky at
night, watching by cloven sacrifices, when, "behold
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed
between those pieces" of the victims.* It would
recall the fire which Moses saw in the bush, which
shone, and awed, and hallowed even the wilderness,
but did not consume ; the fire which came in the
day of Israel's deliverance, as a light on their way,
and continued with them throughout the desert
fourney ; the fire which descended on the Tabernacle
in the day in which it was reared up, and abode upon
it continually ; which shone in the Shekinah ; which
touched the lips of Isaiah ; which flamed in the vis-
ions of Ezekiel ; and which was yet again promised
to Zion, not only in her public but in her family
ehrines, when the Lord will create upon every
dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon all her as-
semblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining
pf a flaming fire by night."

In the promise of a baptism of fire they would at
once recognize the approach of new manifestations
of the power and presence of God ; for that was
ever the purport of this appearance in " the days of
the right hand of the Most High."

Among the multitude who flocked to John came
one strange Man, whom he did not altogether know ;
yet he knew that He was full of grace and wisdom,

* Gen. xv. 17.

TEE PROMEbE OF A BAPTISM OF F1KE. 3

and in favor with God and man. lie felt that him
self rather needed to be baptized of one so pure
than to baptize Him ; but he waived his feeling, and
fulfilled his ministry. As they returned from the
water side, the heavens opened : a bodily shape, as
of a dove, came down and rested on the stranger.
At the same time a voice from the excellent glory
said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am weD
pleased : hear ye Him."

John said, " I knew Him not : but He that sent
me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,
Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending,
and remaining on Him, the same is He which bap-
tizeth with the Holy Ghost." Therefore, when he
saw Him walking, he pointed his own disciples to
Him, and said, that this was He. They heard the
word, and pondered. The next day, again, John,
seeing Him at a distance, said, " Behold the Lamb
of God !" Now, two of his followers went after
the stranger, to seek at His hand the baptism which
John could not give — the baptism of fire. They
were joined by others. For months, for years, they
companied with Him. They saw His life : a life as
of the Only-begotten Son of God. They heard His
words : such words as " never man spake." They
saw His works : signs, and wonders, and great mira-
cles, before all the people. Yet they received not
the baptism of fire !

4. THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

He began to speak frequently of His departure
from them; but his mode of describing it was
strange. He was to leave them, and yet not to for-
sake them; to go away, and yet to be with them;
to go, and yet to come to them. They were to be
deprived of Him their Head, yet orphans they
should not be. Another was to come, yet not an-
other ; a Comforter from the Father, from Himself;
whom, not as in His case, the world could neither
know nor see, but whom they should k?iow, though
they could not see.* His own presence with them
was a privilege which no tongue could worthily tell.
Blessed were their eyes for what they saw, and
their ears for what they heard. Better still than
even this was to be the presence of the Holy Ghost,
who would follow Him as He had followed John. '

" I tell you the truth," He said, when about to
utter what was hard to believe : " I tell you the
truth; It is expedient for you that I go away."
How could it be expedient ? Would they not be
losers to an extent which no man could reckon ?
The light of His countenance, the blessing of His
vrords, the purity of His presence, the influence of
His example, all to be removed ; and this expedient
for them ! " It is expedient for you that I go away
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come
unto yoi > Well, but would they not be better
* John xiv. 11.

IHE PEOMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIKE. 5

with Himself than with the Comforter? No; just
the contrary. They would be better with the Com-
forter : He would lead them into all truth ; whereas
now they are constantly misapplying the plain words
of Christ. He would bring all things to their re-
membrance ; wrhereas now they often forget in a day
or two the most remarkable teaching, or the most
amazing miracles. He would take the things of
Christ, the things of the Father, and reveal them
unto them ; whereas now they constantly misappre-
hended His relation to the Father, and that of the
Father to Him, misapprehended His person, His
mission, and His kingdom. Again, He would con-
vince the icorld of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment to come ; and this is not as one teacher
limited by a local personality, but as a Spirit dif-
fused abroad throughout the earth. And He would
abide with them forever, not for "a little while."
Whatever, therefore, Christ's personal presence and
teaching had been to them, the presence of the
Spirit would be more. *
* Having thus strongly pre-occupied their minds
with the hope ef a greater joy than even His own
countenance, the Master laid down His life. Stun-
ned, dispersed, and desolate, they felt themselves
orphans indeed. Their Master ignominiously exe-
cuted, and neither the word of John nor His own
word fulfilled : no Comforter, no baptism, no fire !

6 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Soon He re-appeared, and, as they were met to
gether for the first time since His death, once more
stood in the midst of them. He breathed upon
them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."
With that word, doubtless, both peace and power
were given; yet it was not the baptism of firev
During forty days he conversed with them on the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God ; assign-
ing to them the work of proclaiming and establish-
ing that kingdom to the ends of the earth. One
injunction, however, He laid upon them, which
seemed to defer the effect of others. They were to
go into all the world, yet not at once, or uncondi-
tionally. " Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till
ye be endued with power from on high." Appa-
rently more ready to interpret " power" as referring
to the hopes of their nation than to the kingdom of
grace, they asked, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel ?"*

He had said nothing of a kingdom for Israel, or
in Israel. His speech had been on a higher theme,
and of a wider field: namely, "that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And
ye are witnesses of these things." Such, in various
forms, are the words we find him uttering concern-
ing His kingdom during these forty days. When,
* Acts i. 6.

THE PKOMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIRE. 7

therefore, tliey asked if He would at this time re*
store again the kingdom to Israel, He shortly turned
aside their curiosity. What the Father's designs
were as to Israel nationally ; what the times when
they might again be a kingdom — were points not
for them. They had better work, and nearer at
hand. " It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons, which the Father hath put in His own
power."* " But," He continued, passing at once
from curious questions about the future of Israel,
and unfulfilled prophecy, to His own grand king-
dom : " But ye shall receive power, after that the
Holy Ghost is come upon you." What power ? of
princes, or magistrates ? Nay, quite another power,
for an unearthly work : " And ye shall be witnesses
unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the
earth."

In these words He traces the circles in whicl
Christian sympathy and activity should ever run :
first, Jerusalem, their chief city ; next, Judea, their
native land ; then Samaria, a neighboring country,
inhabited by a race nationally detested by their
countrymen; and finally "the uttermost parts of
the earth." They were neither to seek distant
spheres first, nor to confine themselves always at
home; but to carry the Gospel into all tho woild
* Acts i. 7.

-

8 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

as each country could be reached. This was what
He had before placed in their view — the filling all
the earth with the news of grace, news that repent-
ance and pardon were opened to men by the power
of His atonement. We have no hint that He ever
spake, during the forty days, of other kingdom,
%oyalty, or reign. Not to rule over cities ; not to
speculate on the designs of the Father and the des-
tinies of the Jew ; but to go into the whole world,
tell every creature the story of Christ, was to b<?
their princely work. To found a kingdom not over
men's persons, but "within" their souls ; a kingdom
not of provinces, but of " righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost;" a kingdom to be ^
spread not by the arms of a second Joshua, but by * %
the "witness" of the human voice; a kingdom, the
power of which would not lie in force or policy, or
signs observed in heaven, but in a spiritual power
imparted by the Holy Ghost, and operating in super-
human utterance of heavenly truth ; this was their
embassy. For this were they to be endued with
power from on high. But when was this power, so
long spoken of, to come? Would John's word
ever be fulfilled ? The Master has not forgotten it.
" John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many day8 hence."
At length the promise is brought to a point, and its
fulfillment uear.

THE PBOMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIRE. 9

Already had He proclaimed Himself King, and
marked out the ministers and army, the weapon,
the extent, the badge of citizenship, the statute
law, the royal glory, and the duration of His king-
dom. With His disciples around Him, standing on
a, mountain top, heaven above and earth below, He
thus proclaimed His kingdom : " All power is given
to Me in heaven and in earth :" here was the King.
" Go :" here were the ministers and army — an em-
bassy of peace. " Teach :" here the weapon — the
word of God. " All nations :" here the extent.
" Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :" here the
badge of citizenship. " Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you :"
here the statute law. " And, lo, I am with you :"
here the royal presence and glory of the kingdom.
" Always, unto the end of the world :" here its
duration.* Now again He is rising a hill, convers-
ing with those who had heard this proclamation, as
to their part in the establishment of the kingdom.
He has clearly promised that, before many days,
the long looked-for baptism of fire will come.
That implies, that before many days He will de-
part ; for He ever said that He must first ascend.
He has answered, or rather rebuked, their curious
inquiry as to Israel ; has turned their thoughts
* Matt, xxviii. 19, 20

10 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

again to the descent of the Spirit ; and is just tell-
ing them that, endued with this new power, they
shall bear witness to His glory not only at home
but abroad. " To the uttermost part of the earth,"
is the last word on His lips* — a startling word foi
His peasant auditors, accustomed to limit their
range of thought within the Holy Land. But
He had already said that all power was given to
Him " in heaven and in eaitiu" Did not the faith
of some disciple reel under the Weighs of these
words ?

" In Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,

and tO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH I"

This word is on His lips ; they are steadily watch-
ing Him : He lifts His hands, He pronounces His
blessing ; and in the actf lo, His body, which they
know " has flesh and bones" like their own, begins
to rise ! No wing, no hand, no chariot of fire !
Upward it moves by its own power ; and in that
single action commands the homage of earth : for
our globe has no law so universal and irreversible
as that whereby it binds down all ponderous bodies
to its surface. Here this law gives way, and there-
by the whole mass of the globe yields to the powei
of Christ. This placid movement of that body, up
from the surface of earth into the heights of the
sky, is an open act of sovereignty over the highest
* Acts i. 8. f Luke xxiv. 50.

THE PROMISE OF A BAPTISM OF FIRE. 11

physical law ; whereby Christ " manifested forth

His glory," as Lord and Maker of all physical laws.

His proclamation of kingship is thus acknowledged

by earth wTith its highest homage. Now the

heaven adds its homage, stoops in luminous cloud,

and robes Him for His enthronement. The ever

lasting doors lift up their heads. The King of

Glory enters in. The First-begotten from the

dead, the Prince of the Kings of the earth, sits

down with the Father on His throne ; and from

Him receives the word, " Thy throne, O God, is

forever and ever ; a scepter of righteousness is the

scepter of Thy kingdom !" And again, " Let all

the angels of God worship Him." Within the vail

they worship the Lamb ; and down they speed to

His followers, and tell them that they need not

gaze. As they have seen Him go, so shall they see

Him come, even in the clouds, to judge that world,

of which and of its Princes He is King. Thus

triply is His kingship owned. Earth permits

Him to rise, heaven bows, the angels add their

testimony. All things own Him. Unbelief ia

now impossible. Doubt vanishes away. His word

^ehall not pass unfulfilled The baptism of lire is at

hand.

3

CHAPTER II.

THE WAITING FOIl THE FULFILLMENT.

It is on Thursday, probably in the evening, that
the disciples return to Jerusalem. Their Master
is no more at their head — indeed, no more on
earth ; and as yet His great promise is unfulfilled.
But the scene of the ascension is in their eye ; the
voice of angels in their ear. Jesus is King of
kings, and Lord of lords. The Comforter is
coming " not many days hence." Not with doubt
ing or weeping do they enter the city, but with
16 great joy ;" the joy of a triumph already sealed,
and of hope foreseeing triumphs to come. Most
probably that joy carries their first steps to the
temple.* Oft had they entered it with Him, but
never so triumphantly as now. There they are,
not mourning the absence of their Master, but
" praising and blessing God." Thence they go to
" an upper room." We know not in what street,
* Luke xxiv. 53.

THE WAITING FOR T1IE FULFILLMENT. 13

or on what site ; but there '' abode" a few men
whose names were not then great, but whose
names will never more pass from the memory of
mankind. With them abode also a few women,
who had loved their Lord ; and for the last time
" Mary the mother of Jesus" is named as one of
the little company. Men and women, they now
began to pray, and they " continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication," for the baptism
of fire.

Did they expect to receive it that very night ?
This we know not ; but we do know that then
opened a new era in the intercourse of man with
heaven. As they began to pray, how would they
find all their conceptions of the Majesty on high
changed ! It no longer spread before and beyond
the soul's eyesight, as an unvaried infinity of glory
incomprehensible. The glory was brighter, the in-
comprehensibility remained; but the infinity had
now received a centre. Every beam of the glory
converged toward the person of " God manifest in
the flesh," now "received up into heaven:" the
glory not dissolving the person in its own tide, the
person not dimming the glory by any shade,
though appearing through it as the sun's body
through the light. Perhaps, indeed, the change
was such to their view, as would have struck the
eye of an observer of nature, had one lived on our

14 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

planet at the time when the sun was first set in the
firmament. The light which before had been a
wide and level mystery, now had to his eye a law,
a centre, and a spring. The indistinct view of a
material form amid the seemingly spiritual glory,
gave the feeling that some body akin to our own
globe lay at the center of illumination. This body
was not the cause of the light, not even of the same
nature, but around the body the " exceeding weight
of glory" seemed to hang.

O to feel as felt that heart which first discerned
human nature, in the person of Him who had been
" so marred," set down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high !" The glory of the Father en-
compasing a human form, and beaming from a
human brow ! " If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice,
because I said, I go unto the Father ; for My
Father is greater than I" — was the word of Jesus.
Now that they had seen Him pass within the vail ;
seen the ushering angels attend His entrance, and
heard the music of their voices ; they would net
feel as if He had forsaken them, but as they hud
often felt when the High Priest passed from their
view into the holiest, bearing the blood of atone-
ment, to stand before the Pkesence. " He is out
of sight, but there before the Lord." The first
thought would be one of joy for Him. Peter!
how did thy breast heave when first thou didst be«

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 15

hold, by faith clear as sight, that countenance
which had looked round upon thee from the bar,
now looking down upon thee from the high and
Lofty throne ! Mary Magdalena, who wast bent
under the sevenfold power of the devil when first
that face beamed on thee, who didst fall at His feet
when, just arisen from the dead, He first appeared
to thee ! what was the flow of thy tears, what the
odor of thy joy, when the full truth burst on thy
view, that He had " overcome, and was set down
with the Father on His throne !" And thou, John!
what felt thy bosom when He on whose bosom thine
own head had leaned, appeared to thy mind no
more with such as thee ; but, as " in the beginning,
with God?" And thou, too, Mary the blessed,
through whose soul the sword had gone ! how did
thy " soul magnify the Lord !" how did thy " spirit
rejoice in God thy Saviour," when thy meek eye
saw the infinite accomplish x en t of Gabriel's word,
He shall be Great !

Mingling with this first joy for the Master's
exaltation, and presently rising to the surface and
overspreading all their emotions, would be the feel-
ing, " He has entered for us within the vail ! He
bears our names upon His heart for a memorial
before the Lord ! He maketh intercession for us !"
— Tush ! which of the twelve is it that starts up aa
if a spirit had entered him, and, pointing upward,

16 THE TONGUE OF FIRE,

says to the Brethren ? — " Let us ask the Father in
His name! He said to us, 'Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in My name, He will give it to
you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name:
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.' "*
The angels had often sung together when the
prayer of repenting sinners was heard on high.
Now, for the first time, they hear prayers from
human lips rising to the Throne authorized and ac-
credited by the name of the Only-begotten of the
Father. That name has just been set " above
every name :" and as it echoes through the host
above, with the solemn joy of a hundred believing
voices, " things in heaven" bow. Be man ever so
unworthy, " worthy is the Lamb ;" and His name
covers with justice every request to which it is set
by His authority. What must have been that
moment for the saints in Paradise, who had seen
the Saviour afar off, but never known the joy of
praying directly in His name! Father Abraham
had " rejoiced to see His day; and he saw it and
was glad." What would be his gladness now, that
earth and heaven were rejoicing in His name !
David, to whom He was at once Lord and Son —
what would be " the things" which in that wonder-
ful moment his tongue would speak " touching the
King ?»

* John xvi. 2S 24.

THE WATTING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 1

h

From tho hour that sin entered into the world,
the Just One had never given man audience on
terms fit only for the innocent. An upright inferior
may approach Majesty, not without reverence, but
without shame or atonement. The admission of 3
criminal on the same footing wrould be wrong.
Right in our governments is the imperfect reflec-
tion of a perfect right. Had the favor of the Al-
mighty crossed the line which divides innocence
from guilt, and smiled upon the latter, that smile
would have been a scathing flash, wherein all
morals would have blackened. Sinful man had not
been hopelessly banished from the presence of God;
but he had ever been taught to come displaying a
sign of wrath, of death, which is the wages of sin ;
thus declaring to the universe that he appealed not
to a justice which had never been offended ; but to
a justice which had been satisfied.

The altar had been the Patriarch's place of
prayer. The temple, where was the perpetual
offering, had been the center to which every pray-
ing Israelite turned. To approach the Eternal
Godhead as if no evil had been done, and no stroke
merited, was never yet the privilege of a creature
who had done wrong. It was wonderful, yea,
mysterious, that such could be allowed to approach
at all ; but the Lord would ever justify His permis-
sion, by demanding clear and express reference to

18 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

that propitiation, which He has set forth to de-
clare His own righteousness, in that marvelous
act of lifting the guilty into the mansions of the
good.

How great the transition from these symbols of
the Atonement to the full view of its reality!
During the forty days Jesus had opened their
understanding, pointed out to them the Scriptures
which bore upon His death, and showed its con-
nection with remission of sins for mankind. They
now looked no more to temple or to altar. They
had before them the true sacrifice completed. He
had "purged their sins," and, in the same body
wherein He had done so, was standing before the
Father.

He had given them authority to use his name.
With that name their petitions carried the assent
of 'all the rational and moral creation. The eternal
Father in holding communion with beings who had
dene wrong, exposed no sinless being to doubts as
to whether right and wrong were equal. He had
" made peace through" Christ's " blood," had thus
44 reconciled all things to Himself' — to Himself in
the new and mysterious proceeding of government,
whereby the doers of wrong were spared the effects
of wrong-doing. " For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell ; and, having made
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT 19

reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven."* So that creatures " in heaven," all
whose joy depended on their never doing wrong,
had no murmur to raise, and no temptation to
undergo, when they saw creatures " on earth,"
who had followed ways which would make any
world sorrowful, received into the arms of Eternal
Mercy. The guilty He reconciled by forgiving
their sin, and recovering their hearts ; and the in-
nocent He reconciled to see offenders exalted, by
"setting forth" so conspicuously that all angels
desired to look into it, " a propitiation," which fully
"declared His righteousness," His strict care of
right ; which magnified law, magnified holiness,
magnified obedience, and, in the act of saving the
guilty, magnified beyond all previous conception
the heinousness of guilt. What sense of the dis-
tinction between right and wrong could have been
maintained among innocent creatures, had they
seen transgressors raised to favor and honor with-
out atonement ?

O the joy of that first hour of praying in the
name of Christ ! Was not Martha there ? As she
met the Master on that mournful day, wrhen Lazarua
lay in the tomb, though despairing, she said, " But
I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask
* Col. L, 19, 20.

20 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

of God, God will give it thee." If such was her
confidence then, what would be her confidence now
s— He asking for her, and she asking in His name !
How the souls of the disciples, following Him above
the sky, would soar, with a new wing, a new eye,
and a new song ! What simple and glowing col-
lects would they be which were uttered then !
What words of joy and supplication would he pour
forth who first bethought him of putting the Lord
in remembrance of His own promises ! What
short and burning petitions would go up from the
lips which first quoted, u Whatsoever ye shall ask
the Father in My name, He shall give it you!"
How would he plead who first remembered, " Ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you !" How
would tones of desire and triumph mingle in the
first repetition of, "All things whatsoever ye ask
in prayer believing, ye shall receive !" None of
their prayers are recorded. We have ancient col-
lects, and beautiful they are ; but none of these
most ancient are preserved. The Spirit has not
seen it good to hand down the strong and tender
collects of these ten, or of the following days.
Then surely it is unlawful to impose good forms of
prayer upon all men because ancient saints wrote
them.

He wrho wdll never use a form in public prayer,
casts away the wisdom of the past. He who will

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 21

ase only forms, casts away the hope of utterance
to be given by the Spirit at present, and even
shuts up the future in the stiff hand of the past.
Whatever Church forbids a Christian congregation,
no matter what may be their fears, troubles, joys,
or special and pressing need, ever to send up
prayer to God, except in words framed by other
men in other ages, uses an authority which was
never delegated. To object to all forms is narrow-
ness. To doom a Christian temple to be a place
wherein a simple and impromptu cry may never
arise to heaven, is superstition.

Does any one of the hundred and twenty, ever
in paradise, up to this moment forget the hour of
prayer that Thursday night, after they had returned
from Olivet ?

The Friday morning dawns. It was on Friday
the Lord had died. Would He not send His prom-
ised substitute to-day? O how His cross would
all day long stand before the eye of every disciple !
Now came back all His wrords about the death
" which He should accomplish ;" from the night
when He told Nicodemus that, as the serpent had
been lifted up, so must He, up to the night in which
He said, " The hour is come" — words dark at the
time, but pointed to-day as the steel of arrows.
What had been mysl ery, was mystery no longer,

22 THE TOXGUE OF FIRE.

Now the only mystery was, "What manner of
love!" Was it on that day that John's fiery heart—
the heart which had rebuked the man who followed
not them, which washed to burn the inhospitable
villagers, and to be, with his brother, head of ah
— was it then this heart fully embraced the mean-
ing of the agony witnessed by him so close at
hand, as compared with the others, and written
upon it forever ? Was it then it first saw all
the import of the words, " God so loved the
world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that
whosoever belie veth in Him, should not perish,
but have everlasting life ?" and that the " son
of thunder" was transformed into the child of
charity ?

Never before had the thought of man alternated
between two such scenes, as those which divided
the eye of every soul in that praying company : a
cross, a drooping head, hands bleeding, feet bleed-
ing, heaven black, thieves on either side, gibes be-
low ; and a preternatural sorrow on the soul of the
sufferer, which cast over the whole an infinite dread-
fulness. On this the eye looks one moment, and
weeps. Then a throne, high and lifted up; the
glory of the Lord ; angels bowing ; angels singing ;
saints with palm, and harp, and voice acclaiming ;
and in the center of all might, majesty, and domin-
bii, the crucified body, living, but with its wounds,

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 23

*cas slain." On this the same eye looks, and weeps
again. O for the feelings of that day !

Yet the Friday wears away, and no " baptism of
fire !" The Saturday sets in ; its hours are Med up
as before with prayyer ; but no answer. And now
dawns the first day of the week, the day whereon
He rose, the first Lord's day He had passed on His
throne of glory. How did they spend that day ?
Surely they would fully expect that the blessing
they sought would be delayed no longer. He said,
" Not many days:" this was the fourth day; it
must come to-day ! But the evening steals on, and
all their prayers might have risen into a Heaven
that could not hear. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
pass. Their faith does not fail ; still in the temple
" praising and blessing God," or in the upper room
in " prayer and supplication," they continue of one
accord. Though He tarry, yet will they wait for
Him.

This is waiting. Some speak of waiting for sal-
vation as if it meant making ourselves at ease, and
dismissing both effort and anxiety. Who so waits
for any person or any event ? When waiting, your
mind is sot on a certain point ; you can give your-
self to nothing else. You are looking forward, and
preparing; every moment of delay increases the
sensitiveness of your mind as to that one thing. A
servant waiting for his master, a wife waiting for

24 THE T0KGUE OF FIKE.

the footstep of her husband, a mother waiting for
her expected boy, a merchant waiting for his richly
laden ship, ?„ sailor waiting for the sight of land, a
monarch waiting for tidings of the battle : all these
are cases wherein the mind is set on one object, and
can not easily give attention to another.

" To-morrow will be Thursday, a full week from
the ascension : that will be the day, the term of the
promise will not extend further. To-morrow the
Comforter will come ; to-morrow we shall be bap-
tized with fire, and fitted to do the works our Mas-
ter did, ' yea, greater works than these.' " So they
would probably settle it in their mind. The Thurs-
day finds them, as before, "of one accord in one
place ;" no Thomas absent through unbelief. How
the scene of that day week would return to their
view ! How they would over and over again in
mind repeat the walk from Jerusalem to Olivet;
each recalling what He said to the Master, and what
the Master said to him ; each thinking he had got
such a look as he never got before, and as he should
not forget so long as he lived ! How they would
repeat the last words ! " Ye shall receive potter,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." In
the repetition new faith would kindle. " Yes, we
shall; let us wait on; we shall 'be endued with
power from on high.' " Then another would re»
peat, " An 1 ye shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusa-

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 25

lern, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the
uttermost parts of the earth." This was vast Ian*
guage for them, whose thoughts were wont to move
only in the sphere of Palestine. Probably they did
not so much weigh the import of the terms as look
at the main promise. They should be endued with
the power of the Holy Ghost — that power which
had made Psalmists and Prophets ; had rendered
the words of Elijah stronger than the decrees of
Ahab, the words of Elisha stronger than the armies
of Syria, the words of Isaiah as coals from the altar,
and the words of Daniel mightier than the spitit of
& king and " a thousand of his captains." Baptized
with the same Spirit, they were to proclaim what
these foretold, but never saw : the Child born, the
Son given, the Prince cut off for sin, but not His
own, the Lamb on whom were laid the iniquities of
all. All this they had seen fulfilled in the person of
their glorious Lord. All this they had heard ex-
plained by His own lips before and after his death.
They were to go and prove to others, as He had
proved to them, that "thus it was written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again
the third day ; and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

Here again they encountered the intimation that
their message was for all, and their testimony to be

26 THE TONGUE OF FIEEt

borne to the uttermost parts of the earth. Yet stiL
it seems not the sphere, but the purport, of their
commission now occupied their mind. They were
to go, and as He had preached, so would they, far
and wide, in cities and villages. In what tones
would they tell the people that as He used to say to
those who came to Him, "Be of good cheer, thy
sins be forgiven thee," so would He now say from
Heaven to all who lifted an eye to Him !

But the day wears on, and no blessing. Is not
the delay long? " Not many days!" Does the
promise hold good ? They must have felt disap-
pointed as the evening fell, and no sign of an an-
swer to their oft-repeated prayer. Now is the hour
of trial. Will their faith fail ? Will some begin to
forsake the meetings which bring not the baptism
they seek ? Will some stay at home, or " go a fish-
ing," saying that they will wait the Lord's time, and
not be unwarrantably anxious about what, after all,
does not depend on them, but on the Lord? Will
no one say, "We have done our duty, and must
leave results. We can not command the fulfillment
of the promise. We have asked for it, asked sin
cerely, fervently, repeatedly : we can do more ?"

Or, what is equally probable, will they begin to
find out that the cause why they remain unblessed,
and yet " orphans," lies in the unfaithfulness of their
companions? Happily the spirit of faith and love

THE WAITING FOR THE FULFILLMENT. 27

abides upon them. John does not turn upon Peter,
and say, "It is your fault; for you denied the Mas-
ter." Philip does not turn to John and say, " It is
your fault; for you and James wanted to lord it
over us all." Andrew does not turn to Thomas, and
say, " It is your fault ; for you would not believe,
even when we had declared it to you." The Sev-
enty do not say, "It is the fault of the Twelve; for,
after the Lord had lifted them above us all, one of
them sold Him, another denied Him, and a third
disbelieved Him." The Marys do not say, " It is the
fault of the whole company, a cold and unfaithful
company, professing to love the Master to His face,
but the moment He fell into the hands of His ene-
mies, ye all forsook Him, and fled !"

Well did they know that they had been slow of
heart; been unworthy of such a Teacher; often
grieved Him, and made Him ask, " How long shall
I be with you?" John would never forget the re-
buke, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are
of." Peter* would never forget, the third time,
" Lovest Thou Me ?" Philip would never forget,
" Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known Me, Philip ?" And surely Thomas
would never forget, " Be not faithless, but believ-
ing."

Yet they knew He had not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. His own lips

28 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

had said, " He that is whole hath no need of a phy^
sicion, but he that is sick." Had He not taken to
His bosom the very head whose heats of ambition
and of vindictiveness He had rebuked? Had He
not said to Peter, " Feed my lambs ?" Had He not
said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy hand?" His
promise was not made because they were a Church
without spot or wrinkle ; but because they were
feeble, and, deprived of His own presence, would
be orphans indeed, did no other power cover them.
He knew every fault with which either of them
could charge the others ; yet the promise had passed
His lips, and the fire would fall even on them, un-
worthy as they were. Happy for them, that none
fancied he could fix upon others the cause of their
unanswered prayers !

The Thursday is gone ; eight days ! The Friday
and the Saturday follow it, marked by the same4
persistency in union, in praise, in prayer, and by the
same absence of encouragement. Ten days gone !
the promise, " Not many days," is all but broken.

Peter was always warm and earnest. A thought
of his had hardly time to become a thought before
*t turned into either word or action. When once
his mind had embraced the glorious idea of stand-
ing up before the world a witness for his ascended
Master, it would seem as if the whole plan was to
be carried out in a day. One can not help imagin-

\

THE WAITLNTG FOR THE FULl^LLMEOT. 29

ing how lie bore the restraint of the ten days — the
days of prayer, of belief, of waiting — in which they
were not permitted to begin their work.

" Strange !" we almost hear him say, " Strange !
The Lord has died that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all
nations. He has finished the work, risen from the
dead, and led captivity captive. The Heavens have
received Him. The angels proclaim Him. Us He
took from our homes ; how He taught, and trained,
and practiced us ; all, as we now see, for this work
of proclaiming His love and the pardon it brings to
all mankind ! Here we are, unfitted for every other
calling. His commission is to us as a Prophet's call,
as a King's anointing. He said, 'Go into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.'
We want to go. Men stand in need : they are dy-
ing daily ; dying in unbelief. Why does He not
permit us to go ? Why is the first command so
long suspended by the other? c Tarry ye in the
city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high.' We have tarried ten days. Why
does our Master delay? The world needs the
sound of His Gospel; we are waiting to bear it
forth. He is exalted at God's right hand, and all
power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth ;
yet does He look down upon the world sleeping a
Bleep unto death, and upon us waiting to blow the

30 THE TOKGUE 0E FIKE.

trumpet ! Is not His instruction, His commission,
enough ? We are ordained, after much teaching :
may we not go? No; we must abide by His
word : ' Tarry until ye be endued with power from
on high.' "

The final proof given by Peter that he was wait-
ing indeed, making all preparations for the event,
was in calling upon his brethren to fill up the num-
ber of the Apostles. One had fallen. His place
was vacant ; and another was to take his " bishop-
ric." Peter concluded that they were to fill up this
vacancy, and called upon the company to select two
men. No one objected that it remained to be seen
whether they should be endued with power or not.
All acted as feeling the certainty that the Holy
Spirit was about to come, and the apostolic com
mission to be fulfilled to the ends of the earth.

CHAPTER III.

THE FULFILLMENP OF THE PROMISE.

There was a day when death had struck a woefu!
stroke, and raised a nation's wail. "There was a
great cry in the land of Egypt : for there was not
a house where there was not one dead." That same
day the Lord, by the sprinkling of a pure lamb's
blood, averted death from the doors of Israel, and
then led them away from yoke and task-master
toward the goodly land. Fifty days afterward they
reached the Mount of God, where He manifested
Himself in the thunder of His power, with flame
and trumpet, and a voice, whereat all the tribes did
tremble. Then was the new dispensation formally
inaugurated w^ith the voice and the flame ; its cov-
enant sealed by sprinkling of blood, and its privi-
leges opened to the sprinkled by the vision of
glory, when the Elders "s'aw the God of Israel:
and there was under His feet as it were a paved
work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body
of heaven in his clearness."*

* E^od. xxiv. 10-

32 THE TONGUE OF F1KE.

This time of note was come, the fifty days were
elapsed from the time when the Lamb was slain, and
captivity broken. Forty days He had been with
them after His resurrection ; the rest He had passed
within the vail. And was it not possible that in
saying, " Not many days," He pointed them forward
to the day which commemorated the opening of the
new dispensation of God to Israel by the hand of
His servant Moses ? Was it not probable that the
glorious dispensation of His Son would be opened
at this time ? Unbelief would have long ago ceased
to expect ; but faith would probably renew its an-
ticipations, and look to this day.*

On the morning of the resurrection, some — the
women — were early at the tomb ; but the othera
were sauntering into the country, or here and there,
with nothing to wait for, as they thought; yet
partly expecting something to come to their ears.
Even late in the day, when they did meet to hear
what some had seen and heard, Thomas was away.
Now, however, after ten days have elapsed, their
patience is not exhausted. They do expect, and
therefore will not cease to wait. They have no at-
tention for any thing else. The kingdom of God is
at hand. Did He not say, " Not many days ?" Ten

* Among the many writers on the temporal relation between
the Pentacost and the Passovar, no one is familiar or clearer
than Kuinop".

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE. 33

are gone ; and the conclusion is, not that of servants
too idle to wait : "Our Lord delayeth His coming
we may as well sit still. He will come in His own
good time." That is not waiting : it is idling. They
said, in their believing hearts, " Ten days are gone ;
therefore the day of our Lord draweth nigh. This
is the day of Pentecost ; and as the fire appeared
" on Sinai, in the presence of our fathers, when God
made His covenant by Moses, it may be that to-day
He will seal His covenant by the hand of the
Prophet whom Moses foresaw, baptizing us with
fire, according to the word wherein He hath made
His servants to hope."

No Thomas is absent now ! Not one heart has
failed ! " They are all in one place." No discord
or doubt have they permitted to arise : " they are
all with one accord in one place." Nor are they
slow or late. We are not told at what hour they
met, but it must have been very early ; for aftei
they had received the baptism, and filled all Jeru-
salem with the noise of their new powers, Peter re-
minded the multitude, who came together, that it
was only the third hour of the day — nine o'clock in
the morning.

Early, then, on the second Lord's day after the
Ascension, is the entire company met, with one
heart, to renew their oft-repeated prayer. We can
Qot go to the house where was that upper room ;

34 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

nor to the site where it stood. These points are
left unnoticed, after the mode of Christianity, which
is in nothing a religion of circumstances, in every
thing a religion of principles. "We know not how
long they had that morning urged their prayer, nor
whose voice was then crying to Him wTho had
promised, nor what word of the Master he was
pleading, nor what feelings of closer expectation
and more vivid faith were warming the breasts of
the disciples. But " suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind." Not,
mark you, a wind ; no gale sweeping over the city
struck the sides of the house, and rustled round it.
But "from heaven" directly downward fell "a
sound," without shape, or step, or movement to ac-
count for it — a sound as if a mighty wind were
rushing, not along the ground, but straight from
on high, like showers in a dead calm. Yet no
wind stirred. As to motion, the air of the room
was still as death ; as to sound, it was awful as a
hurricane.

Mysterious sound, whence comest thou ? Is it
the Lord again breathing upon them, but this time
from His throne ? Is it the wind of Ezekiel pre-
paring to blow ? Shaken by this supernatural sign,
we may see each head bow low. Then timidly
turning upward, John sees Peter's head crowned
with fire ; Peter sees James crowned with fire

THE FULFILLIklEOT OF THE PROMISE. 35

James sees Nathanael crowned with fire ; N athan-
ael sees Mary crowned with fire ; and round and
round the fire sits " on each of them." The Lord
has been mindful of His promise. The word of the
Lord is tried. John was a faithful witness. Jesus
was a faithful Redeemer. He is now glorified ; for
the Holy Ghost is given. Jesus "being by the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath
shed forth this."

The instant effect of the descent of the Spirit en
the first Gentile converts in the house of Cornelius
was, that they began to "magnify God."* The
effect would be the same in this first case. That
bosom has yet to learn what is the feeling of moral
sublimity, which never has been suddenly heaved
with an emotion of uncontrollable adoration to God
and the Lamb — an emotion which, though no voice
told whence it came, by its movement in the depths
of the soul, further down than ordinary feelings
reach, did indicate somehow that the touch of the
Creator was traceable in it. They only who have
felt such unearthly joy need attempt to conceive
the outburst of that burning moment. Body, soul,
and spirit, glowing with one celestial fire, would
blend, and pour but their powers in a rapturous
"Glory be to God!" or "Blessed be the Lord
* See Baumgarten.

36 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

God !" Modern believers — not those who nevef
unite in simple and fervent supplications at the
throne of grace, but those who meet and urge with
long-repeated entreaty their requests to God — can
recall times which help them to imagine what must
have been the peal of praise that burst from the
hearts of the hundred and twenty, when the bap-
tism fell upon their souls; times when they and
their friends have felt as if the place where they
met was filled with the glory of the Lord.

One word as to the mode of this baptism. In
this case we have the one perfectly clear account
contained in Scripture of the mode wherein the
baptizing element was applied to the person of the
baptized. The element here is fire ; the mode is
shedding down — " hath shed forth this." " It sat
upon each of them." Did baptism mean immer-
sion, they would have been plunged into the fire,
not the fire shed upon them. The only other case
in which the mode of contact between the baptizing
element and the baptized persons is indicated, is
this : "And were all baptized to Moses in the cloud
and in the sea." They were not dipped in the
cloud, but the cloud descended upon them ; they
were not plunged into the sea, but the sea sprinkled
them as they passed. The Spirit signified by the
water is never once promised under the idea of dip

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE. 37

ping. Such an expression as, " I will immerse yon
in My Spirit," " I will plunge you in My Spirit," or,
" I will dip you in clean water," is unknown to the
Scripture. But, "I will pour out My Spirit upon
you," u I will sprinkle clean water upon you," is
language and thought familiar to all readers of the
Bible. The word " dip," or " dipped," does not
often occur in the New Testament ; but when
it does, the original is never " baptize," or " bap-
tized."*

The fire is not a shapeless flame. It is not
Abram's lamp, nor the pillar of the desert, nor the
coal of Isaiah, nor the infolding flame of Ezekiel.
It is a tongue; yea, cloven tongues. On each
brow glows a sheet of flame, parted into many
tongues. Here was the symbol of the new dispen-
sation. Christianity was to be a Tongue of Fire.
It was a symbol of their " power," the power
whereby the new kingdom was to be built up ; the
power for which they had so long to tarry, and so
eagerly to pray, when all other things were pre-
pared ; for which the whole arrangement for tho
world's conversion was commanded to stand still.
The appearance of this one symbol was the signal
that former ones had waxed old, and were ready to
vanish away. Altar and cherubim, sacrifice and ir
* It is always Barrro, never Bair-ify.

38 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

cense, ephod and breast-plate, Urim and Thummim
- — their work was done. Even of the most sacred
emblem of all, that which was the "pattern of
things in the heavens," the Ark itself, it had been
foretold, "They shall say no more, The Ark of
the Covenant of the Lord ; neither shall it como
to mind ; neither shall they remember it ; neither
shall they visit it ; neither shall it be magnified
any more." Of the temple itself the Master
had said, that not one stone should be left upon
another.

All the emblems of the old dispensation were
now forever superseded. In their room the Lord
had appointed only two ; and they chosen with a
singular aptness at once to suggest ideas, and to
avoid image representation : the water, wherein the
mind could see a symbol of the cleansing Spirit, but
the eye no attempted likeness : the bread and wine,
wherein the body and the blood are forcibly
brought to mind, but no personal similitude set be-
fore the eye. These two only were the unartistio
emblems which Christ had ordained for His Church.
His was to be a religion of the understanding and
the heart ; wholly resting on the convictions and
the principles, building nothing on sense, and per-
mitting nothi?ig to fancy.

In strict keeping with this spiritual stamp of
Christianity, was the symbol whi3h, once for all,

THE FCTOTLLMENT OF THE PROMISE. 39

announced to the Church the advent of her con*
quering power — the power by which she was to
stand before kings, to confound synagogues, to
silence councils, to still mobs, to confront tho
learned, to illuminate the senseless, and to inflame
the cold — the power by which, beginning at Jeru-
salem, where the name of Jesus was a by-word, she
was to proclaim His glory through all Judea,
throughout Samaria, and throughout the uttermost
^v parts of the earth. The symbol is a tongue, the
only instrument of the grandest war ever waged :
a tongue — man's speech to his fellow man ; a mes-
sage in human words to human faculties, from the
understanding to the understanding, Irom the
heart to the heart. A tongue of fire — man's voice,
God's truth ; man's speech, the Holy Spirit's inspir-
ation ; a human organ, a superhuman power : Not
one tongue, but cloven tongues ; as the speech of
men is various, here we see the Creator taking to
Himself the language of every man's mother ; so
that in the very words wherein he heard her say,
" I love thee," he might also hear the Father of all
say, " I love thee."

How does that tire-symbol, shining on the brow
of the primitive Church, rebuke that system which
would force all men to worship God in one tongue,
and that not a tongue of fire, but a dead tongue,
wherein ro man now on earth can hear his mother's

40 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

tones ! Cloven tongues sat on eacli of them ; so
that each had not only the fire-impulse to go and
tell aloud the message of reconciliation, but also
the fire-token that all mankind, of whatever nation,
kindred, people, or tongue, were heirs alike of the
Gospel salvation, and of the word whereby that
salvation is proclaimed.

Blessed be the hour when that Tongue of Firs
descended from the Giver of speech into a cold
world ! Had it never come, my mother might
have led me, when a child, to see slaughter for
worship, and I should have taught my little ones
that stones were gods. " Blessed be the Lord God,
the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things !
And blessed be His glorious name forever : and let
the whole earth be filled with His glory ! Amen
and Amen !"

CHAPTER I .

EFFECTS WHICII IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED THE
BAPTISM OF FIRE.

SECTION I. — SPIRITUAL EFFECTS.

The first effect which followed this baptism of
fire is thus described : " They were all filled with
the Holy Ghost." This expression is so clearly
joined with the record of the miracle, that we
easily suppose that it is itself intended to express
miraculous inspiration ; but this is not its constant,
nor even its most frequent, use in the New Testa-
ment. It is sometimes employed to describe an
inspiration antecedent to a miraculous manifesta-
tion, and sometimes one antecedent to a purely
moral manifestation. Examples of the latter occur
in several cases of "speaking the word of God
with boldness," when the circumstances were such
that human nature unassisted would have shrunk
from the danger.

John the Baptist wrought no miracle ; yet of

42 TUB TONGUE OF FIREL

him it was said, that he should be " filled with the
Holy Ghost from his mother's womb." Here the
expression denotes some inward and spiritual ope-
ration, which may take place in the silence of an
infant's heart, and show its fruit in the quiet ways
of childhood. Had he been filled with the Holy
Ghost immediately before commencing to preach.,
we should have connected the former with the
latter, as an official, rather than as an inward and
moral qualification. When men were required to
fill the office of Deacons — not to work miracles, not
to speak with tongues, but to promote the brother-
hood and good feeling of the Church, by a better
regulation of its daily relief to the poor — the quali-
fication demanded was, that they should be " men
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom." Again,
Barnabas " was a good man and full of the Holy
Ghost and of faith." This is said of him, not as
accounting for any miracles or tongues, but in rela-
tion to the fact that, when he had seen the converts
at Antioch, "he was glad, and exhorted them all
that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto
the Lord." Again, when the Apostles were first
called to bear witness for Christ before the Rulers,
" Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto
them," etc. Here we have no working of miracles,
no speaking with foreign tongues ; but we find the
man who, when left to his own strength, denied his

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 43

Master, now filled with a moral power which makes
him bold to confess that Master's name, before the
rulers of his people, and with a wisdom to speak
according at once to the oracles of God, and th
exigency of the moment.

After this first persecution was reported to the
disciples generally, they, moved and distressed, ap-
pealed to the Lord in prayer, crying, " And now,
Lord, behold their threatenings ; and grant unto
Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak
Thy word." The answer to this prayer is recorded
in terms more striking than in any other case, ex-
cept that of Pentecost : " And when they had
prayed, the place was shaken where they were as-
sembled together ; and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with
boldness." Here, being " filled with the Holy
Ghost" was not followed by any miraculous effects
whatever, but was an inspiration, the result of
which is special moral strength — strength to con-
front danger and shame — strength to declare all the
Gospel, though, in so doing, they periled every
interest dear to them.

Our Lord had promised to His disciples mirac-
ulous light and power by the Spirit ; but it was
not as a miracle-working power that He had chiefly
foretold His coming. It was as a spiritual power, a
comforter, a guide unto all truth, a revealev of

44 THE TONGUE OF PIKE.

the things of God, a remembrancer of the words
of Christ ; one who would convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; one who
would embolden the Lord's servants to bear wit-
ness before the most terrible adversaries, and
would guide their lips to wise and convincing
speech. Had it been His design that they should
expect the Holy Spirit chiefly as a miraculous power,
the leading promises would have had this aspect.

When He first clearly proclaims that the Com-
forter should come as a substitute for His own pres-
ence, he marks the classes wiio shall know Him,
and those who shall not. The distinction between
them lies not in apostleship or ministry, not in gifts
or powers, but in being of the world, and " not of
the world." "Whom the world can not receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:
but ye know Him ; for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you."* Not, " For He will work mira-
cles by you." That wTas not promised to all. Not,
"He will prophesy by you." That He did not
promise to all. But He did promise to all who are
"not of the world," that He should dwell with
them and be in them. Nor is this promise confined
to the apostolic age, or to the times immediately
succeeding. "That He may abide with you for-
ever," gives an interest hi the personal influences
* John xiv. It.

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 45

of the Comforter to the disciples of all ages, as well
as to those of the first days.

This promised substitute for the personal presence
of Christ, was one whom the world should not see—
who was to be invisible to the natural eye, undis-
cernible by the natural mind ; yet known and dis-
cerned by believers, though not seen ; known, not
by outward sign, but by inward consciousness. Our
Lord's expression is to be strictly noted: "The
world seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him ; but ye
know Him :" not, " Ye see and know Him." In one
respect the disciples and the world were to be alike ;
neither should see Him. Yet the disciples should
"know" Him; for "He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." Their knowledge of Him was to
come not by sense, but by consciousness. Was this
" being in them" to be an ordinary grace of be-
lievers, or to be coupled only with office or super-
natural endowments ? The want of it is made by
St. Paul conclusive against the claim of any man to
be considered even a member of Christ : " Ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." This
passage, however, like many others, expresses only
a participation of the Spirit in some degree, without
indicating what that degree might be ; leaving it
open to doubt, were there no other passages bearing

46 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

upon the point, whether some might not be blessed
with the indwelling of the Spirit, who yet were tc
be debarred from the fuller privilege expressed in
the strong words, "filled with the Holy Ghost."

The Apostles themselves had doubtless received
the Spirit in some measure before the day of Pen-
tecost ; for our Lord had breathed upon them im-
mediately after His resurrection, and said, "Receive
ye the Holy Ghost." Yet in the time w^hich inter-
vened between that and Pentecost, whatever might
have been the advancement of their spiritual condi-
tion beyond what it was before, it rested far behind
that which immediately followed upon the baptism
of fire. It was only then that they were "filled
with the Holy Ghost." We find, however, that
even the expression, " be filled," is applied broadly
to ordinary believers ; and that, too, not merely as
describing the actual enjoyments of some individ-
uals, but as a precept applicable to all : " Be not
drunken with wine, wherein is excess, but be Jilled
icith the Sjoirit." Whatever is meant by being
" filled with the Holy Ghost" is, by these plain
words, laid upon us as our duty. Looking at it in
the aspect of a duty, and thinking of the moral
height which the expression indicates above our
ordinary life, we shrink. Can such an obligation
lie upon us ? Is it not commanding the purblind to
gaze upon the sun ? And yet, vtfiatever is the duty

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 47

of man must be the tcill of God. In this view,
then, the commandment seems to carry even a
Btronger encouragement than the promise — seems,
in fact, to sum up many promises in one conclusive
appeal, saying, "All things are now ready. The
Lord has provided ; the fountain is open ; the pure
river of the water of life, clear as crystal, is pro-
ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb;
you are called to its banks, and with you it rests to
drink and be filled with the Spirit."

He who has not received the Holy Ghost has not
yet entered into the real Christian life, does not
know the "peace which passeth understanding,"
has in no sense " Christ in Him the hope of glory."
He is still " in the flesh," in his natural and carnal
state ; for the Spirit of God does not dwell in him.
The difference between receiving the Spirit and
being filled w7ith the Spirit, is a difference not of
kind, but of degree. In the one case, the light of
heaven has reached the dark chamber, disturbing
night, but leaving some obscurity and some deep
shadows. In the other, that light has filled the
whole chamber, and made every corner bright.
This state of the soul — being " filled with the Holy
Ghost" — is the normal antecedent of true prophetio
or miraculous power, but may exist without it:
without it, in individuals who are never endowred
with the gift either of prophecy or of miracles;

48 THE TOKGUE OF FIRE.

without it, in individuals who have such powers, but
in whom they are not in action, as in John the Bap-
tist before his ministry commenced.

Eyesight is the necessary basis of what is called
a painter's or a poet's eye ; the sense of hearing,
the necessary basis of what is called a musical ear :
yet eyesight may exist where there is no poet's or
painter's eye, and hearing where there is no musical
ear. So may the human soul be "filled with the
Holy Ghost," having every faculty illuminated, and
every affection purified, without any miraculous
gift. On the other hand, the miraculous power
does not necessarily imply the spiritual fullness; for
Paul puts the supposition of speaking with tongues,
prophesying, removing mountains, and yet lacking
charity, that love which must be shed abroad in
every heart that is full of the Holy Ghost.

"Filled with the Holy Ghost!" Thrice blessed
word ! thanks be to God, that e^er the tongues of
men were taught it ! It declares not only that the
Lord has returned to His temple in the human soul,
but that He has filled the house with His glory ;
pervaded every chamber, every court, by His man-
ifested presence.

"That ye might be filled with all the fullness of
God," is a prayer at which we falter. Is it not too
much to ask ? Is it not a sublime flight after the
impossible? Let us remember it is not, " That ye

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 49

might coDtaia all the fullness of God." That would
be more impossible than that your chamber should
contain all the light of the sun. But it can be filled
with the light of the sun— so filled that not a par-
ticle of unillumiu^d air shall remain within it.
When, therefore, the hand of the Apostle leads
you up toward the countenance of your Father ;
when you approach to see the light which outshines
all lights, "the glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus," put away all thought of containing what
the heavens can not contain; but, humbly open-
ing thy heart, say, "Infinite Light, fill this little
chamber !"

Reason says, " It may be ;" Scripture says, " It
may be ;" but a shrinking of the heart says, " It
can not be ; we can never 4 be filled with all the
fullness of God.' " When Paul had uttered that
prayer, perhaps this same shrinking of heart had
almost come over him : how does he meet it ?
Glancing down at his wonderful petition, and uj) at
his Almighty King, he breaks out, " ISTow unto Him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us; unto Him be glory in the Church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen." Yea, Amen, ten thousand thousand
times. The words of this doxology had been holy
and blessed in any connection ; but they are doubly

50 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

blessed, closely following, as they do, the prayer
" That ye might be filled with the fullness of God.n
Nor should we forget that the power which Paul
here adores is not some abstract and unmoved
power of Deity, but " the power which worketh in
us." What is this power? The Holy Ghost —
" might by His Spirit in the inner man."

What a labor of expression do we find in 2 Cor
ix. 8, when Paul wants to convey his own idea of
the power of grace, as practically enabling men to
do the will of God ! " And God is able to make
all grace abound toward you ; that ye, always hav-
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every
good work." Here wre have " abound" twice, and
" all" four times, in one short sentence.* "Abound"
means not only to fill, but to overflow. The double
overflow, first of grace from God to us, then of the
same grace from us to " every good work," is a
glorious comment on our Lord's word : " He that
believeth Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of water. But this spake
He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him
should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
The believer's heart, in itself incapable of holy liv
ing, as a marble cistern of yielding a constant

* In the Greek irag occurs five times, the last being irav kpyov
ayadov, rendered, "every good work."

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 51

stream, is placed, like the cistern, in communication
with an invisible source ; the source constantly
overflows into the cistern, and it again overflows.
Happy the heart thus filled, thus overflowing with
the Holy Spirit ! Where is the fountain of those
living waters, that we may bring our heart3
thither ? " He showed me a pure river of water
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb."* There is the fount,
there the stream 5 the Spirit proceeding from
the Father and the Son. To the throne of grace !
to the mercy-seat! and you are at the fountain
of all life. Nor seek a scant supply at that
source. " Be filled with the Spirit," sounds in
your ears ; and, if you believe, not only will a well
" spring up within" you, but rivers shall flow out
from you.

The Spirit, as replenishing the believer with
actual virtues and practical holiness, is ever kept
before our eye in the apostolic writings. " That
ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleas-
ing, being fruitful in every good work, and in-
creasing in the knowledge of God ; strengthened
with all might, according to His glorious power,
unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfnl-
ness."

Putting these various expressions together, what
* Rev. xxii. 1

52 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

a view do tLey give of the riches of grace ! — " all
sufficiency," " in all things," " always," " abound to
every good work," " fruitful in every good work,"
" strengthened with all might," " according to Ilia
glorious powTer," " according to the power which
worketh in us," " filled with all the fullness of God."
Eternal Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the
Son, answer and disperse all our unbelief by filling
our hearts with Thyself!

The expression, "filled with the Holy Ghost,"
places before us the human spirit restored to its
original and highest fellowship. In many respects
that spirit is alone in this world. It finds here
nothing that is its own equal. Every thing upon
which it can look is its inferior in both nature and
powers. Earth and sky, beasts and birds, are the
instruments of its comfort, or the subjects of its
thoughts ; but never can share in its cares or affec-
tions. The fields never say, " We enjoy thy pres-
ence," nor the stars, "We return thine admira-
tion." The lower animals can take no part in its
deep movements of hope and fear ; can shed no
light on its problems of justice, pardon, and the
.world to come. In the spirit of its fellow-man
alone can it find an equal ; and communion with it,
though it often solaces, often both wTounds and
defilos. Yet it is the nature of man to seek an ob-

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 53

ject kindred to himself, but superior. Probably
this is necessary to all natures which are at the
same time rational and finite. But where can man
find a being kindred to himself, and yet superior to
him ? Below the sky he is head, yet upward his
instincts turn — upward toward some one brighter
or greater than himself.

What can answer to those upward aspirations of
the soul ? Its Creator. After years spent in search
of happiness, the human spirit penitently returns
toward its God, and, trusting in the atonement of
His Son, finds forgiveness for the past. Then does
the great Comforter, the Witness of the Father's
love, the Spirit of adoption, give the manifestation
of the Divine favor which David delighted to call
" the light of Thy countenance." This manifesta-
tion may be gentle, or it may be rapturous ; but in
any case it is comforting. When gentlest, it
touches chords of satisfaction more delicate than
were ever reached by the most subtle joy of intel-
lect ; when most rapturous, it carries with it an as-
sent of the whole judgment such as no previous
enjoyment, however tranquil, commanded. The
thirst of the soul has no deeper seat than is now
reached. Wisdom has no remonstrance, expecta-
tion no disappointment, fear no warning. It may
be in a profound calm, it may be in an unspeakable
joy ; but it is with core-deep consciousness that the

54 THE T0XGUE OF FIRE.

soul feels it has now touched, yea, tasted, its si*
preme good, and that, for time or for eternity, it
needs no more than to abide in this blessedness, and
i nprove this fellowship. The gloomy chamber of
which we spoke a little while ago was entered by
the sunbeams noiselessly and impalpably ; no hand
could feel, no ear could hear them as they came ;
nothing but an eye within that chamber could dis-
cern the great change. It remains the same
chamber, with the same contents ; yet every thing
is changed, even to the very air. So it is with the
soul of man when the Lord saith, " My Father will
love him, and We will come unto him, and make
Our abode with him." This is not only the presence
of God with the spirit of man, but a special and a
manifested presence.

How can that be special which is universal ?
God is not far from every one of us ; every man
who moves upon the earth moves in Him. How
then can He be specially present with one man
more than with another ? Strictly speaking, per-
haps it is more a question of manifestation than of
presence. Electric agency may be present every-
where ; but it rarely makes itself visible in a flash
Heat may be present everywhere ; but is not even-
where manifested by fire. Jude said, " Lord, how
is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and
not unto the world ?" God is with all, but is un-

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 55

seen by any eye, and, alas ! undiscerned by many
a spirit. He does not withdraw His presence
from any part of His universe, or His care from
any of His creatures ; but, as a human frame may
be moving amid the light of the sun, and see
no light, so may a soul be moving in that
universe which is fuller of God than the atmos-
phere at noontide is of sunbeams, and yet discern
no God.

All objects require a suitable faculty, or they are
unperceived : sound exists not to the eye ; light
exists not to the ear ; flavor exists not to the
touch. It is of no avail that an object is, unless
our nature has the special faculty whereby we can
descry its presence. A strong magnetic power
may be acting on the compass, whereon the steers-
man concentrates his attention ; but eye, ear, hand,
smell, taste, give no report of its presence to the
mind ; and he first learns that it was there, by the
crash of the ship on a coast which he thought was
far away.

Our Lord said, in reply to Jude, " If any man
love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will love him, and We will come unto him, and
make Our abode with him." This is more than
mere presence. Presence may be unfelt, and there-
fore forgotten ; may be with displeasure, and there-
fore joyless. But this is presence manifested — "We

56 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

will come to him ;" gracious — the coining is from
" love ;" habitual and involving fellowship — both
of these ideas he in, " Make our abode with him."

Two men are walking upon the same plain, and
each turns his face toward the sky. The light of
the sun is shining upon both, but one sees no sun,
wmile the other sees not only light, but the tace of
the sun, and his eye is overpowered with as glory,
What makes the difference between the two ? Not
that one is in darkness, and the other in light ; not
that one is near the sun, and the other far away ;
not that one has an eye differently constituted from
the other ; but simply that there is a thin cloud be-
tween heaven and the one, and no cloud between it
and the other. The latter can not only trace evi-
dence that there is a sun, and that he is up, but has
the presence of that sun before his face, and his
glory filling his eye. So two men stand in relation
to the universal and all-present God. One believes,
infers, intellectually knows, that He is; ay, that Hg
is present ; yet he discerns Him not : it is a matter
of inference, not of consciousness ; and though be-
lieving that God is, and that He is present, he sins
Another spiritually discerns, feels His presence
and he learns to " stand in awe, and sin not."

Suppose the case of a cripple who had spent his
life in a room wrhere the sun was never seen. He
has heard of its existence, he believes in it, and, in

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIBE. bl

deed, lias seen enough of its light to give him high
ideas of its glory. Wishing to see the sun, he is
taken out at night into the streets of an illuminated
city. At first, he is delighted, dazzled; but, after
h e has had time to reflect, he finds darkness spread
amid the lights, and he asks, "Is this the sun?"
He is taken out under the starry sky, and is en-
raptured ; but on reflection finds that night covers
the earth, and again asks, " Is this the sun ?" He
is carried out some bright day at noontide, and no
sooner does his eye open on the sky than all ques-
tion is at an end. There is but one sun. His eye
is content : it has seen its highest object, and feels
that there is nothing brighter. So with the soul : it
enjoys all lights; yet, amid those of art and nature,
is still inquiring for something greater. But when
it is led by the reconciling Christ into the presence
of the Father, and He lifts up upon it the light of
His countenance, all thought of any thing greatei
disappears. As there is but one sun, so there is but
one God. The soul which once discerns and know?
Him, feels that greater or brighter there is none,
and that the only possibility of ever beholding more
glory is by drawing nearer.

The operation of the Holy Spirit implies a quick-
ening of the nature of man by an impartation of
the Divine nature, and every increase of it implies
a fuller communion of the Eternal Father with His

58 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

adopted child. When the soul of man is " filled
with the Holy Ghost," then has God that wherein
He does rejoice, " a temple not made with hands,"
not reared by human art, of unconscio is and insen-
sible material ; a temple created by His own word,
and living by His own breath. In that living tem-
ple He displays somewhat of His glory. In the
Shekinah of the sanctuary He could manifest majesty
only. In this living temple He can manifest truth,
purity, tenderness, forgiveness, justice— the whole
round of such attributes as His children below the
sky are capable of comprehending.

Thus inhabited, not only is the soul of man un-
utterably blessed, but his body reaches dignity, the
thought of which might make even flesh sing. " Your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which ye have of God ; and ye are not your
own." Not your own, for purchase has been made :
" Ye are bought with a price ;" not your own, for
possession has been taken : " Know ye not that ye
are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwetteth in you ^"* A holy man, whose presence
breathes an unworldly air around him, whose name
is identified with a constancy of godly actions, is a
visible monument and remembrancer of God. Each
member of his body is as a temple vessel. By it
hoJy works are done, and the will of the parent
* 1 Cor. iii. 16. etc.

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 59

Spirit on moral points expressed by material instru-
ments. His spirit is led by the Spirit of God,
His "mortal body" is quickened by the Spirit
"that dwelleth in him." He not only "lives in
the Spirit," but " walks in the Spirit" — his visible
acts, as well as his hidden emotions, being " aftei
the Spirit." The natural man has disappeared
from his life and actions. Another creature lives.
Thoughts, purposes, works, which his nature never
prompted, which, when prompted by revelation, his
nature could not attain to, now abound, as sweet
grapes on a good vine. This precept is embodied
in his life : " Neither yield ye your members as in
struments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield
yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God."*

In this the power of the Holy Ghost is practically
manifested by a reversal of the relations of the
human spirit and the flesh. To persons yet in the
body, the Apostle says, "Ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell
m you." Not in the flesh, yet in the body ! The
unconverted man has a spirit, but it is carnalized ;
the play of its powers — the studies of the intellect,
the flights of the imagination, the impulses of the
heart, are dictated by motives which all range be*

* Rom, vi. 13.
6

60 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

low the sky and halt on this side of the tomb. The
spirit is the servant of the flesh ; and man differs
from perishing animals chiefly in this, that for carnal
purposes and delights he commands the service of
spiritual agent — his own soul.

The Holy Spirit, as man's regenerator, reverses
this state of things. He quickens the spirit, and
through it quickens the frame, so that instead of
spiritual powers being carnalized, a mortal body is
spiritualized ; instead of soul and spirit being sub-
jected by the flesh, flesh and blood become instru-
ments of the Spirit. Limbs move on works of
heavenly origin and intent. Thus a direct connec-
tion is established between the will of the Supreme
Spirit and the material organs of man. A purpose
originates in the mind of God ; by His Spirit it is
silently and swiftly transmitted to the spirit of His
child ; and by this to the " mortal body." Then, as
an iron wire, on the shore of the Crimea, expresses
the will of our Queen in London, so do the earthly
members of a mortal express, in the outward and
physical world, the purpose of the Holy One. This
is redemption achieved : this is adoption in its is-
sues : this is the new life : this is human nature re-
stored, man walking in the light ; " God dwelling
in him, and he in God." Then his life is a light,
and a light so pure, that it gives those on whom it

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 61

sliines, not the idea of " good nature," but of some-
thing heavenly. They see his good works, and
" glorify his Father which is in Heaven :" not extol
his character ; but feel that he is raised above hig
own character, and is " Gocfrs workmanship^ created
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works."

A piece of iron is dark and cold ; imbued with a
certain degree of heat, it becomes almost burning
without any change of appearance ; imbued with a still
greater degree, its very appearance changes to that
\ of solid fire, and it sets fire to whatever it touches.
A piece of water without heat is solid and brittle ;
gently warmed, it flows ; further heated, it mounts
to the sky. An organ filled with the ordinary de-
gree of air which exists everywhere, is dumb ; the
touch of the player can elicit but a clicking of the
keys. Throw in not another air, but an unsteady
current of the same air, and sweet, but imperfect
and uncertain, notes immediately respond to the
player's touch : increase the current to a full supply,
and every pipe swells with music. Such is the soul
without the Holy Ghost ; and such are the changes
which pass upon it when it receives the Holy Ghost,
and when it is " filled with the Holy Ghost." In the
latter state only is it fully imbued with the Divine
nature, bearing in all its manifestations some plain
resemblance to its God, conveying to all on whom
it acts some impression of Him, mounting heaven-

62 THE TONGJE OF FIRE.

ward in all its movements, and harmoniously pour
ing forth, from all its faculties, the praises of the
Lord.

The moral change wrought in the disciples, by
the new baptism of the Spirit, is strikingly dis-
played 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 endeavored 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 regi-
cide— 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 wTas similar to this. It was needful that
some one should stand up under the shadow of the
temple, and braving Chief Priests and mobs alike,
assert that He whom they had shamefully executed
seven weeks ago, was Israel's long looked-for Mes-
siah ; 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 strango to

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 63

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 a heroic act. He casts back upon the mock-
ers 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.

Who is this man ? Have we not seen him be-
fore ? Is it possible that it can be Peter ? We
know him of old : he has a good deal of zeal, but
little steadiness ; he means well, and, when matters
are smooth, can serve well; but when difficulties
and adversaries rise before him, his moral courage
fails. How short a time is it ago since we saw him
tried ! He had been resolving that, come what
might, he would stand by his Master to the last.
Others might flinch, he would stand. Soon the
Master was 'n the hands of enemies. Yet his case
was by no means lost. The Governor was on his
side ; many of the people were secretly for Him ;
nothing could De proved against Him ; and, above
all, He who had saved others could save Himself.
Yet, as Peter saw scowling faces, his courage failed.
A servant-maid looked into his eye, and his eye fell
She said she thought he belonged to Jesus o*

64 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

Nazareth ; his heart sank, and he said, u No,"
Then another looked in his face, and repeated the
same suspicion. Now, of course, he was more
cowardly, and repeated his " No." A third looked
upon him, and insisted that he belonged to the ac-
cused Prophet. How his poor heart was all flut-
tering ; and, to make it plain that he had nothing
to do with Jesus of Nazareth, he began to curse
and swear.

Is it within the same breast where this pale and
tremulous heart quaked, that we see glowing a
brave heart which dreads neither the power of the
authorities, nor the violence of the populace ;
which faces every prejudice and every vice of
Jerusalem, every bitter Pharisee and every street
brawler, as if they were no more than straying and
troublesome sheep ? Is the Peter of Pilate's hall
the Peter of Pentecost, with the same natural
powers, the same natural force of character, the
same training, and the same resolutions ? If so,
what a difference is made in a man by the one cir-
cumstance of being filled with the Holy Ghost !

O for high examples of God's moral " workman-
ship !" O for men instinct with the Spirit ; the
countenance glowing as a transparency with a lamp
behind it ; the eye shining with a purer, truer light
than any that genius or good-nature ever shed ;
limbs agile for any act of prayer, of praise, of zeal,

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 65

for any errand of compassion ; and a tongue of
fire ! O for men on whom the silent verdict of the
observer would be, " He is a good man, and full of
the Holy Ghost !" Never, perhaps, did earthly
eyes see more frequently than we see in our day
men with ordinary Christian excellences — men in
private life whose walk is blameless — men in the
ministry who are admirable, worthy, and useful.
But are not men " full of the Holy Ghost" a
rare and minished race? Are those whose entire
spirit bespeaks a walk of prayer, such as we would
ascribe to Enoch or to John ; whose words fall
with a demonstration of the Spirit, and a power
such as we conceive attended Paul or Apollos ; who
make on believers the impression of being imme-
diate and mighty instruments of God, and on unbe-
lievers the impression of being dangerous to come
hear, lest they should convert them : — are such men
often met with ?

Do not even the good frequently speak as if we
were not to look for such burning and shining
lights ? as if we must be content in our educated
and intelligent age with a style of holiness more
level and less startling ? Do not many make up
iheir minds never more to see men such as their
fathers saw ; men at whose prayer a wondrous
power of God was ever ready to fall, whether upon
two or three kneeling in a cabin, and wondering

60 THE TONGUE OP FIRE.

how the unlearned could find such wisdom, 01
on the great multitude, wondering how the learned
could find such simplicity ? Never more see
such men ! The Lord forbid ! Return, O Power ?
of the Pentecost, return to Thy people ! Shed
down Thy flame on many heads ! To us, as to
our fathers, and to those of the old time before
them, give fullness of grace ! Without Thee we
can do nothing ; but filled with the Holy Ghost, the
excellency of the power will be of Thee, O God J
and not of us,

CHAPTER IY.

CONTINUED.
SECTION II. — MIRACULOUS EFFECTS

" They began to speak with other tongues, aa
the Spirit gave thern utterance." It is not said,
" with unknown tongues." In fact, the expression,
" unknown tongues," was never used by an inspired
writer. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, it is
found in the English version ; but the word " un-
known" is in italics, showing that it is not taken
from the original. Speaking unknown tongues
was never heard of in the apostolic days. That
miracle first occurred in London some years ago.
On the day of Pentecost no man pretended to
speak unknown tongues ; but j list as if we in Lon-
don suddenly began to speak German, French,
Spanish, Russian, Turkish, and other foreign lan-
guages, so it was with them. Not one tongue was
spoken that day but a man was found in the streets
of Jerusalem to turn round, and cry, " This is my
own tongue, wfherein I was born !" The miracle

68 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

lay in the power of speaking the tongues of adjacent
nations, from which individuals were in Jerusalem
at that very time. This is not only miraculous, but
a miracle in a very amazing form ; perhaps, as to
its form, the most amazing of all miracles.

Matter is a great and pregnant thing. To us its
properties are not only wonderful, but exceedingly
mysterious. When we see it flourishing while we
fade, towering in hills, or careering in waves, or
spread out in the firmament, we almost feel as if it
were greater than we. Yet are we ever proving
that, in spite of appearances, matter is less than
mind. Mind searches out matter, wields it, molds
it, makes it the servant of its will. Mind, then,
being the superior, it follows that a work wrought
in mind is greater than one wrought in matter.
Miracles in seas, mountains, the firmament, or the
human body, display a power which rules the frame
of nature and the frame of man. Yet, as the sphere
of these is matter, the whole order may be called
the physical miracle — works above nature, wrought
upon physical agents in attestation of the revelation
of God. But beyond this lies a higher miracle, of
which the sphere is mind ; and which, therefore, we
may call the mental miracle-— works above nature
wrought in mind in attestation of the revelation of
God. Of this order two forms had been witnessed
previously — inspiration and prophecy; but now a

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 69

new miracle in mind was to challenge the belief of
all Jerusalem.

This miracle, as to its moral impression, differed
totally from all physical miracles ; even from that
complex and most peculiar miracle, the raising of
the dead, wherein we see a power which matter and
spirit, animal life and mental illumination, equally
obey. That miracle stands alone; yet the chief
impression which it makes, and certainly the im-
pression which all purely physical miracles make,
is that of power. They suggest, also, indeed, the
idea of wisdom, else the power would not go so un-
erringly to its end ; and of goodness, else power so
irresistible would move, not to bless, but to de-
stroy ; yet the leading impression produced is un-
doubtedly that of power. In such miracles we
recognize chiefly "the high hand, and the stretched-
out arm."

In inspiration, we see the mind of man enabled
to sit down among the morning mists of things, and
to write a book wThich will stand while the world
stands. In prophecy, we see the mind enabled to
look through a thousand years, and describe w7hat
lies beyond so plainly, that, when it is unfolded to
ordinary sight, it shall at once be recognized. Both
these miracles bring us, not so much into the pres-
ence of a Ruler, as into the presence of a Spirit.

In beholding a sea dried, or a wilderness strewn

10 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

with food, we feel ourselves near the Lord of nature
and the Stay of life. So here wre feel ourselves
near the Fount of all mind, whose own knowledge
depends neither on material phenomena, nor on tho
lapse of time ; whose mode of acting on the human
mind is not by laws analogous to those whereby tho
latter acts on material organs, or on its kindred
minds through them. As, however, we watch the
miracle of tongues, a strange solemnity falls upon
us ; we feel as if we had left the region where mind
slowly and dimly learns through sense, had crossed
some invisible line into the land of spirits, and were
standing before the Original Mind. What knowl-
edge of mind so minute as that which scans every
sign whereby every mind expresses its ideas ? What
power over mind so unsearchable as that which can
fill it in an instant with new signs for all its ideas — ■
signs never before present to it, yet answering ex-
actly to those which others had been trained from
childhood to use ?

A number of Galilean peasants issue from an upper
room into the streets of Jerusalem. A strange fire
is in every eye, a strange light on every countenance,
Each one looks joyful and benignant, as if he felt
that he was carrying the balm for the world's sores
in his breast. Each has plainly a world to say, and
wants listeners. Probably their steps turn toward
the temple, which during the ten days had divided

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 7l

their presence with the upper room. One meets
with an Arab, and addresses him ; another goes up
to a Roman, and in a moment they are deeply en-
gaged ; a third sees a Persian, a fourth an African
from Cyrene ; and, as they go along, each one at-
taches himself to some foreigner. He tells a strange
tale, strange in its substance, equally strange in its
eloquence; a new and unaccountable eloquence,
wonderful not for grace, expression, or sweet sound,
but for power.

One hearer in Latin, another in Coptic, another
in Persian, another in Greek, exclaims first at the
wonder of the story, and then at the wonder of the
narrator : " Art not thou a Galilean ? whence then
hast thou this fluency in Latin ?" He answers that
he has received it to-day by gift from God. A
smile curls on the lip of the Roman, and he turns
round to a neighboring group. There an Egyptian
has just been putting the same question, and re-
ceived the same answer. Yonder is an excited little
knot, where a Parthian declares that the tongue in
which a man has told him of the death, resurrec-
tion, and ascension of Jesus, is his mother tongue.
People from Jerusalem are mocking, and saying,
"The men are full of new wine ;" but the strangers,
on speaking one to another, find that they have all
been hearing precisely the same things in their
" own tongues/

72 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Those faces of different complexions, on compar
ing their opinions, darkle with awe. They find that
in all this diversity of tongues the same tidings are
repeated, and thus see the unity of matter in the
variety of language : they find that the men who
speak are unschooled peasants, yet are all gifted
with the same unheard-of power ; and thus see in
the variety of speakers the unity of inspiration.
The tongues are the tongues of all mankind ; but
the impulse is one, and the message one ! From
what center do all these languages issue? The
same instinct which leads back the thought from
speech to a mind, leads it back from this universal
speech till it stands awe-struck in the presence of
the Central Intellect of the Spirit which " formeth
the spirit of man within him," of the Supreme
Mind, to which all mind is common ground — of the
Father of Thought !

It would be impossible to conceive any form of
credential so wrell framed to certify, that a doctrine
was the immediate issue of the mind of God. The
bare thought of such a miracle as that of tongues,
had it only been a thought, would have made in
itself an era in the history of man's intellect ; and
it may be fairly questioned whether such a thought
could have originated in any thing else than in the
fact. The leading feature of the new religion wTas

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. *3

to be a Divine teaching upon things invisible and
spiritual — on points of which the unaided powers
of man could give no conclusive solution. For such
a teaching no attestation could be so apposite as one
that accredited it as a message from the Spirit which
' searcheth all things." The universal call to man
was worthily issued into the world by a sign which
showed that it came directly from the only wise
God, who gives understanding, and holds the keys
of thought. The command of all languages, by one
consentaneous impulse, proclaimed the new message
to be the "Word of God.

The great question for humanity is, Hath God
spoken ? Are we poor wanderers each left here to
his own light, and Heaven looking down in eternal
silence on all our straying and perplexity ? Hath
the Parent Spirit, whence these spirits of ours come,
surrounded them with His infinite presence at every
step of their stumbling and perilous journey, and
never once, from the day of Adam to our day, sig-
nified that He saw, and heard, and felt ? Has He
dealt with the soul of man as with "the spirit of a
beast" that could never bless Him, and never break
His law ? Are all words the words of erring man,
and all lights those doubtful and deceptive lights,
following which so many have miserably perished ?
Is all doctrine the guesses of thinkers, or the

V4 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

juggling of priests? Has God never, ne^er
spoken ?

u GOD SPAKE ALL THESE WORDS, AS'D SAID !"

On the Pentecost of Israel, from out of the fire on
Sinai, came " a mighty voice," which, sweeping
down from the distant peak as if from a throne at
hand, filled the ears of three millions of people, or
more, as if they had been a little group. Ten
times the Voice sounded mysteriously over all that
awed and quivering host, till human nature, smitten
to the core, cried out, " We die, we die." The
Voice had uttered only gentle and wholesome laws,
laws binding man to God, and man to man, laying
sure paths to peace and blessedness ; but human
nature was already guilty under these laws, and the
Voice awoke only the response, "Let not God
speak with us, lest wre die."*

Thus, in the old time, a whole nation could be
appealed to, that all words were not uncertain, nor
all questions open : " Ye came near and stood
under the mountain : and the mountain burned
with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness,
clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake
unto you out of the midst of the fire : ye heard
i he voice of the words, but saw no similitude ;
only ye heard a voice. And He declared unto you
His covenant which He commanded you to perform,
* Exod. xx. 19.

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 75

even ten commandments ; and He wrote th em
upon two tables of stone."

As in the Pentecost of Israel, so in the Pentecost
of Christianity, the Lord once more speaks " out of
the midst of the fire." Now, however, the accom-
panying tokens are not physical, but mental ; em-
ploying many human minds and human tongues as
His instruments, yet manifesting the unity of that
impulse whereby they are all moved, He makes not
merely the people of one nation, but the represent-
atives of all nations, feel that God hath spoken.
Yes, tell it wherever there are ears to hear, tell it
to the ends of the earth, God hath spoken ; man
has not been forgotten ; guesses are not all our
light ; there is a Gospel, & " speech of God ;" ques-
tions affecting salvation are settled ; and our way
to holy living and happy dying traced by the Hand
which rules both worlds.

With regard to the gift of tongues, some curious
questions have been raised, especially by the
learned. One is as to whether the miracle was
really in the speaker, and not in the hearei ; so
that although all that was spoken was in ona lan-
guage, the ordinary language of the disciples, yet
the hearers of different nations each heard in his
own tongue. For this opinion, as for all opinions,
it is possible to cite some considerable names. But

76 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

had it been as here supposed, the symbol of the
miracle would not have been cloven tongues, but
manifold ears. The double declaration of the nar-
rative perfectly corresponds with the symbol. As
regards the speakers, it says that they " spake with
other tongues ;" as regards the hearers, that they
" heard every man in his own tongue."

When St. Paul finds fault with the use of the
gift of tongues in Corinth, he does not blame the
hearers for lacking an ear that would interpret their
own tongue into foreign ones but blames the speak-
ers for speaking " with the tongue words not easy
to be understood" by the unlearned ; and the only
reason he ever assigns why the auditors could not
understand is, that they were unlearned ; clearly
showing that a foreign language was employed,
which educattion might have enabled them to
understand, but for the understanding of which
miraculous power does not seem ever to have been
given. If the supposition of the miracle in hearing,
instead of in speech, has been resorted to with a
view to simplify the miracle, it defeats its own ob-
ject; for, to sustain that supposition, the miraculous
influence must have been exerted on a number of
persons, as much greater than in the other case, as
the hearers were more numerous than the speakers.
At the same time, the nature of the miraculous opera-
tion would be in every respect equally extraordinary

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FLEE. 77

Another question is as to whether the speaker?
understood what they said in the foreign languages
The doubt as to this is not raised upon the narrative
of the Pentecost, but on certain expressions used
by St. Paul in writing to the Corinthians. There
he says, " Let him that speaketh in an unknown
tongue pray that he may interpret ;" and again,
" If one speak in an unknown tongue, let one inter
pret." Hence it would appear that some could
speak with tongues, who could not render into their
own language that which they had spoken. This,
however, is not clear ; for he also says, " Greater is
he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with
tongues, except he interpret, that the Church may
receive edification." Here he supposes, that the
person who possesses the gift of tongues, does also
possess the power of interpreting into the common
language, that which he has uttered in a miraculous
way.

But, even granting that some were unable to
interpret, so as to edify the Church, that which
they had themselves spoken, it would appear that
this did not at all arise from their not understand-
ing what they had said, but from their being desti-
tute of the gift of prophecy, whereby only they
could edify believers. As to any doubt whether
the person speaking really understood his own ut-
terances, it is completely rem: ved by the text, 1

78 THE T03TGUE OF FIRE.

Cor. xiv. 14-19: "For if I pray in an unknown
tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is
unfruitful. What is it then ? I will pray with the
spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also
I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the
understanding also. Else when thou shall bless
with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the
room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of
thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou say-
est ? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the
other is not edified. I thank my God, I speak
with tongues more than ye all : yet in the Church
I had rather speak five words with my understand-
ing, that by my voice I might teach others also,
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."
Here, publicly praising " with the understanding"
is taken to be, so praising that a common man may
understand ; and publicly preaching " with the
understanding" is taken to be, so to speak as to
u teach others also." To praise and to preach in
public without these, is to act without understand
ino*. The words, "He understandeth not what
thou sayest," though "thou verily givest thanks
well," settle the whole matter. They take it for
granted — as, indeed, the Apostle does all through
—that the speaker clearly understands himself;
but the fault is, that he uses speech which was
never given for the sake of intercourse with God,

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 79

hut for that of intercourse with man, in a way that
defeats its own object. Speech is man's revelation
of his own spirit to his fellow man ; and when noth
ing is revealed, it becomes a mockery. Feelings
and thoughts are the language which God listens
to ; man hearkens in the air, God in the soul within.
To speak to Him we need no sounds ; sounds are
for human ears, and useful only when the ear can
recognize the meaning. The fact that some who
could not prophesy could yet speak with tongues,
is apparent in several parts of Scripture, and is a
singular proof at once of the generality and the
diversity of gifts. The lower gift, that of tongues,
was more generally diffused than the higher, that
of prophecy.

The miracle indicated not only the origin of the
new doctrine, but also its spheke. It was a mes-
sage from the Father of men to all men. National
diversities, instead of being a barrier before which
it stood still, were opportunities to display its uni-
versal adaptation. Each various tongue was made
an additional witness that it had come for " every
people under heaven." Our Lord's last words, "tfee
uttermost parts of the earth," had here a strange and
multiplying echo. A force was set in motion, which
claimed all humanity as its field ; a voice was lifted
up, which called upon every nation to join its audience.

80 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Again, this manifestation met and answered alJ
doubts which might have arisen as to the power of
our Lord to gift His servants with language and
utterance needful for their coming contest with the
whole world. He had told them that, when brought
before rulers and kings for His name's sake, it would
be given to them what they should say : " For it is
not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father
which speaketh in you."* He had evidently referred
to such Divine aid in speech, when He told them
that they should receive power after that the Holy
Ghost was come upon them, and that they should
be Sis witnesses, even " to the uttermost parts of
the earth." Moses had feared to plead before
Pharaoh, from a dread that utterance equal to the
gravity of the mission could not be given to him.
Jeremiah had feared on a similar ground.

Nothing is more natural than that one who feels
Hmself charged with a sublime truth, on the proper
delivery of which infinite interests depend, should
distrust his ability to frame suitable language. It is
very probable that such thoughts had troubled the
disciples in the contemplation of the great work
which lay before them. If so, what an answer did
they receive in the miracle of tongues ! He who
enabled their lips to pour forth the testimony in
words they had never spoken, and never heard,

* Matt, x 20,

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 81

sould surely give them every measure of propriety,
of clearness, of copiousness, of power, whereof
human speech was capable. All questions as to how
copious diction could be imparted to the unready,
and force to the feeble, how the slow could be made
impressive, and the tame eloquent, were here an-
swered. The old promise, "I will be with thy
mouth," received an unlooked-for commentary. The
effects which the Spirit of the Lord could produce
upon the human tongue, were shown to be illimita-
ble by any natural impediment. The ground of
confidence as to their success in preaching was con-
spicuously changed from talent, learning, office, or
credentials, to the working of the Holy Ghost.
Their power ceased to be a question of natural
ability, and became one of divine gift. The meas-
ure of the former might be greater or less, without
materially affecting the fruit of their work; but
this would exactly correspond with the degree of
the latter.

Andrew had heard the Baptist preach, had sien
how his words plowed up the rude feelings of the
soldier, and at the same time commanded the subtle
conscience of the scribe. He had heard the Lord
Himself, when every word struck the ear as a won-
der. Probably he had always thought it impossible
that such sword-edged sentences should ever come
rrom baa lips, or from those of "his own brother

82 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

Simon." He might conceive that he should be able
to repeat the substance of the lessons which the
Lord had taught them, and that, when he stood be-
fore counselors and magistrates, he should be ena-
bled to assign a reason for his hope. Perhaps he
would think it possible that, when filled with that
new Comforter, who had been so often promised to
them, he could address a multitude with feeling.
But, as to words like fire, melting and burning the
spirits of men — words like hammers, breaking in
pieces the hearts of stone — words that should rush
on the congregation with a force too overwhelming
to be called eloquence — should win a conquest too
rapid and too complete to be called persuasion —
should make the speaker not only a prodigy, but a
power— his hearers not only an orator's audience,
but a Master's disciples — as to such words as these,
how was it possible that they should ever proceed
from him, or Simon ? So might he naturally reason ;
but when he finds himself fluently telling a man
from the shores of Cyrene the whole story of the
birth, and death, and resurrection, and ascension, in
a tongue which he had never heard before ; when
the African assures him that it was the tongue of
his native town, then, had you asked him, " Is it
now impossible that you or Simon should speak with
a voice mightier than the voice of a prophet, or that
the least of your company should be greater than

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 83

the thunder-tongued Baptist?" he Lad answered,
" With God nothing is impossible."

" And it sat upon each of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utter-
ance." The tongue of fire rested upon each disci
pie, and all spoke with a superhuman utterance,
Not the Twelve only, the Lord's chosen Apostles ;
not the Seventy only, His commissioned Evange-
lists ; but also the ordinary believers, and even the
women. The baptism of the Spirit fell upon all,
and spiritual gifts were imparted to all — not equally;
for the expression, " As the Spirit gave them utter-
ance," seems to indicate a diversity of gifts, which
accords with other passages in the New Testament.
It is not probable that each one could speak every
language; for St. Paul says of himself, that he
" spake with tongues more than they all," clearly
implying a limit in that gift, and a different limit in
different persons. And it is certain that all had not
the gift of " prophesying" suited to a Jdress such
congregations as that soon about to meet, or even
publicly to teach in ordinary assemblies. As in His
later operations, so now, the blessed Spirit wrould
doubtless show " diversities of operations," giving to
" one the word of wisdom, to another the word of
knowledge, to another prophecy," etc. But th«

84 THE TONGUE OF FlliE.

cloven tongues sat upon each of them, and, by the
joint effect of spiritual life imparted and of spirit-
ual gifts bestowed, all were instantly set upon spir.
itual services ; all led to become active witnesses for
Christ and for His cross.

The fire did not fall on the Twelve to be by them
communicated to the Seventy, and by them again
to the ordinary flock. It came as directly on the
head of the disciple whose name we never heard, *
as on that of the beloved and honored John. It
did not confound John the Apostle in the promis-
cuous mass, or place his office at the disposal of the
multitude ; but confirmed it, and fitted him by new
gifts to adorn and make full proof of his ministry.
But it did not, on the other hand, leave the ordinary
believers as mere spectators to see the spiritual work
of the Lord committed wholly to the selected minis-
try ; their part being passively to receive spiritual
influences and illumination from those who had direct
access to Him with whom is the supply of the Spirit.

This original blessing meets beforehand the error,
which was likely to spring up, from looking on the
true religion in the light in which all false ones are
ever regarded — as a mystery to be confined to an
initiated few, on whose offices the multitude must
depend for acceptance with the invisible Power.
Here was a religion that did single out and lift up
some above their fellows, investing them with a high

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 85

and solemn ministry; but from their ministry it
swept away all seeming priesthood.

The usual idea of priesthood is that of a powei
standing between man and God, through which
alone we may draw near, and find mercy at His
hands. But so far from any such characteristic be-
longing to the ministry of the Gospel, it is distin
guished as being an office, the special labor of which
is to point each man direct to God, and to assure
him that between him and the throne of grace there
is no power, visible or invisible, and no mediator
but that One to whom alike Apostle, Evangelist,
and the humblest penitent must look. True, all
were not Apostles, all were not Evangelists, all
were not Prophets ; but, in the only sense in which
any were Priests, all were Priests. The one altai
of the Cross, the one sacrifice of the Lamb, the one
High Priest within the vail, were alone to be named
in any light of peace-making with God. To all, the
privilege of offering up the sacrifices of praise and
of prayer, of living bodies and of worldly goods,
was equally open. ISTo man was made a depository
or store-house wherein spiritual favors should be
laid up for the use of those who might purchase or
implore them at his hands. He was most honored
who could most successfully turn the trust of men
away from all other advocates, and fix it upon the
Son of God alone.

86 THE TONGUE OF EIRE.

" They all began to speak.-' This shows that the
testimony of Christ was not borne by the Ministry
alone ; that this chief work of the Church was not* .
confined to official hands. The multitude of be
lievers wTere not mere adhgrj©nts, but living, speak
ing, burning agents in the great movements for the
universal diffusion of God's message. Many feel as
if religion, on the part of the Ministry, was to be a
matter of bold and public testimony ; but on that
of ordinary Christians, a heart-secret between them-
selves and God. Let such sit down in sight of that
first Christian scene ; let them behold every counte-
nance lighted up with the common joy, and hear
every tongue speak under the common impulse,
and then ask Bartimeus, or Mary, if the private
disciple has not just as much cause to be a witness
that Jesus lives, and that Jesus saves, as either
James or John ? Let them ask if it is like their
religion that one lonely Minister shall, on the Lord'a
day, Lear witness before a thousand Christians, who
decorously hear his testimony as worthy of accept-
ance by all, and then go away, and never repeat tha
Btrain in any human ear ?

Looking on the universal movement of that Pente-
costal day, who could think that the new religion
was ever to come down to this ? that speaking of
its joys, its hopes, its pardon, its mercy for the wide
world, was to be considered a professional work3for '

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 8

h

set solemnities alone, and not to be a daily joy
and heart's-ease, to ever-growing multitudes of
happy, simple men ? Cheerless is the work of that
Christian Minister, who, at set times, raises his
testimony in the ears of a people, all of whom
make* a practice of hiding it in their hearts !
Blessed in his office is he who knows that, while
he in his own sphere proclaims the glad tidings,
hundreds around him are ready, each one in his
sphere, to make them their boast and their song !
Spiritual office and spiritual gifts vary greatly in de-
gree, honor, and authority, and he who has the less
ought to reverence him who has the greater, re-
membering who it is that dispenses them ; but
the greater should never attempt to extinguish
the less, and to reduce the exercise of spiritual
gifts within the limits of the public and ordained
Ministry. To d) so is to depart from primitive
Christianity.

CHAPTER IV.

CONTINUED.
SECTION III. MINISTERIAL EFFECTS.

In immediate connection with the gift of tongues,
was a gift less startling as a phenomenon, but more
influential as an instrument for the recovery of
mankind. Peter was soon called upon publicly to
deliver the Lord's great message. Then, undoubt-
edly, he spoke not in any foreign tongue, but
in his native dialect. He had often spoken before,
yet nothing remarkable is recorded of his preach-
ing, or its effects. He is now the same man,
with the same natural intellect, and the same
natural powers of speech ; and yet a new utterance
Is given to him, the effects of which are instantly
apparent.

* Never was such an audience assembled as that
before which this poor fisherman appeared : Jews.,
with all the prejudices of their race — inhabitants of
Jerusalem, with the recollection of the part they
had recently taken in the crucifixion of Jesus of

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 89

Nazareth, met in the city of their solemnities, jeal-
ous for the honor of their temple and law : men of
different nations, rapidly and earnestly speaking in
their different tongues ; one in Hebrew, mocking
and saying, " These men are full of new wine ;"
another inquiring in Latin ; another disputing in
Greek ; another wondering in Arabic ; and an end-
less Babel beside expressing every variety of sur-
prise, doubt, and curiosity. Amid such a scene the
fisherman stands up; his voice strikes across the
hum which prevails all down the street. He has
no tongue of silver ; for they say, " He is an un-
learned and ignorant man." The rudeness of his
Galilean speech still remains with him ; yet, though
" unlearned and ignorant" in their sense — as to
polite learning — in a higher sense he was a scribe
well instructed. As respected the word of God,
he had been for three years under the constant
tuition of the Prophet of Nazareth, hearing from
His lips instruction in the law, in the Prophets,
and in all the " deep things of God." On what-
ever other points, therefore, the learned of Jerusa.
iem might have found Peter at fault, in the sacred
writings he was more thoroughly furnished than
tli3y ; for though Christ took His Apostles from
among the poor, He left us no example for those
who have not well learned the Bible, to attempt to
teach it.

90 TITE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Yet Peter had no tongue of silver, no tongue of
honey, no soothing, flattering speech, to allay the
prejudices and to captivate the passions of the mul-
titude. Nor had he a tongue of thunder ; no out-
bursts of native eloquence distinguished his dis
course. Indeed, some, if they had heard that dis
course from ordinary lips, would not have hesitated
to pronounce it dry — some of a class, too numerous,
who do not like preachers who put them to the
trouble of thinking, but enjoy only those who regale
their fancy, or move their feelings, without requir-
ing any labor of thought. Peter's sermon is no
more than quoting passages from the word of God,
and reasoning upon them ; yet, as in this strain he
proceeds, the tongue of fire by degrees burns its
way to the feelings of the multitude. The murmur
gradually subsides ; the mob becomes a congrega-
tion ; the voice of the fisherman sweeps from ^nd
to end of that multitude, unbroken by a single
sound ; and, as the words rush on, they act lik^ a
stream of fire. Now, one coating of prejudice
which covered the feelings is burned, and starts
aside : now, another and another : now, the fire
touches the inmost covering of prejudice, which
lay close upon the heart, and it too starts aside
Now, it touches the quick, and burns the very s*oul
of the man ! Presently, you might think that in
that throng there was but one mind, that of the

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 91

Preacher, which had multiplied itself, had possessed

itself of thousands of hearts, and thousands of

frames, and was pouring its own thoughts through

them all. At length, shame, and tears, and sobs

overspread that whole assembly. Here, a head

bows ; there, starts a groan ; yonder, rises a deep

sigh ; here, tears are falling ; and some stern old

Jew, who will neither bow nor weep, trembles with

the effort to keep himself still. At length, from

the depth of the crowd, the voice of the preacher

is crossed by a cry, as if one was " mourning for his

only son ;" and it is answered by a cry, as if one

was in " bitterness for his first-born." At this cry

the whole multitude is carried away, and forgetful

of every thing but the overwhelming feeling of the

moment, they exclaim, " Men and brethren, what

must we do ?"

No part of the proceedings of the day strikes us

with a deeper or more lasting impression than the

amazing change in Peter, which is here manifest.

We are continually prone to consider the power of

a Minister as a natural power, simply intellectual.

Here was a man who, in all probability, had passed

the period of life when eloquence is most forcible,

without having distinguished himself by any such

power. He comes forward with a most unwelcome

message, to address an unfavorable audience, him

Bell* unskilled in the arts of oratory ; and yet, such
8

92 THE TONGUE OP FIliE.

is the power of utterance given to hir,i, that he
produces an effect, the like of which had never
been known before in the history of mankind.
Never has it been recorded in any other instance
that three thousand men Avere in an hour persuaded
by one of their own nation, of obscure origin and
uninfluential position, to forego the prejudices of
their youth, the favor of their people, and the
religion of their fathers. "I will be with thy
mouth," is more strikingly fulfilled here, in those
extraordinary effects of the speaking of an ordinary
man, than in any other form in which the power of
God could be displayed, through the instrument-
ality of a human tongue. There is no part of the
whole series of events which has a more direct
bearing upon the permanent work of the Christian
Church.

This is the first example of prophesying in the
New Testament sense ; not the limited sense of
foretelling, but the more comprehensive sense of
delivering a message from God, under the impulse
of the Spirit of God, and by His aid. In this the
speaker has the double advantage of ascertained
truth to declare — truth which his own understand
ing has received, wThich he can enforce by citing
the word of God — and of aid direct from the Spirit
in uttering it. This gift is conspicuously placed by
St. Paul above that of tongues : " Greater is he

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 93

that prophesieth than he that speaketh with
tongues." The gift of tongues was "for a sign
to them that believe not ;" and even to them only
under certain circumstances, when they were ad-
dressed in a tongue which they understood, and
that by one of whom they had proof, or what
amounted to strong probability, that he had not
learned it in a natural mode. For the union of
these two requisites nothing was so favorable as the
meeting of a number of foreigners in one city, and
hearing natives of the country speak all their dif-
ferent languages. A foreigner appearing in a city,
and professing to speak its language by miracle,
would lie under the suspicion of having learned it
before he came ; and persons speaking foreign
tongues in the presence of their own unlearned
countrymen, would seem to utter gibberish. This
Paul puts strongly to the Corinthians : " If the
whole Church be come together into one place, and
all speak with tongues, and there come in those
that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say
that ye are mad ?"

If a number of persons in Corinth had a gift in
Hebrew, or in Latin, and their fellow-townsmen,
who knew only Greek, came and heard a rush of
unmeaning sounds, and were told that it was a
miracle, it might be, but it was no miracle to them.
It they saw an African peasant speaking fluently in

94 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Greek, then, indeed, they would be startled ; and
if once assured by any means that he had not
learned it, they would recognize a miracle.

But the effect of persons resident in a place using
the gift of tongues could only be to satisfy the
learned of a miracle. For the unlearned it would
be simply bewildering. Suppose that, in the city
of Oxford, the stonemasons, joiners, and shoe-
makers heard a few of their own number utter-
ing something in Latin, they would only be im-
pressed with a belief that they had gone mad, 01
were amusing themselves with gibberish. But did
the learned men of the University find these
groups discoursing on the doctrines of the Gospel
in the language of ancient Rome, which it had been
the study and the labor of their lives to acquire
perfectly, they would be overwhelmed with a sense
of the prodigy. All through the fourteenth chap-
ter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul
admits that upon the learned the gift of tonguea
would make an impression ; but that the unlearned,
if believers, would be unedified, and, if unbelievers,
would be led to mock.

To the higher gift of prophecy he assigns two
offices which that of tongues could never fulfill.
One is the edifying of believers ; and on this score
he much urges the Corinthians to seek for that
gift. The other is its effect upon the unlearned

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 95

unbeliever. " If all prophesy, and there come in
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is con-
vinced of all, he is judged of all : and thus are the
secrets of his heart made manifest ; and so falling
down on hi& face he will worship God, and report
that God is in you of a truth." Here is a man who
knows no language but one, and who has no faith
in the Divine mission of the Christians ; yet he en-
ters an assembly where men are speaking in his
own tongue : that tongue, as to its words, is familiar
to him from his childhood ; but its words now con-
vey new ideas, and those ideas are accompanied by
a strange power which pierces, lays open, and
searches his heart. He seems as if God had found
him out, and told another man all about him, his
hidden sins, his bosom pollutions, and covered
deeds which had been even forgotten, but which
now are brought strangely to his view again. An
unaccountable impression of God's presence, of a
message, a warning, a call from God, sinks down
into his soul. He feels, as he never felt before,
" God is in this place ;" and, falling down upon his
face, forgetful of appearances, and heedless of con-
sequences, periling his temporal peace, and expos-
ing himself to every manner of remark, he wor-
ships, in bitterness of penitence, an offended, but a
forgiving God, and goes forth to tell those with
whom he comes in contact, that the people whose

96 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

words had searched his heart and made manifest ita
secrets must have God in the midst of them. This
was the gift of prophecy, as the term is generally
employed in the New Testament. It differs from
prophecy in the ordinary sense in this, that the gift
conveys no " revelation," either as to truth hitherto
un revealed, or as to future events. It differs from
the gift of tongues in this, that the intellect and or-
gans act according to natural laws, though under a
supernatural influence. It is that gift through
which the whole of man's nature works in co-oper^
ation with the Holy Spirit, the intellect illuminated
with Divine light, the moral powers quickened by
Divine feeling, and the physical organs speaking
writh Divine power. This is placed by the Apostle
as the highest gift — the one wherein man stands
closest in communion with God as His intelligent
instrument for His most hallowed work — the work
of calling prodigal sons back to His arms, and of
training feeble children into strength and stedfast-
ness. This gift was that which had the most direct
utility, wras capable of the most universal applica-
tion, and was destined to be permanent ; equally
needful for the converting of sinners and the edify-
ing of the Church ; and therefore to be ever kept
in view by the Church as a special subject of pray-
er : for, let this cease, and Christianity dwindles
into a natural agency for social improvement,

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 97

blessed with superhuman doctrines, but destitute
of a superhuman power.

If the preaching of the Gospel is to exercise a
great power over mankind, it must be either by en-
listing extraordinary men, or by the endowing of
ordinary men with extraordinary power. It does
often happen that men whose eloquence would affect
and sway, whatever might have been their theme,
give all their talents to the Gospel ; yet in such cases
it ever proves that the religious impression produced
upon mankind is never regulated by the brilliancy
or natural force of the eloquence, but always by the
extent to which the preacher is imbued with that
indescribable something commonly called the " unc-
tion," or the operation and power of the Spirit.
On the other hand, it often happens that a man in
whose natural gifts nothing extraordinary can be
discovered, produces moral effects which, for depth
at the moment, and for permanency, are totally dis-
proportioned to his natural powers. In hearing
such a man, and afterward discovering the effects
of his preaching, people often ask, " What is there

in Mr. to account for such effects ? We hear

many who are abler, profounder, better theologians,
more eloquent, more persuasive; yet this man's
preaching brings people to repentance and to God."
They can not discover the source of his power; and it
is precisely this fact which intimates that it is spiritual.

98 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

On the day of Pentecost Christianity faced the
world, a new religion, and a poor one, without a
history, without a priesthood, without a college,
without a people, and without a patron. She had
only her two sacraments and her tongue of fire.
The latter was her sole instrument of aggression.
All that was ancient and venerable rose up before
her in solid opposition. No passions of the mob, no
theories of the learned, no interests of the politic*
favored her ; nor did she flatter or conciliate any
one of them. With her tongue of fire she assailed
every existing system, and every evil habit ; and
by that tongue of fire she burned her way through
innumerable forms of opposition. In asking what
was her power, Ave can find no other answer than
this one, " The tongue of fire."

With regard to one of her Deacons, Stephen, it
is said that his enemies could not resist the wisdom
and the power with which he spoke. It was not
every disciple who had the gift of prophecy, like
him, to pour out in clear and copious utterance the
testimony which could command the attention of
national councils, and confound the sophisms of a
college of disputers ; but, each in his own sphere
and style, the Christians of that happy day were
distinguished among their fellow-men by a strange
power of declaring the deep things of God. Many
of them would go, like Andrew, who went first to

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 99

" his own brother Simon," and tell their kinsmen of
Jesus, and forgiveness, and the resurrection of the
dead, and the world to come, in strains which, by
some unaccountable power, fixed the attention and
entered the heart. Others of them would go, as
did the brothers of Nathanael, telling the neghbors
and friends whom they met the great things of re-
demption, so that prejudices, even the strongest,
were often melted in the fire of their speech. True,
they did not always succeed, but how marvelous
their success was notwithstanding ! Had Christians
of the present day, in addressing those whose con-
science, creed, early impressions, all favor every
word they say, but that strange influence which
bore down the most rooted aversion, how rapid and
how glorious would be the spread of living religion
in the land !

This power of utterance is ordinarily referred to
throughout the New Testament as at once the gift
of God and the great weapon of the Church. We
have already noticed how, when opposition first
threatened them, they went in earnest prayer to
God, and asked for power, that they might speak
His word with boldness. So when any one of them,
in critical circumstances, is enabled specially to de-
clare and magnify the Truth, we are told that he
does so, " being filled with the Holy Ghost ;" and
Paul, who, though he was not present on the day

LOO THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

of Pentecost, received the tongue of fire in a very
remarkable degree, did not hold that gift as being
constitutional, like natural talents and aptitude of
speech. Among the subjects with regard to which
he entreats the prayers of his Christian brethren, he
specially mentions " utterance." " Praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and sup-
plication for all saints ; and for me, that utterance
may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth
boldly to make known the riches of the Gospel."
Again and again have we brought before us the
fact, that this utterance is the direct gift of God ;
nor are we without traces of the same fact in earlier
times than those of Christianity. In the cases of
Mary and Elizabeth, we hear them, under the influ-
ence of the Divine Spirit, uttering great and glori-
ous things. In the cases of Jeremiah and Isaiah,
wc find the Lord making Himself their strength in
regard to the message wherewith He charged
them ; and in the case of Moses, the gift of speech
was especially promised to him, but his faith failed,
and consequently another had to exercise that
power which, had he believed, he himself would
have fully possessed.

In all the history of the primitive Christians, we
find traces of the effect produced upon men by the
testimony they bore, even when bearing it undei

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 101

the constraint of pnblic persecution, and in the face
of impending danger. Without a press, without s
literature, without any of our modern means of in-
fluencing masses of men ; cast solely on the one in
strument of the tongue, and in that destitute of the
wisdom of the Greek, arid of the skill of the scribe
seldom favored with the opportunity of repeatedly
addressing numerous assemblies of the same indi-
viduals ; destitute of prestige, contemptible in num-
bers, rustic in manners, and thwarted by circum
stances ; strong only in the one peculiar attribute —
the unseen fire which filled them ; on they went,
and on, turning the hearts of their enemies, and
advancing the name of the Lord.

Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself
except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire.
Only where some men, more or less imbued with
this primitive power, have spoken the words of the
Lord, not with " the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," have
sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a
saintlier life. In many periods of the history of the
Church, as this gift has waned, every natural ad
vantage has come to replace it: — more learning,
more system, more calmness, more profoundness of
reflection, every thing, in fact, which, according to
the ordinary rules of human thought, would insure
to the Christian Church a greater command over

102 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

the intellect of mankind, and would give her argu-
ments in favor of a holy life a more potent efficacy,
Yet it has ever proved that the gain of all this,
when accompanied with an abatement of the "fire,"
has left the Church less efficient ; and her elaborate
and weighty lessons have transformed few into
saints, though her simple tongue of fire had contin-
ually reared up its monuments of wonder. This
has been not less the case in modern times than in
ancient.

If the amazing revival which characterized the
last century, be viewed merely as a natural pro-
gress of mental influence, no analysis can find ele-
ments of power greater than have often existed in a
corrupting and falling Church, or than are found at
many periods when no blessed effects are produced.
Men equally learned, eloquent, orthodox, instruct-
ive, may be found in many ages of Christianity. It
is utterly impossible to assign a natural reason whj
Whitfield should have been the means of convert-
ing so many more sinners than other men. With-
out one trace of logic, philosophy, or any thing
worthy to be called systematic theology, his ser-
mons, viewed intellectually, take an humble place
among humble efforts. Turning again to his friend,
Wesley, we find calmness, clearness, logic, theology,
discussion, definition, point, appeal, but none of
that prodigious and unaccountable power which the

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 103

human intellect would naturally connect with move*
ments so amazing as those which took place under
his word. Neither the logic of the one, nor the
declamation of the other, furnishes us with the se-
cret of his success. There is enough to account for
men being affected, excited, or convinced ; but that
does not account for their living holy lives ever
after. Thousands of pulpit orators have swayed
their audience, as a wind sways standing corn ; but,
in the result, those who were most affected, differed
nothing from their former selves. An effect of elo-
quence is sufficient to account for a vast amount of
feeling at the moment ; but to trace to this a moral
power, by which a man, for his life long, overcomes
his besetting sins, and adorns his name with Chris-
tian virtues, is to make sport of human nature.

Why should these men have done what many
equally learned and able, as divines and orators,
never did ? There must have been an element of
power in them which criticism can not discover.
What was that power ? It must be judged of by
its sphere and its effects. Where did it act ? and
what did it produce ? Every power has its own
sphere. The strongest arm will never convince the
understanding, the most forcible reasoning will
never lift a weight, the brightest sunbeam will never
pierce a plate of iron, nor the most powerful magnet
move a pane of glass. The soul of man has separate

104 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

regions, and that which merely convinces the intel-
lect may leave the emotions untouched, that which
merely operates on the emotions may leave the un
derstanding unsatisfied, and that which affects both
may yet leave the morai powers uninspired. The
crowning power of the messenger of God is power
over the moral man ; power which, whether it ap-
proaches the soul through the avenue of the intel-
lect or of the affections, does reach into the soul
The sphere of true Christian power is the heart—
the moral man ; and the result of its action is not
to be surely distinguished from that of mere elo
quence by instantaneous emotion, but by subse-
quent moral fruit. Power which cleanses the
heart, and produces holy living, is the power of the
Holy Ghost. It may be through the logic of Wes-
ley, the declamation of Whitfield, or the simple
common-sense of a plain servant-woman or laboring
man; but whenever this power is in action, it
strikes deeper into human nature than any mere
reasoning or pathos. Possibly it does not so soon
bring a tear to the eye, or throw the judgment into
a posture of acquiescence ; but it raises in the
breast thoughts of God, eternity, sin, death, heaven,
and hell ; raises them, not as mere ideas, opinions,
or articles of faith, but as the images and echoes of
real things.
We may find in many parts oi the country, where

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 105

much has been done to dispel darkness and diffuse
true religion, that some of the first triumphs of
grace were entirely due to the wonderful effects
produced by the private and fire-side talking of
Borne humble Christians, who had themselves gone
o the throne of grace, and waited there until they
had received the baptism of fire.

In proportion as the power of this one instrument
is overlooked, and other means are trusted in to
supply its place, does the true force of Christian
agency decline ; and it may without hesitation be
said, that when men holding the Christian ministry,
habitually and constantly manifest their distrust in
the power of the Holy Ghost to give them utter-
ance, they publicly abjure the true theory of Chris-
tian preaching. It is, according to the authority of
its Author, delivering a message from God — a mes-
sage through man, it is true; but delivered not
with the excellency of man's speech, not under the
guidance of man's natural wisdom ; a message, the
effect of which does not rest upon the artistic ar-
rangement, choice, and order of words, but upon
the extent to which its utterance is pervaded by th/a
Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER I?.

CONTINUED.
SECTION" IV. EFFECTS UPON THE WORLD.

When the promise of the Spirit was given, oui
Lord expressly intimated that His influence should
not be confined to the Church, but that He should
" convince the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment." It was only thus that the Church
could be extended beyond the number of the orig-
inal disciples. Through the gifts bestowed upon
Peter, the Spirit moved to the fulfillment of His
great office in the hearts of worldly men. Both the
miraculous and the ministerial gifts were made sub-
servient to this end. The former was a wonder
which raised curiosity and then amazement^ which
brought together a multitude, first excited, finally
awed. This, however, was all it did. Had the
events of the day ended with the pure effect of
the miracle, perhaps no Jew would have become
a Christian, and certainly no sinner would have

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 107

become a saint. The miracle prepared an audi*
ence for the preacher ; but it did not convert, and
did not even instruct them: no one there knew
the doctrine of the incarnation, and its glorious cor-
comitants, when Peter stood up to preach. All that
the gift of tongues did was to produce an impression
that these men were messengers of God. And even
this it did not produce on all ; for some mocked ;
probably people of the place, on whom the effect of
the foreign tongues was lost.

The entire advantage which Peter, as a preacher
of Christianity, derived from the evidences of his
religion, when he stood up on the day of Pentecost,
amounted to this : a large number of men were
congregated in a state of much agitation, fresh from
the impression of a prodigy before unimagined, and
with a strong suspicion that the preacher and hie
coadjutors were probably teachers from God. His
advantage, as compared with a modern preacher,
lay in the freshness of this feeling — in the opened
state of the mind just after an indisputable marvel
had forced a passage through all its prejudices.
His disadvantages lay in the comparative ignorance
of his hearers, in their disbelief of most of the points
wherewith he wished to impress them, in the
amount of religious and national prejudice which
fortified this belief, in the array of temporal inter-
ests which stood up against his appeal, in the dis-
9

108 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

credit attached to his position, the obscurity of his
person, and the rustic stamp of his speech.

Putting his single advantage on the one side, and
his many disadvantages on the other, we naturally
raise the question, Had he more advantage from tho
miracle of tongues than the modern preacher has
from the Christian evidences generally ? It would
be hard to exaggerate the value of that freshness of
impression under which he found his hearers ; yet,
taking the whole course of human nature, the mir-
acle, whether in the hand of Moses, the Prophets,
or the Lord Himself — however mighty as an instru-
ment of impression, as a credential of a Divine mis-
sion, never proved an instrument of moral regener-
ation to the people.

From the Pentecostal and other miracles, from
the whole array of the Christian evidences, tho
modern preacher derives the advantage of an audi-
ence who believe that every doctrine he propounds
is truly the word of God. Within their conscience
he has far more on his side than Peter had in the
consciences of his auditory. Peter had the advan-
tage of a fresh and excited feeling: the modern
preacher has that of standing closer home upon the
conscience. The latter often thinks how much might
be effected had he only some such supernatural
sign as arrested the multitude on the day of Pente-
cost : what would Peter have thought of his pros-

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 109

pects, if, instead of such an audience as he had, one
had been offered to him where all believed that his
Master was the Son of God, and that there was " no
other name given under heaven among men where-
by we must be saved ?"

The effect of the miracle was a general impression
in favor of the Divine origin of the message. At
this point the ministerial gift came into operation.
By an ability clearly to state and argue the truth,
Peter was enabled to put the understanding of his
hearers into possession of the great revelation, that
God had sent His Son to redeem them. By a sacred
pathos, he was enabled to engage their sympathies
in favor of each truth, as he presented it. Clear and
feeling utterance of the Gospel was his ministerial
gift : understanding and impression were its effects.

The united effect of the miraculous and ministerial
gift amounted to — favorable attention, understand*
ing of the truth, and inclination to embrace it. But
had no power beyond the testimony of the miracle,
and the appeal of the sermon, touched the souls of
the auditors, what single individual would have em-
braced truth so dangerous to his respectability and
comfort, however convinced that it was of heavenly
origin, and fraught with eternal advantages ? The
inclination toward such a step raised by Peter's
warmth, would have been counteracted by many
and potent inclinations of interest and of nature,

110 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Nothing is more common than for the human mind
to turn its back upon a truth, firmly believed to be
from God, deeply felt to carry eternal hopes, but
demanding the sacrifice of present gratifications, or
of the friendship of the world. Mere conviction
never carries a point of practical moral conduct.

Deeper than the judgment, deeper than the feel-
ings, lies the seat of human character, in that which
is the mystery of all beings and all things, in what
we call their " nature," without knowing where it
lies, what it is, or how it wields its power. All we
know is, that it does exert a power over external
circumstances, bending them all in its own direction,
or breaking its instruments against what it can not
bend. The nature of an acorn turns dews, air, soils,
and sunbeams to oak ; and though circumstances
may destroy its power, they can not divert it while
it survives. It defies man, beast, earth, and sky, to
make it produce elm. Cultivation may affect its
quality, and training its form ; but whether it shall
produce oak, ash, or elm, is a matter into which no
force from without can enter, a matter not of cir-
cumstances, but purely of nature. To turn nature
belongs to the Power which originally fixed nature.

In man feelings and intellect are related to na-
ture, as in a plant tissues and juices : they derive
their character from nature, and manifest its bent ;
but are not nature, though the means by which it

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. Ill

acts on the external world, and is reacted upon by
it. Nature does not decide the comparative excel
lence of character in the different members of the
same species: one oak may be much stronger than
another, one rose much sweeter; one man much
wiser, or more generous. The nature of man is es<
sentially moral ; and when intellect shoots up to
eminence, it depends on the moral nature whether
it is a blessing or a curse to the species, a joy or a
trouble to the individual. According to the moral
nature, are the intellectual powers directed ; and in
man often wastefully, often hurtfully — as to the
great majority, in ways far below their capability.
Just as in all other objects, so in man, his nature
eludes our analysis, lies out of sight, and defies our
direct influence. We approach it through the intel-
lect, or the feelings ; but always with uncertainty,
never knowing what unseen power may counter-
work our most careful endeavors.

It is the nature of fallen man to prefer present
pleasure to the prospect of eternal happiness, the
favor of the world to the favor of the Almighty ;
to love himself, and forget his Creator. In adults
this nature is fortified by its own developments ; by
habits and connections which all tend in its own
direction. When a man's nature in boyhood pro-
duced fruits of vice and trouble, when his advanc-
ing years have steadily answered the impulse of the

112 THE TONGUE OF PIKE.

same nature, and his present associations are all
based upon an alienation from heavenly ties; to
bring him into immediate and permanent conformity
to a Divine ideal of life, requires the ultimate Power
of the universe, the Power which rules nature, and
through nature circumstances. Set before all the
wise and good of the world one man of thirty
years, or upward, whose life has been wicked or
worldly ; and tell them by a word, a warning, or an
appeal, infallibly to change him then and there to a
pure man, or to a pious man ; and they will each be
ready to exclaim, "Am I God that I should do
this?"

To say that man is the creature of circumstances
is as much as to say that he is destitute of a nature ;
for, where a nature is, there is a power, a power of
which circumstances are often the mere effect, but
are never the masters. Let all the circumstances
under heaven conspire against the force of nature,
as embodied in a seed of thorn, and they can never
defeat it: all the gardeners, manures, heats, and
waterings possible, would fail to make it produce
fir. Heap upon it every advantage which art and
creation can give, and it will steadily turn all to
thorn, hopelessly incapable of rising above its
nature.

Change your treatment, and endeavor to debase
tt> and the same superiority of nature to circunv

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 113

stances continues to manifest itself. You may
starve it to death, you may stunt or blight it, but
by no adversity will it degenerate to brier ; thorn
in spite of allurements upward, thorn in spite of
repulses downward : as it can never rise above, so
it can never sink below, its nature. Circumstances
are the creatures of natures, not natures of circum-
stances.

Human nature is said by many to be good : if so,
where have social evils come from ? For human
nature is the only moral nature in that corrupting
thing called " society." Every evil example set be-
fore the child of to-day is the fruit of human nature.
It has been planted on every possible field — among
the snows that never melt ; hi temperate regions,
and under the line ; in crowded cities, in lonely for-
ests ; in ancient seats of civilization, in new col-
onies ; and in all these fields it has, without once
failing, brought forth a crop of sins and troubles.
This is absolute and inexpugnable proof that human
nature, in the aggregate, is a seed which produces
sins and troubles.

But a proof lies nearer the breast of each man*
When you meant to do a wrong, and had made up
your mind upon it, did any instinct within you tell
you that you were unable, and must seek super-
natural help to carry out your intention ? Never.
You felt that to go forward was not only easy, but

114 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

almost irresistible; was, in fact, yielding to na«
ture.

When you had made up your mind to overcome
wrong inclinations, and to do right, and only right,
did not an instinct as unfailing as that whereby an
infant searches for the breast of a mother, teach
you to seek help, inward help, help against your-
self? A decision to do wrong finds you strong in
your own strength ; a decision to conquer wrong,
and do right, sends you to your knees, or makes
you cry, " God help me !" If that be so, you need
consult no man's books as to what side your nature
is inclined to.

Man is the only being coming within our knowl-
edge who has a nature that is plainly unnatural.
This language is not paradoxical for the sake of
paradox, but for the sake of strictly describing a
mournful fact. Is a nature natural which can be
changed without destroying the identity ? That of
man can be changed, and not only leave his identity
perfect, but restore the course of a higher, and evi-
dently an older, nature than the one which had pre-
viously reigned. Is a nature natural which urges
toward courses which blight and ruin? Human
nature, when least affected by culture, in the lone-
liest and loveliest islands of unfrequented seas, urges
to courses of headlong ruin and destruction. In the
highest seats of civilization, it urges men to neglect

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIEE. 115

the God of all, though they believe that to Him
they are indebted for being, reason, and joy, and
on Hirn are dependent for their continuance; urges
them to neglect objects which they believe to be
truly noble and of eternal utility, for pleasures
which they can not help despising, and for gains
which they know are neither honorable nor lasting.
In proof of this more than enough is said by the
simple words, London, Paris, Rome. Yet, while
their nature is thus over-riding their true dignity,
true happiness, and true interest, a voice within, as
if of a friend who has survived from better days,
is ever protesting against this monstrous condi-
tion of things, and averring that this nature is not
nature.

There is not a beast of the field but may trust
his nature and follow it ; certain that it will lead
him to the best of which he is capable. But as
for us, our only invincible enemy is our nature ;
were it sound, we could hold circumstances as
lightly as Samson's withs ; but it is evermore be-
traying us. Often, when we honestly meant to be
good and noble, our miserable nature, at the first
favorable juncture of circumstances, betrayed us
again, and we found ourselves falling by our own
hands, and bitterly felt that we were our own ene-
mies. Heal us at the heart, and then let the world
come on ! we are ready for the conflict. Make

116 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

us sound within, and we will stand in the evil
day. We can defy circumstances, and resist the
devil, if only our own breast become not a hold of
traitors ; if inclinations, silent, subtle, and strong as
nature, do not arise to beguile us into captivity to
evil.

You tell us to withstand these inclinations, not to
yield to our impulses, but to subject them to
reason ; that is, not to follow nature which is in-
ward and impulsive, but to be guided by external
indexes which Observation notes, Reason interprets,
and Will may apply to the control of nature. That,
in fact, is saying, " Do not live by your nature, but
resist your nature." What a world of appalling
truth comes in with that one admonition ! My
nature not a nature to live by ! Self-regard putting
me on the watch against nature ! A nature, and
that the highest nature in this terrestrial system,
self-injurious ! This is not Thy handiwork, O Eter-
nal Parent, Author of order, beauty, and love;
Creator of natures, each of which is in unison with
itself, and in harmony with all Thy other creat-
ures ! What has happ ened since man first left Thy
hand?

It was strange to see three thousand men, after
one hearing of a new and untried religion, accept it
as their faith, and publicly enrol themselves as its
disciples. It was especially strange, since the men

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 117

at whose hands they, with docility, took the sacra,
mental pledge of their conversion, were men with*
out repute, whom they had themselves previously
despised. But it is not till after some weeks have
elapsed that the highest wonder of this phenomenon
breaks upon us.

Human nature is liable to unaccountable illusions,
and multitudes to ungovernable impulses. It may
be that in a week or two we shall find those thou
sands of a thousand different views, as to what they
had heard from Peter on the day of Pentecost,
and as to the pardon and grace which he had pro-
fessed to declare to them. But, as day by day we
watch that throng, moral marvels come continually
into view. What was so rare in human nature is
now ordinary, a holy man. Persons who were aa
common-place in character as can be conceived, now
live before us, saints. The vile have become noble
the churl self-denying, the bitter gentle, the sensua*
wonderfully pure. A community drawn from Jews
of the ordinary standard, from persons of every
variety of character and of sinfulness, is a com*
munity so pure, so far beyond what human eyea
ever have seen before, that it seems as a commence-
ment of heaven upon earth. Raised suddenly into
saintship, they steadily maintain their moral ele-
vation • first astonishing and sweating those

118 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

who look on, and then withstanding all the oppo-
sition which prejudice and power can bring to crush
them.

Day after day, month after month, year after
year, this new and glorious life goes on. These
men, lifted up from the ordinary level of sinners,
continue " steadfast in the Apostles' fellowship, and
in breaking of bread and prayers," " filled with the
Holy Ghost," rich in faith, overflowing with inward
consolation; not seeing their glorified Redeemer
with the eye, but more than seeing with the heart
— feeling, embracing Him, they "rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory." Their close pros-
pect is immortality, their citizenship is in heaven,
their wealth lies where change can never reduce it,
nor moth corrupt, nor thief steal. Happy upon
earth, and inheriters of heaven, it is naught to
them that all mankind frown upon them; they
know that they " are of God, and the whole world
lieth in wickedness." Their saintliness spreads its
fame to the ends of the earth — a fame that hag
never died until our day ; and even upon our
homes and our hearts are now descending the mild
and holy influences of the first community called
into existence by the tongue of fire.

Three thousand men permanently raised from
death in sin to a life of holiness ! Three thousand
sinners converted into saints ! Three thousand

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 119

new-made saints enabled day by day to walk in the
fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost !
Three thousand of our brethren, weak, sinful by
nature, open to the temptings of Satan even as we
are, maintaining a life in the body which almost
surpasses belief, so is it marked with goodness and
with purity !

This, of all the spectacles of Pentecost, is the one
that speaks in deepest tones to the heart. On those
three thousand we gaze ; and our souls break out
with adoration. Glory, honor, salvation ! — for now
the word " salvation" may be boldly uttered by
human lips — salvation is come, is come to the race
of Adam ! Here, we see it, not in word, not in
promise, but in practical demonstration ; in human
beings redeemed ; in our nature recovered from
sin, and that not in a solitary convert, not in one
ardent youth, or in one exhausted worldling, but in
hundreds and thousands of men with ordinary
hearts, and wants, and employments, to whom
human life has become a fellowship with God, and a
straighc road to eternal joy.

We have already said that we may speak of a
physical miracle and of a mental miracle } and to
this we may add a moral miracle. Mind, we have
said, is greater than matter, and therefore a work
wrought in mind is greater than one wrought in
matter; it bespeaks not merely a power, but a

120 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

spirit. Just as intellect sways matter, so does that
for which it is hard to find a name — the moral
nature, the self and substance of a man, the heart
— sway the intellect. We will use the word "heart,"
not to signify the emotional nature, represented
in Scripture by the "bowels," but the moral na-
ture ; that is, so far as man is concerned, nature.
The heart commands the man. Give me a heart,
and you give me a man ; it carries both a mind and
a body with it. Heart is the greatest thing below
the sky ; the nearest to the government above, that
which sways intellect, and sways all things human.
A work, then, wrought upon heart, is the highest
order of operation to which human nature can
afford a sphere. Christianity professes to be a
system for that which has never been otherwise
professed — the renewing of bad hearts in the image
of the God of heaven. To this all its powers are
directed ; and until this is done, Christianity is but
a theory. All previous to this is but as the verbal
explanation of principles by a physical philosopher,
lacking his ocular demonstration. The problem of
our nature is how to make the bad good ; that is,
how to change nature, which, by natural power, ia
absolutely impossible.

In the physical miracle we see the God of nature
accrediting revelation; in the mental miracle we
see the God of mind accrediting revelation. I if

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 12 J

both these, nature is counter- worked, and a power
above nature manifested. It is a grand and mem
orable thing to see the sea dried up, or to see the
human mine illuminated with the lights of prophecy
or the gift of tongues ; but the highest manifesta-
tion of a power above nature, of a power acting
against and contrary to nature, is, when the bad
suddenly becomes good; the impure, pure; when
a clean thing is brought out of an unclean ; when
the earthly becomes heavenly; the sensual, spirit-
ual; the devilish, like God; when the Ethiopian
changes his skin, and the leopard his spots; when
instead of the thorn comes up the fir-tree, and in-
stead of the brier comes up the myrtle-tree. Here
is the Ruler, not of the physical universe over*
ruling physical nature, or of the mental universe
over-ruling mental nature, but the Ruler of the
moral universe over-ruling moral nature, in attesta
tion of the Gospel of His own grace.

This, though not in the technical language of
theology a miracle, is so in common sense. Is it
nature ? Is it reducible to natural law ? True, it is
what is to be ordinarily expected in Christianity
Lut expected as what ? as a fruit of natural agency?
or of supernatural power accompanying that agency,
and attesting it as from God ? Has any system of
religion ever embodied such a conception as an
evidence that God was in it, and working through

122 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

it, which would admit of constant application, and^
at the same time, would strike deeper into the
human soul than any other imaginable demonstra-
tion? This is the singular glory of the Gospel.
The recovery of nature from her fearful fall, the
creating anew of man in the image of God, the
presenting the fir instead of the thorn, the myrtle
instead of the brier, is the "everlasting sign,

WHICH SHALL NOT BE CUT OFF."

Other modes whereby the Lord attests and seals
His messengers, whereby His operation accredits
His word, have had their occasional and their glori-
ous field ; but this sign is equally adapted to all
time, claims as its sphere all humanity, and ad-
dresses not the judgment merely, but the con-
science of man, proclaiming to him the presence in
the earth of a Power that heals human nature, and
restores the like of himself to the image of God.

Each sinner transformed into a saint is a new
token of a redeeming power among men. That
token declares to observers, not that there is a
King in heaven, not that there is a "Father of
lights," but that there is a Saviour. And this is the
testimony which the world especially needs. There
are few things in religion which men doubt more
than whether it is possible for them, as individuals,
to escape from their sins. No declaration of that pos-
sibility goes so far to convince them, as seeing those

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 123

tfhom they have known as weak as themselves, as
addicted to evil as themselves, suddenly changed,
and enabled all their life long to walk " as seeing
Him who is invisible." This at once says to them,
"There is One who has power on earth to save
from sin ;" and when they know that their neigh
bor ascribes all to the cross of Christ, they feel
that in that cross must lie an efficacy by which, if
ever they are to find salvation, that salvation must
come.

The regeneration of a sinner is an evidence of
power in the highest sphere — moral nature ; with
the highest prerogative — to change nature; and
Operating to the highest result — not to create
originally, which is great; but to create anew,
which is greater : for, when nature has once be-
come evil, how infinite the glory of the act whereby
again it takes its place in the eye of the universe,
"very good!" The creation of saints out of sin-
ners is the demonstration whereby the divinity of
the Gospel is most shortly and most convincingly
displayed. Of all the Christian evidences it alone
proves that our religion does save from sin.

Again we look back to those three thousand, and

in the sight we glory. Our nature is not hopelessly

lost ! Redemption is wrought out ! Humanity may

be sanctified ! Communities of men may be reared
10

124 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

who shall dwell in peace and love, and earth may
become a mirror of heaven ! Never, below the
skies — never, until the tragic history of Adam's
sons is ended, can we escape the death which sin
has brought upon us, and its correlative woes. But
sin itself has found a conqueror ; not sin in the ab-
stract, not sin in some philosophical impersonation,
not sin in the great prince of the powers of dark-
ness ; but sin in human hearts, sin in my nature, sin
girt round with flesh of my flesh, and bone of my
bone, flowing in veins like mine, and appealed to
by temptations of the mind and of the body, just
such as my own. Sin in living man, has been con-
quered, its Conqueror reigns, His redeeming power
is nigh ; and in those converts at Jerusalem I see a
pledge of my own deliverance, and can shout, " I,
too, shall be made free from the law of sin and
death !"

We see a pledge of the deliverance not only of
individuals, but of multitudes, not only of families,
but of thousands and tens of thousands. It has
been too much the fashion for Christians to look
upon pure and elevated religion as applicable only
to a few. At a time when Christianity and holiness
became different things, and true religion was look
ed upon as something not for life, but for a con-
dition secluded from life, amounting, for practical
purposes, to a burial before the time ; a style of

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 125

thinking crept in, which has never disappeared to
this day. In the Church of Rome we still find it
maintained, that deep holiness finds its best place
away from human life, in retreat and celibacy.
Among Protestants this error is rejected, yet prac-
tical religion is looked upon as something not to be
expected to gain thousands at a time, and to renew
communities by its sacred power, but rather to be
a select blessing for a few, scattered here and there,
and everywhere little discerned.

Look back to Pentecost. See Christianity at her
first step raising up her army by thousands. She
seeks not the wilderness ; she seeks not the few ;
she affects not little, dispersed, and hidden groups.
In the sight of Jerusalem, in the sight of the world,
she starts as the religion of the multitude ; the re-
ligion of fathers and mothers, of traders, landown
ers, widows, persons of all classes and of all occu-
pations. She takes in her hand, at the very first
moment, an earnest of every nation, and kindred,
and people, and tongue, of every grade and age,
as if to expand forever the expectations of her dis-
ciples, and impress us with the joyful faith that her
practical redemption was for the multitudes of
men.

In the case of the converts of Pentecost we are
struck first with the suddenness of their conviction,

126 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

then with the sharpness of it, and then with the
permanence of the result.

When the humble fisherman began to preach,
many who had witnessed the miracle were mock-
ing ; none had become saints ; perhaps not a man
in the crowd believed in the mediation of Christ, or
in any other of the great doctrines of the Gospel,
They were adverse — not to say dogged, and on
system, enemies. His words were strangely edged :
a sword went through the very souls of these men
— a sword which told to the consciousness, that He
who wielded it was the Unseen and the Almighty.
As if the whole of life were recalled, as if eternity
had pressed itself with all its weight into one mo-
ment ; processes of thought that would have re-
quired long, long meditation, and yet longer de-
scription, flashed and reflashed across the soul; and
the man found himself a sinner in the midst of his
own sins, accused by the past, menaced by the fu-
ture, overwhelmed, confounded, discovered, and
unable to wrestle against the one thought, u What
must I do to be saved ?"

The sharpness of this conviction is equally amaz-
ng with its suddenness. Why could not the men
control themselves ? Why not go to their homes
and think? Why not take time to deliberate?
Why not avoid exposure to the public eye ? Why
but because, wounded to the very quick, they for

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 127

got all other considerations, and wanted to be heal-
ed ? They saw, they felt themselves fallen into the
hands of God ; and, for the moment, the eye, the
voice, the opinion of man was shut out from their
thoughts.

If a man really saw an angel, or one " risen from
the dead," we should expect that all consideration
of bystanders would forsake him in the awe of the
moment. And so, if in an instant a supernatural
power opens the unseen world to the soul, with ita
one eternal Light, its heaven and its hell, although
the view of these must be imperfect and confused,
yet if it is a view, a sudden view, it must shoot fear,
wonder, awe, through and through the soul, till
man and man's opinion are as little thought of, as
fashion by a woman fallen into a steamer's foaming
wake.

We find those who were affected by these sudden
impressions, going on and on, month after month,
sustaining in the ordinary walks of life the profes-

sion of saints, walking worthy, not only of them-
selves, not only of their teachers, but even of the
Lord, leading such a life that " He that sanctifieth,
and they which are sanctified, are all of one: for
which cause He is not ashamed to call them breth-
ren." This stedfastness in purity and piety, " in the
Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers," in liberality such as no

128 THE TONGUE OF FIltE.

community had ever practiced, in "gladness and
singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor
with all the people ;" shows that the fountains of
life had been sweetened, the depths of the soul
reached ; that, in a word, nature had been touched
changed, renewed.

The permanence of the change shows that it is
one of nature ; its suddenness, that it is effected by
supernatural means. Indeed, natural means can
never change a nature, though they may greatly
modify its manifestations. When we want to pro-
duce any moral impression on humaji nature that
shall be permanent, we trust to slow and lengthen-
ed training. To turn a man from his ways, to turn
him against his own interests, to lead him to place
all he holds dear in continual jeopardy, purely for
the sake of goodness here and happiness hereafter,
is what, in any natural scheme, we must attempt by
beginning early and by laboring long. But if we are
to depend not on natural processes, but on the
power of God, then time ceases to be a matter of
account ; the Infinite One declares His presence by
accomplishing in a moment that upon which we had
gladly spent a life. Whatever reasons may be ad
vanced in favor of gradual awakenings rather than
sudden ones, this at least stands on the other side,
that the sudden conversion conveys to all bystand-
ers a much more striking impression of a power

V

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 129

above that of man. What is gradual may be read-
ily ascribed, by the ignorant or the unbelieving, to
the natural results of human processes. They may
say, " The wonder would be if, with so much teach*
ing, so many homilies, directed to the one end of
bringing man to consideration for his soul, he was not
gradually brought to it." But when, by some sin-
gle, and, perhaps, simple message, the work of con-
version is done in an instant, it looks like the raising
of the dead. As to bystanding sinners, it first stirs
their wonder, then moves their conscience ; and if
they see such cases multiplied, the feeling falls upon
them — " It is the mighty power of God !"

Christianity was established by the creation of
Christians.

In the words, " Continued steadfast in the Apos-
tles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers," we see the effect of the re-
generation of individuals on the character of a com-
munity. From a number of good men at once
arose a united and fraternal society. Statesmen
and philanthropists, occupied with the idea of form-
ing happy nations, frequently look to good institu-
tions as the means of doing so ; but find that when
institutions are more than a certain distance in ad-
vance of the people, instead of being a blessing,
they become a snare and a confusion. The reason

130 THE TONGUE OP FIRE.

of this is obvious : good institutions to a certain ex
tent pre-suppose a good people. Where the degree
of goodness existing in the people does not, in some
measure, correspond with that pre-supposed in the
institutions, the latter can never be sustained. As
the organ, embodiment, and conservators of indivi-
dual goodness, the value of good institutions is in-
calculable ; and he is one of man's greatest benefac-
tors, who makes any improvement in the joinings
and bearings of the social machine ; but as a means
of regeneration, political instruments are impotent.
Good institutions given to a depraved and unprin-
cipled people, end in bringing that which is good
into disrepute. In fact, it would be more correct
to say, that institutions which are good for a people
of good principles, are bad for a people destitute of
principle. The only way to the effectual regenera-
tion of society is the regeneration of individuals ;
make the tree good, and the fruit will be good ;
make good men, and you wTill easily found and sus-
tain good institutions. Here is the fault of states-
men— they forget the heart of the individual.

On the other hand, have not those who see and
feel the importance of first seeking the regeneration
of individuals, too often insufficiently studied the
application of Christianity to social evils? When
the result of Christian teaching long addressed to a
people has raised the tone of conscience, when a

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 131

large number of persons embodying true Chris-
tianity in their own lives are diffused among all
ranks, a foundation is laid for social advancement ;
but it does not follow that, by spontaneous develop
ment, the principles implanted in the minds of the
people make to themselves the most fitting and
Christian embodiment. Fearful social evils may
co-exist with a state of society wherein many are
holy, and all have a large amount of Christian light.
The most disgusting slave-system, base usages
fostering intemperance, alienation of class from
class in feeling and interest, systematic frauds in
commerce, neglect of workmen by masters, neglect
of children by their own parents, whole classes
living by sin, usages checking marriage and encour-
aging licentiousness, human dwellings which make
. the idea of home odious, and the existence of mod-
esty impossible, are but specimens of the evils which
may be left age after age, cursing a people among
whom Christianity is the recognized standard of so
ciety, To be indifferent to these things is as un-
faithful to Christian morals on the one hand, as
hoping to remedy them without spreading practical
holiness among individuals, is astray from truth on
the other.

The most dangerous perversion of the Gospel,
viewed as affecting individuals, is, when it is looked
upon as a salvation for the soul after it leaves the

132 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

body, but no salvation from sin while here. The
most dangerous perversion of it, viewed as affect-
ing the community, is, w^hen it is looked upon as a
means of forming a holy community in the world to
come, but never in this. Nothing short of the gen-
eral renewal of society ought to satisfy any soldier
of Christ ; and all who aim at that triumph should
draw much inspiration from the King's own words :
"All power is given unto Me in heaven and in
earth." Much as Satan glories in his power over
an individual, how much greater must be his glory-
ing over a nation embodying, in its laws and usages,
disobedience to God, wrong to man, and contamina-
tion to morals ! To destroy all national holds of evil,
to root sin out of institutions, to hold up to view
the Gospel ideal of a righteous nation, to confront
ail unwholesome public usages with mild, genial,
and ardent advocacy of what is purer, is one of the
first duties of those whose position or mode of
thought gives them an influence on general ques«
tions. In so doing they are at once glorifying the
Redeemer — by displaying the benignity of His in-
fluence over human society — and removing hinder-
ances to individual conversion, some of which act
by direct incentive to vice, others by upholding a
state of things the acknowledged basis of which
is, "Forget God."

Satan might be content to let Christianity turn

i

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 133

over the sub-soil, if he is in perpetuity to sow the
surface with thorns and briers ; but the Gospel is
come to renew the face of the earth. Among the
wheat, the tares, barely distinguishable from it, may
be permitted to grow to the last : but the field is
to be wheat, not tares; wheat, not briers; a fair,
fenced, plowed, sowed, and fruitful field, albeit
weeds, resembling the crop, be interspersed.

The same words, "The Apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and breaking of bread, and prayers," in-
dicate the various exercises of religion, in which all
Churches and individual Christians ought to " con-
tinue stedfast." It was not a " preaching Church,"
or a "praying Church," the one m opposition to the
other: they had both "doctrine," teaching, and
" prayers." The idea of separating these two, oi
of setting the one up above the other, is foreign tc
the religion of the New Testament. They are ne
ministers sent of God who have not the gift of
being "apt to teach." They may be good and
useful men ; but the proof that any one never was
designed by the Head of all for a certain position,
is, that He never qualified him for it. All the au-
thorities in the universe can not make him an em-
bassador for Christ, to whom Christ Himself has
given no power to beseech men to be reconciled to
God, no power to warn every man, and teach every

134 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

man, that he may present every man perfect. The
pretense of a Christianity without ministers, served
by a priesthood who can manipulate, read prayers
that others wrote, organize solemnities, and keep
times and seasons, but who can not " rightly divide
the word of truth ;" can not " preach the Gospel
with demonstration of the Spirit, and with power ;"
can not do any thing but what the most senseless,
or the most wicked, of men could do, if drilled to
it; is one of those marvels of imposition before
which we are at once abashed and indignant — in-
dignant that, with the New Testament still living,
men dare palm this upon us for Christianity ; and
abashed, that human nature is ready to accept such
a travestv.

On the other hand, the gift of teaching was not
exercised to the exclusion, or even to the repres-
sion, of that of prayer. The disciples did not
come together only when some one was prepared
with a deep and weighty discourse on points of
essential doctrine. Prayer was one of their habit-
ual exercises ; not merely hearkening to the soli-
tary prayer of one gifted preacher, in the great
congregation, before or after his sermon ; but pray-
ers in frequent and familiar fellowship, prayers
prompted then and there, without book, and with-
out study; prayers of private disciples who had
no higher gift, but who could pour out their re

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 135

quests to God ; prayers by men with provincial
speech, and all the marks of being "unlearned
and ignorant ;" but also with clear signs that
the Spirit was helping their infirmities, and teach-
ing them what they should pray for as they
ought.

Suppose that Peter had some day stood up, and
said, " Brethren, all things must be done in order.
The use of vulgar tones and uneducated language
is unseemly. Henceforth none shall pray in our
assemblies but those who can do so without expos-
ing us to the ridicule of the respectable. Indeed,
to secure propriety, we have prepared proper
forms, and all our future praying shall be from
these Litanies and Collects written here, the lan-
guage of which is the most beautiful of human
compositions, and may, indeed, be called fault-
less."

Would not this have altered the history of the
primitive Church ? Were not prayers, simple, un-
premeditated, united ; prayers of the well-taught
Apostle ; prayers of the accomplished scholar ;
prayers of the rough but fervent peasant ; prayers
of the new but zealous convert ; prayers which im
portuned and wrestled with an instant and irrepress-
ible urgency ; — were they not an essential part of
that religion, which holy fire had kindled, and which
daily supplications alone could fan ?

136 THE TONGUE OP FIKE,

Surely no Church can be entitled to call herself
a praying Church because, by a trained priesthood,
she often reads old and admirable forms of prayer
Against such forms, suitably mingled with the pub
lie services of the Church, we mean to say no word
we use, admire, and enjoy them: but, with the
Acts of the Apostles open, it is impossible to re-
press astonishment, that any man should imagine
that frequent and formal reading of the best forms
ever written, unmixed even by one outburst of
spontaneous supplication from Minister or people,
has any pretense to be looked on as the interceding
grace, the gift of supplication bestowed upon the
primitive Church. That in such modes holy and
prayerful hearts may and do pour themselves out to
God, we not only concede, but would maintain
against all who questioned it. That such prayers
are in many ways preferable to the one set prayer
of one dry man, long, stiff, and meager, wherewith
congregations are often visited, is too plain to need
acknowledgment.

But gifts of prayer are part of tlie work and
prerogative of the Holy Ghost ; are of the very
essence of a Church ; and to deliberately shut th
door against them, or so to frame ecclesiastical ar
rangements that they are practically buried except
when possessed by the Minister, the well-educated,
or the influential, is a plain departure from apostolic

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 137

Christianity. In no form is the tongue of fire more
impressive, more calculated to convince men that a
power above nature is working, than when poot
men, who could no more preach than they could
fly, and could not suitably frame a paragraph on
any secular topic, lift up a reverent voice, amid a
few fellow-Christians, and in strains of earnest trust,
perhaps of glorious emotion, and even of sublime
conception as to things Divine, plead in prayer with
their Redeemer. The Pentecostal Christianity was
not framed on the ideal of an accomplished circle ;
but on that of a Church, a Church including learned
and unlearned, the refined and the rustic, the
honored Evangelist, Prophet, or Apostle, and the
humble member without public gifts ; but all re»
joicing as members of one brotherhood, and each,
in fitting time and mode, taking his share accord-
ing to his gifts in the active work of mutual edifi-
cation. A Church, to be apostolic, must have
Ministers powerful in preaching, and members
mighty in prayer.

They continued stedfast "in breaking of bread;"
hence it is plain, that it was not a purely spiritual
system of worship, too spiritual to stoop to our
Lord's ordained symbols, or by the breaking of
bread to show forth His death.

Besides breaking of bread, and doctrine, and

138 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

prayers, " fellowship" is distinctly named. It was
then not a Church where the "teaching" of the
Minister was taken for his fellowship with the
people, and their "breaking of bread" for their
fellowship one with another ; but where, in addi
tion to public teaching, sacraments, and prayers,
was another beauty of primitive Christianity, " fel-
lowship." Fellowship is family-life, forming a circle,
smaller or larger, to the members of which joys,
sorrows, interests, and undertakings are of common
concern and matter of common conversation. Be-
tween the life of man as an individual, and as a
member of a great community, lies a vast region of
affections, which can be filled up only by family re-
lations. In public, an individual does not indulge
his affections : the greater the multitude, the more
is the heart in privacy. The citizen who stands
honorably with the public, and yet has no wife,
child, or friend, to partake of his life, is lonely : his
place in the town council, or the national legislature,
may be filled, and all the relations therein involved
well sustained to him by others ; but he lives with-
out fellowship : if from bereavement, men compas-
sionate him ; if from choice, they turn cold at the
thought of him.

It would have been strange, had a Church meant
for man, in all his aspects, individual, domestic,
aational, left the space between the individual and

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 139

the public unoccupied ; so that Christian life must
have been divided into secret and solitary inter-
course with God, and public solemnities, wherein
each was a stranger to each ; no family life, nj
circles of interwoven hearts, no unbosoming of joys,
sorrows, and cares, no communication " one to an
other" as to the soul's health or progress. Had
such a cardinal omission been traceable in Chris-
tianity, it might have raised many a question as to
how the tenderest elements of our nature — the
social ones — had been disregarded in forming a
bond designed to unite all men in one loving bro-
therhood.

But the spiritual life of the primitive Church is
redolent of family feeling. You have not there the
solemn and solitary man, who has things passing
between himself and his Creator, of which he never
breathes a word, though he will take his place in
public assemblies, where his own heart is as effect-
ually concealed as if he were in a desert ; who re-
gards any approach toward fellowship of spirit as
an inroad on privacy; any inquiry for his soul's
health as a stranger's intermeddling ; any opening
of hearts as weakness ; who can live his religious
life alone, and loves to do so, except when he comes
into public ; who wants no friends, fellow-helpers,
or inner circle of companions ; and, indeed, who

loftily doubts whether socialitv in religious life is a
11

140 THE TONGUE OP FIRE.

very good thing. That man who can find fellow
citizens among the children of God, but not family
friends, may be a very good Christian, but not of
the primitive stamp.

What a glow of family heartiness runs through
the New Testament ! Instead of stiff souls always
either dressed for the public eye, or shut up in
solitude ; you have brothers, sisters, friends, lovers,
who cling to each other by mutual attraction, and
between whom the common talk often runs on their
conversion, their conflicts, and their glorious fore-
taste of eternal joy. In writing to them, the
Apostles arc manifestly addressing persons to whom
one great e\ ent has occurred, the surpassing inter-
est of which keeps it in continual remembrance.
Once they weiv foolish, dark, wicked ; carried away
oy evil passions, without God, and without hope.
But a wonderful change has passed upon them — a
deliverance from the power of darkness, and a
translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son ; a
change as if from being aliens to be of the house-
hold of God ; as from darkness to light, as from life
to death. To this great salvation } accomplished for
and in them, the allusions made by their apostolic
teachers are so free, incidental, and frequent, as
clearly to show that it was a theme of unreserved
and joyful thanksgiving and wonder in their com
munications with one another. The dignity of thr

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIKE. 141

apostolic office does not prevent frank and touch-
ing allusions to personal conversion and to pro
vious character, as also to present attainments;
and, on the other hand, even the babe in Christ
is one whose happy experience is matter of open
congratulation : " I write unto you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven you, for His name's
sake."

The incidental proofs of the spirit which animated
the first Christians, as to fellowship with one an-
other, would be perfectly conclusive if they stood
alone ; but some important passages of the apostolic
letters are plainly meant to preserve this spirit for-
ever in the Church. "Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom ; teaohing and admonish-
ing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord."* Here is an injunction, not to the Ministry,
but to ordinary Christians, to be well acquainted
with the word of God, with a view to the edifica-
tion of one another, by teaching and admonition ;
but teaching and admonition which, so far from
having the regularity of preaching, may even be,
and ought frequently to be, in " psalms, and hymns,
and spiritual songs." Such counsel could never be
given, had a system been adopted wherein every
word of teaching or admonition must fall from the
* Col. iii. 16.

142 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

lips of the Minister. Throughout the New Testa-
ment the system of the Church is assumed to be
such as to call forth the gift of every member, no
matter of what order it might be; and the active
co-operation of each one is enjoined to promote the
edification of all. " From whom [Christ] the whole
body fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effect-
ual working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love."* Here " every joint" is to supply somewhat,
" every part" to perform its " effectual working ;"
and by this means the body is to increase, " edify-
ing itself" in love. No system can be made to ac
cord with this passage, any more than with the
general spirit of the New Testament, wherein the
pulpit is the sole provision for instruction, admoni-
tion, and exhortation ; the great bulk of the mem-
bers of the Church being merely recipients, each
living a stranger to the spiritual concerns of the
others, and no "effectual working" of every joint
and every part for mutual strengthening being
looked for. It is not enough that arrangements to
promote mutual edification be permitted, at the
discretion of individual Pastors or officers : means
of grace, wTherein fellow-Christians shall on set pur-
pose have " fellowship" one with another, " speak
* Eph. iv. 16.

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 143

often one to another, exhort one another, confess
their faults one to another," and " pray one for an-
other," shall teach and " admonish one another hi
psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs," are not
dispensable appendages, but of the essence of a
Church of Christ. f

Some make light of any " teaching" which could *
be gained by the mutual exercise of the gifts of
private members of the Church — not always either
educated or wise— and think that only well-prepared
addresses from the pulpit are instructive. The reg-
ular ministry of the word is undoubtedly the prime
source of teaching, and on its vigor and clearness
the life of all auxiliary agency will ever depend ;
but those who would reject the practical and home
teaching of free-hearted "fellowship," little consider
that to persons of simple mind, or slow heart — that
is, to the majority of mankind — the great problems,
" What must I do to be saved ? What is believing ?
Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit glory ?
Am I, or am I not, deceiving myself? How can I
overcome this temptation, the sorest that ever beset
a man ? How can I grow in grace ?" and such like,
have often more light shed upon them by the plain
statement of an individual as to how Divine mercy
solved them in his own case than by any general
explanation. In practical religion, as in all things
practical, instruction is miserably incomplete, even

144 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

though correct so far as it goes, if it does not bring
before the student or inquirer actual examples of
the process he hears described. A minister sur-
rounded by bands of lively members, who with glad
and single heart say as the Psalmist, " Come and
hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what
He hath done for my soul," has at hand " living
epistles" which he may send any inquirer to read,
has practical demonstrations of his pulpit doctrines,
by which he may at once convince and enlighten
the doubter. One who seeks no such auxiliaries,
who permits or encourages the frigid habit of walk-
ing each one with a sealed bosom, rests all his hopes
of success on the words of his own lips, and that
without scriptural sanction.

Some defend a plain departure from scriptural
religion by openly questioning the utility of Chris-
tian fellowship. One writer of note is so bold as
to say that the spiritual experience of believers is
" better never spoken about." Though this senti-
ment is completely alien to the spirit of both Old
and New Testament piety, it is the natural fruit of
the constitution of too many of our Protestant
Churches. In them the social element of religion
has been woefully overlooked. Provision is made
for doctrine, for prayers, for breaking of bread ; but
none for fellowship. A Christian may be a member
of a Church, and yet walk all his way alone, no one

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 145

knowing or caring to know of his conflicts or his
joys. If he is tempted, he may stand ; if over-
come, he may get restored ; if happy, he may hide
his peace among his secrets, and ask no one to re-
joice with him ; if he had lost his pearl, and has
found it again, he may be silent, for his neighbors
are not wont to be called together to take share in
another's cares and joys. There is something fear-
fully chilling in a state of things of which this is too
fair a description. Religion is a life to be lived in
fellowship; a conflict to be sustained, not singly,
but in bands ; a redemption, of which we are to
impart the joy ; a hope, an anticipation, of which
the comforts are to be gladly told to those who
" fear the Lord." We once heard a contrite inquirer
after spiritual comfort say, "It is ten years since I
was received a member of such a Church, and
during all that time no one has ever said a word to
me about my soul." And this is the case with tens
of thousands who are members of Churches which
provide only for public instruction and ordinances,
not for the social fellowship of saints. It is a
mournful example of the effect of overlooking any
one of the essential features of vital Christianity ;
and a fair comment on the ungenial notion that
religious experience had better never be spoken
about.

How would the Psalms be altered, could we ™.

146 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

construct them on the principle that all about the
state of the soul, its joys, sorrows, temptations,
wanderings, and deliverances, had better be kept
in prudent reserve from the knowledge of our
brethren ! How would the apostolic letters lose in
dignity, tenderness, and power, as well as in instruc-
tion, could this frigid law of isolation once stiffen
them !

If we turn from Religion in her own person, as
viewed in holy writ, to look at a reflection of her in
one of the best mirrors, the " Pilgrim's Progress,"
how would Bunyan have handled pilgrims who
would stiffly or prudently close up their bosom ? A
Christian, a Faithful, a Hopeful, who had nothing to
say " one to another," as they traveled on, respect-
ing the beginning of God's work in their heart,
their escapes, solaces, temptations, and slips; a
Christiana, a Mercy, a Great-Heart, an Honest, a
Ready-to-Halt, who would interchange no experi-
ence ; holy damsels and genial Gaiuses who would
have no questions to ask on such matters — would
be a set of people whom Bunyan would not know
and whom, we suspect, he would castigate with
good will. Indeed, he has given such some cutting
stripes, as it is, in the person of Mr. Talkative,
who, though fluent on doctrines and such points,
was very reserved on experimental religion. Faith-
ful, wishing to know how he was to bring him to a

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 147

point, said to Christian, "What would you have
me to do ?"

" Why, go to him, and enter into some serious
discourse on the power of religion ; and ask him
plainly, when he has approved of it (for that he
will), whether this thing be set up in his heart,
house, or conversation?"

Faithful having described how a work of grace
" discovers itself when it is in the heart of a man,"
puts the plain question, "Do you experience this
first part of the description of it ?"

Talkative at first began to blush, but, recovering
himself, thus replied : " You come now to experi-
ence, to conscience, and God ; and to appeal to Him
for justification of what is spoken. This kind of
discourse I did not expect ; nor am I disposed to
give an answer to such questions : because I count
not myself bound thereto, unless you take upon you
to be a catechizer ; and though you should do so,
yet I may refuse to make you my judge." How
many professedly religious men, who think them-
selves very different people from Mr. Talkative, and
in many respects are so, would, nevertheless, feel
much as he did, if any Faithful came as abruptly
close home on the question of personal experi-
ence !

Banish from the " Pilgrim's Progress" the sociaj
element, the fellowship of hearts, the free recital of

148 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

the Lord's dealings with each pilgrim, and yon
would cool its interest down to a point which,
doubtless, would be decorous in the eyes of some,
but would never touch the many.

" But is not what you call c fellowship,' the meet-
ing of the lay members of the Church for prayer,
praise, and recital of experience, liable to be abused?"
Most certainly; and that in several ways. But
is not preaching the Gospel liable to be abused,
so as to be merely the means of displaying a man's
talent, or of diffusing error ? And baptism, so as
to be put instead of the "renewing of the Holy
Ghost ?" And the Lord's Supper, so as to be put
instead of holy living ? When we want to learn
what is Christian, we never ask what is incapable
of being abused ; for we should find no answer : but
what accords with the Word of God ?

And it does accord with the Word of God, spirit
and letter, that " they who fear the Lord" should
" speak often one to another ;" that the forgiven
and happy sinner should have companions around
him, before whom he may celebrate the mercies of
his Redeemer ; that the weak should not droop un-
known, nor those whose love is waxing cold be left
to grow cold unwarned. A church wherein, from
the minister in the pulpit down, every man in his
own order, " according to the grace that is given
to" liim, is called to exercise his gift, and every

EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. 149

member to lend his " effectual working" toward tho
general life and strength ; wherein hearts are open,
and fellowship is free ; can alone answer to the
New Testament ideal of a Church. How much of
the failure of the various Protestant Churches to
maintain religion at a high point of vitality for any
great length of time consecutively, or to diffuse it
generally among the nations which have come
under their spiritual care, is to be ascribed to their
neglect of the social element of scriptural piety, we
do not profess to determine. But let those Churches
who, as to this point, have been taught to seek after
primitive spirit and usage, faithfully and immov-
ably guard the inestimable treasure whish has been
committed to them.

CHAPTER V.

PERMANENT BENEFITS RESULTING TO THE CHURCH.

Among the permanent benefits resulting from
Pentecost, we can not include the visible flame. Of
it we never again find any mention in the course of
the apostolical history ; it appears to stand related
to the Christian dispensation as the fires of Sinai did
to the Mosaic — the solemn token of supernatural
power upon its inaugural day.

Neither are we warranted in looking upon the
" gift of tongues" as one of the permanent privi-
leges of the Church. Only twice, throughout the
Acts of the Apostles, do we find any record that it
accompanied the first introduction of Christianity to
a place ; and both these instances are very peculiar.
The first was in the house of Cornelius, when Peter,
preaching to his Italian auditory, felt some misgiv-
ing whether he might not by possibility be doing
wrong, should he include them within the fold of
the Church ; but he saw a great change pass upon
the men before him, and heard them begin to speak

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH, 151

with other tongues, and thus saw that, as to them-
selves at the first, the Lord had now given a Pente-
cost to the Gentiles. The other case is that wherein
the disciples at Ephesus, who had been instructed
in the baptism of John, but had not so much as
" heard whether there was any Holy Ghost," receiv-
ed the word at the hands of Paul, and began to speak
with other tongues. These two cases excepted, we
never read of this miraculous gift immediately at-
tending conversions effected under the preaching of
the Apostles. It would not be just, from this cir-
cumstance, to infer that these were the only cases
in which the gift was bestowed ; but we may at
least infer, that it was not an invariable accompani-
ment of the first appearance of Christianity, even in
the apostolic days.

Considerable question, as to whether it was de-
signed to be a permanent gift of the Church, is
raised by St. Ffflfffid discourse on this particular
gift, in his letter to the Corinthians. It has been
already remarked, that he there shows it to be des-
titute of any power of edification for the Church,
and therefore not to be a gift likely to continue,
where all were convinced of the truth of Christian-
ity. " Tongues are for a sign, not to them that be-
lieve, but to them that believe not." The only
specific use assigned to the miracle is, that it is a
Bign to them who believe not. In any community,

152 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

then, in which the whole population had become
believers, this sign ceased to be called for.

It seems to be frequently taken for granted, thai
the chief value of the gift of tongues was to enable
the possessors of it to preach the Gospel to the na-
tives of countries, whose language they did not
otherwise understand. But this is never set for-
ward, in the Acts of the Apostles, as a reason for
the gift. A solitary stranger, possessing the gift oi
tongues, and passing into a country, the language
of which was to him otherwise unknown, would
have a great advantage in that gift; but, as has
been already noted, not the advantage of there-
by impressing the people of the country with a
sense of the miracle — for they would probably be-
lieve that he had been taught their tongue — but of
ability at once to proceed with his work and mis-
sion. It is, however, to be remarked that we never
find this advantage quoted as one of the results of
the gift. Except in the case wherein the gift of
tongues was used as a sign to the disciples, that the
Gentiles were admitted into the dispensation and
community of the Spirit ; the gift was no sign " to
those who believe." Its one use was " a sign" to
unbelievers, and even to them not in ordinary cir-
cumstances; for then prophecy, and not tongues
was the profitable gift. Not adapted to edify the
Church, or to bring ignorant unbelievers to repent-

PEBMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUECH. 153

ance, and fitted only to be a sign under exception
able circumstances, this gift does not seem clearly
designed to be either universal or perpetual.

We are not called upon to say that it will never
be restored to the Church ; for that is never said in
the word of God ; nor should we ridicule or talk
disrespectfully of the faith of any Christian who
devoutly expects its restoration. All we say is,
that we have not scriptural ground to claim it as
one of the permanent gifts of the Spirit ; and we
may add that, if it ever return to the Church, it
will be, not a mystification, but a miracle, a real
speaking with " other tongues," not a speaking in
some unheard-of, unknown tongue.

Having premised thus far, we come to the seri-
ous question, whether the Christian Church derives
any advantage whatever from the dispensation of
the Spirit, beyond that of looking back to a glori-
ous period of miracle and power at her origin — a
period which she may not regard as the dawn of a
long and brightening day, but as a wonderful time
of mysteries and portents, which were to have no
permanent place in the Church. It may seem
strange thus plainly to put the question, whether
Christianity really has any benefits permanently re-
sulting from Pentecost ; but it is necessary to do so,
in order honestly to meet, not so much well-digest-

154 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ed and formally expressed opinions, as a habit of
feeling, often prevailing among professed branches
and members of the Christian Church.

Nothing is more common than to find the whole
system of Christianity, as an organization for re-
covering mankind from their sinful condition,
spoken of, treated, and trusted in, as if it had
been clearly ascertained that it was neither more
nor less than a deposit of Divine doctrine cast upon
the earth, forsaken by the Divine Power, and left
to make such way among men as it might by the
inherent force of truth, and the permission of aus-
picious circumstances. Cases are stated in which
it is taken for granted that Christianity can make
no way, simply because natural difficulties exist,
such as natural agency can not in reason be ex-
pected to overcome. Any thing like a consistent
counting upon a superior power acting with the
truth, and making it triumph over difficulties, such
as on natural grounds are unconquerable, is jauntily
dealt with, as pertaining to those whose religion is
not entitled to the veneration which Christianity
has, by the lapse of ages, gained from mankind.

In every thing practice is in danger, if theory be
falsified ; and after the right theory has been aban-
doned, the maintenance of right practice is always
precarious, and never long continued. If it be the
true theory of Christianity, that the living power

-I

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 155

of tne Holy Ghost, additional to pastoral agency,
additional to Scriptural truth, additional to every
doctrine and every ordinance — a power by which
the truth is applied and the agent quickened for his
work, is not to be expected as continually resident
and active in the Church ; that theory ought to be
clearly stated and formally recognized on the part
of all Christians. If it be not the true theory, we
should take care that it do not color any of our
habits of thought.

A religion without tlie Holy Ghosts though it had
all the ordinances and all the doctrines of the Nero
Testament, woidd certainly not be Christianity.
In it the presence and power of the Spirit are ever
taken to be the vital element. Our world without
its atmosphere, though the same globe, with the
same physical characteristics, would be another
world ; and, if inhabited at all, must be inhabited
by a race governed by laws altogether dissimilar to
those under which human life is sustained. The
change from the Church of the New Testament to
a Church without the Holy Ghost, would certainly
not be less in its kind than this.

All who seriously handle Christianity must rec-
ognize the presence of the Spirit, as an integral
part of its system and power ; but if this presence
is to be in some occult and inconceivable manner

resident in an abstract Ch'irch ; not in the hearts
12

156 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

of individual believers, not in the living temple of
animated bodies and sanctified souls, but in a holy
Church made up of unholy members, in a sacred
Ministry made up of secular persons, in holy houses
where worldly multitudes gather, and in holy books
which ungodly ecclesiastics handle ; if this is to be
the presence of the Spirit, then the debate as to
whether it is to be expected in perpetuity or not,
need excite little interest.

If His presence is to entitle men to promulgate
new doctrines contradictory to those already re-
vealed in His own word, and even to withhold that
word from the mass of their fellow-men, on the plea
of denying them a deceptive guide and substitut-
ing an infallible one, then would His presence be-
come a self-contradiction and a danger. In none
of these lights have we the slightest reason given
in the word of God to expect the presence of the
Spirit. We hear not of Him there as dwelling else-
where than in the bodies of believers, or ever yield-
ing to future ages the right to depart from the ancient
ways and the clear revelation of the Son of God.

Neither do we find the promise of His presence
so given that all action and effort on the part of
Christians is to be made at every moment dependent
on each person's own impression of the Spirit's
movement within him.

But while on the one hand, we do not expect the

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 157

permanent presence of the Spirit with the Church
in this Komish sense, or in the sense maintained by
estimable Christians of the Society of Friends, we
must, on the other hand, maintain, as we have said,
that without His presence and operation in the
hearts of believers, and in Christian agents, we can
not have the Christian religion. We do not expect
visible signs or miraculous gifts : for these were not
the substantial blessing and grace imparted at Pen-
tecost ; but were to them only as heralds and ush-
ers. The real grace and blessing lay in what we
have called the spiritual influence of the Holy Ghost,
acting on the believer's heart ; His ministerial influ-
ence, acting on the Church; His converting influ-
ence, acting on the world. These, we contend, are
necessary to the identity of the Christian religion,
and were bestowed for all ages, and will to the end
of the world be shed on those who perseveringly
" wait" for the baptism of fire.

Whence arises a persuasion which we seldom find
formally stated, but constantly trace in the words
of thoughtful men — that our mind is cut off from
communion with the Father Mind, and, though able
to draw knowledge from physical objects and from
the minds of men, is without any access to the
Source of spirit, or any recognizable lights from
Him ? On what inch of grour.d in all the realm of

158 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

reason can we rest the notion, that the Spirit of
God does not communicate actively and directly
with the spirit of man ? Is it that we are so com-
pletely outcasts that, though without doubt capable
of being acted upon by the Divine Being for Divina
intents, He will not touch subjects so mean ? This
would be the death-knell of intellect and morals ;
for, if thus cut off from the Source of light, our
souls must be lost in the dark at last. The sense
of sin gives to the conscience a feeling of banish-
ment ; the only answer to which lies in redemption.
It is vain to answer it by mere reason ; for reason
offers no footing for the feeling, except on ground
which revelation first discovers, and then bridges
over by the Cross.

Is it that our mental perceptions are all derived
through physical organs, and that, none such exist-
ing as channels between God and the soul, no com-
munication can take place ? Few would be so bold
as to say this ; many are bold enough to assume it.
What ! no communication but through physical
organs ? They never explain communication, but-
only increase the mystery. Physical organs, it is
true, are only acted upon from without, by physic; \
objects ; and all our sensations come through such
organs. But they never have sensations. The
organ receives an impulse from the light, the air, or
other outward object, and transmits that impulse to

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHTTKCFI. 159

the brain, producing a vibration there ; but what a
gulf between a vibration in a brain and a sensation
of a soul, or an idea of heaven, or an emotion of

joy!

It seems no mystery that two men should be able
to communicate, but a great one that they should
be able to do so through an iron wire, when they
are a thousand miles apart. One makes a secret
fire carry a thought from his mind through a wire
toward the mind of the other ; a sensation is given,
and both an idea and an emotion follow ; but the
wire feels none of them. The impulse passes along
it ; and the mind interprets that impulse, and
turns it into the image of a dying father, a new-
born babe, a ruined fortune, or a Sovereign saying,
" Well done !" All the sensation, perception, emo-
tion, lie within the mind, none of them in the wire.
It is just so with organs ; they transmit impulses,
but they know nothing, feel nothing, and explain
nothing. The power of communication is a mental
power. Spirit knows, and gives knowledge. The
wonder is not that a mind can impart its ideas to a
mind such as itself, but that, being shut up in a
silent chamber whence branch out wires incapable
of one thought or feeling, it can pour along these a
vivid and changeful fire which conveys its feelings
to another.

" No man," says Paul, touching on these things.

160 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

u knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit ot
man which is in him." To you all minds are in
visible. True, the mind of your neighbor is in all
respects the fellow of your own ; yet you can not
tell what is within it. It may be forming plans for
your ruin or for your good ; but this is beyond
your eye, or ear, or heart's divining. Every man
dwells in the invisible, and often rejoices to look
out upon a race, no one of which can look in upon
him. Yet oftener does he rejoice to pour himself
into others, and multiply his own feelings in the
spirits around him. When the invisible " spirit
of man" wills to make known " the things of tho
man," it has easy, though mysterious, means at
command.

A man is seated in his chamber, and deep things
are passing in his mind. His mother sees that he is
thinking ; but ask her to tell his thoughts, and she
is at a loss. His wife looks into his eye, and knows
that he is feeling ; but ask her what is the spring
and course of his emotion, and she is in the dark.
His little daughter sees something lofty on her
father's brow, but what it is she knows not. Pres-
ently a thousand people are before him, and " the
spirit of the man" is opening itself. A stream
of thought is pouring from it ; thought which
ranges from the most familiar objects at hand, to
those which are hidden in the bosom of eternity,

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 161

Yet all these thoughts, mingled with suitable emo-
tion, pass straight from his unseen soul into the
souls of the thousand people. How is this accom-
plished ?

Between him and them is floating a something
which we call " sound." The keenest eye can not
see it ; the most delicate touch, or smell, or taste,
can find no trace of it. As it is rushing upon the
ear, both eye and hand search in vain for it. Yet
is it carrying invisible thought, from a soul invisible,
by channels invisible, into the silent places of many
souls, where the thoughts it raises are invisible to
the nearest neighbor, till expressed in looks or
words. The mind of the speaker pours a succes-
sion of impulses through hidden chords to his
tongue and lips : these strike the air, in which
the stroke makes a wave ; that strikes on the drum
of the ear, which causes a quivering of a nerve be-
hind, that a quivering of the brain ; and then the
soul inside sees an image of Stephen dying, or Paul
falling on the high-road, or Elijah ascending, or
Jesus at the right hand of the Father ! What con-
nection is there between a wave of air, a quiver of
the brain, and an idea of heaven or hell, of sin or
holiness ? That the connection exists, is plain ; but
how ? Make it plain how " the spirit of man,"
which " knoweth the things of a man" can reveal
them within ether spirits All we can say is, God

162 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

has appointed a channel of communication, giv<,j to
the spirit means of expression, and to its fellows
means of perception.

With this fact before us, illustrated not only in
the one form just cited, but in a thousand forms
every day, upon what pretext do we set up a cry
of mystery as to the communication of the Spirit
of God with man ? Absurdity can reach no limit
greater than that of supposing that the central intel-
lect knows no avenue to all intellect ; that is, is de-
fective in means of expression. Despair can hurl
humanity no lower than to say that God, able to
commune with it, enlighten, renew, and impel it,
yet distantly stands away. For, if no communica-
tion exists, the reason lies in Him. To say that the
defect is not in His power of expression, but in our
power of perception, changes nothing : if He can
not " reveal the things of God" to man, with
such powers of perception as man has, He can
not adapt the expression of His own will to our
state.

Many who shun the extreme of denying that God
does hold communion with human souls, yet covei
the truth with a soft but cold cloak — a cloak of
snow — by always speaking loudly of the mystery
What is the way of the Spirit ? How can man
recognize the voice, the eye, the countenance of
God? How is it possible to feel His anger or His

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 163

favor, His presence or His withdrawal ? Is it not a
mystery ?

Yes, it is a mystery ; but it is nothing more. A
mystery is a thing we are most accustomed to. I
know no one thing which I perfectly know. I know
ten thousand which are full of mysteries. The nail
of my finger is a mystery ; the fact is manifest, the
mode undiscoverable ; about my hand I can ask
more questions than all mankind can answer ; wrist,
arm, shoulder, all have mysteries ; as I approach the
heart, the brain, what crowds of questions rise and
are checked by the known impossibility of an an-
swer ! If " the way of the Spirit" were capable of
perfect explanation, the whole universe would be a
riddle ; for why should that which was so high be
fully known, and every common thing under our
eye contain mysteries ? The mystery involved in
the Lord's communicating with any of His creatures
is far less than that of our communicating one with
another. He is of infinite intelligence ; He planted
the ear ; He gave man speech : for Him, therefore,
to communicate with any spirit existing, must be
easier than for the sun to shine.

" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him." The Apos-
tle does not say this of Heaven : he is not even al-
luding to it; for it is "the glory that is to be re«

164 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

vealed ;" whereas he says of the " good things'1
here in view, " God hath revealed them unto us by
His Spirit." These good things, then, are not
teachings, for of them eye, ear, and mind take cog-
nizance; nor Heaven, for it is not yet revealed
but those blessings which " are prepared" for those
who come at the Lord's call — pardon, adoption, and
the favor of God. Anticipating the inquiry, " How
can those things be ? How can acts of mercy,
which pass in the invisible world, be revealed to
us ?" the Apostle gives this simple illustration :
" What man knoweth the things of a man, save the
spirit of man that is in him ? Even so the things
of God knoweth no man, save the Spirit." If the
things of God are beyond our eye, ear, or discern-
ment, so are those of a man : and if man can make
nis mind known, how much more the All-wise!
" Now we have not received the spirit that is of the
world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God."
Adoption is an act seen by no man ; and were no
communication of it made to him in whose favor it
hath passed, he could never by his senses or reason
discover it. Though adopted, he would lie in tho
spirit of bondage. But that we may not be ignor
ant on this essential change in our relation to our
heavenly Father, not ignorant of the things w^hich
His grace has bestowed, He has provided a Com

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 165

forter, whose benign work it is to solace our hearts by
letting us " know" what the Lord hath done for us.

The belief that God does not commune with man,
is no result of reason. Reason has no footing for it.
It is, indeed, hardly a belief; it is a feeling, followed
by a sort of half-seen mental conclusion. A boy,
conscious of deserving his father's anger, somehow
thinks he will not be received at home. Men, con-
scious that they are aliens from God, recoil from the
thought that the very breast, wherein they have
caged things unclean, may be a shrine of His pres-
ence. A feeling of moral improbability, of unfit-
ness, leads the mind to shrink from such a hope.
Hope, indeed, it does not seem at first ; the boy
forgets the hopefulness of standing by his father's
side in the dread of coming under his eye ; forgets
the joy of regaining his favor in the heat of enmity
to his rule and restraints.

A natural difficulty to the Creator's communion
with His rational creatures never existed. A moral
one did ; and never was problem so deep as, How
could the Holy One take the impure to His arms,
and yet continue the Holy One ? That problem
has been solved. The Holy meets the unholy over
the blood of atonement. There is death for evil-
doing, wrath against iniquity — yet mercy for the
repenting. Sin is not encouraged, innocence is not
confounded with guilt, and yet the fallen are lifted

106 THE TONGUE OF FIRE,

up. This moral difficulty being met, and no natural
one ever having existed, did the Lord not commune
with the soul of man as with His own " offspring,"
the only reason must be that He pleased to cut him
off from such fellowship. To affirm this would be
to run into downright opposition to the whole scope
of revelation.

Not a few of those who, if formally expressing
their belief, would maintain that the Spirit is to
abide with the Church in all ages ; that the idea of
impossibility in His communing with man is absurd,
and the cry of mystery unmeaning ; nevertheless,
in practice, effectually shut out His agency from
their own view, and that of those who may be under
their influence, by continually speaking of the truth,
the truth only, as the power to renew this sinful
ivorld. Far be it from us to undervalue holy truth,
and above all, that truth which flows untainted
from the fount of inspiration; but a truth, even
when Divine, is never more than a declaration of
ichat is. It is not the power which renews the
human soul, but the instrument of that power ; not
the electric current, but the conductor along which
the current flows. It is necessary, as necessary as
the metal wire to the telegraph ; but, alone, it is as
inefficient as the wire when the hidden power doesi
not pervade it. ■

PEKMANEOT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 167

You may teach a man the holiest truths, and yet
leave him a wretched man. Many who learn in
childhood that " God is love," live disregarding, and
die blaspheming, God. Thousands who are carefully
taught, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved," neglect so great salvation all
their days. Some of the most wicked and misera-
ble beings that wralk the earth are men into whose
conscience, when yet youthful and unsophisticated,
the truth was carefully instilled. Did the mere
truth suffice to renew, there are towns, districts, ay,
countries, where ail would be saints.

Unmindful of this, and not considering the dan-
ger of diverting faith from the power to the instru-
ment, however beautiful and perfect the instrument
may be, many good men, by a culpable inadvert-
ence, constantly speak as if the truth had an inher-
ent ascendancy over man, and would certainly pre-
vail when justly presented. We have heard this
done till we have been ready to ask, " Do they take
men for angels, that mere truth is to captivate them
so certainly?" ay, and even to ask, "Have they
ever heard whether there be any Holy Ghost ?"

On one occasion it was our lot to hear a preacher
of name, preaching before a great Missionary Soci-
ety, from the text, " I am come to send fire upon
earth." Choosing to interpret the fire referred to
in this passage as the power which would purify

168 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

and renew the earth, he at once declared the trull
to be that power, and most consistently pursued his
theme, without ever glancing at any thing but the
instrument. Afterward, hearing the merits of the
sermon discussed by some of the most eminent min
isters of his own denomination, and finding no allu«
sion to its theology, we asked, " Did you not remark
any theological defect ?" No one remarked any, till
the minister of some obscure country congregation
broke silence, for the first time, by saying, " Yes ;
there was not one wTord in it about the Holy
Spirit."

The belief that truth is mighty, and by reason of
its might must prevail, is equally fallacious in the
abstract, as it is opposed to the facts of human
history, and to the Word of God. We should
take the maxim, that truth must prevail, as per-
fectly sound, did you only give us a community of
angels on whom to try the truth. With every in-
tellect clear, and every heart upright, doubtless
truth would soon be discerned, and, when dis-
cerned, cordially embraced. But truth, in descend-
ing among us, does not come among friends. The
human heart offers ground whereon it meets error
at an immeasurable disadvantage. Passions, habits,
interests, ay, nature itself, lean to the side of error ;
and though the judgment may assent to the truth,
which, however, is not always the case, still error

PEIUfANEOT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 16P

may gain a conquest only the more notable because
of this impediment. Truth is mighty in pure natures,
error in depraved ones.

Those who compliment Truth upon her might
have need of much self-possession. What world do
fliey dwell in, that they can utter such flattery
under the gaze of her clear and sober eye ? What
are these nations yet neglecting commercial and
political truth, though all their interests invite them
to embrace it ? What these " enlightened" popula-
tions that have had religious truth as;ain and as^ain
held up in their view, but have angrily rejected it,
though to the entailing upon themselves innumer-
able social disadvantages ? Where is the town
where truth always prevails, or the village where
error wins no victories ? Do they who know human
nature best, when they have a political object to
carry, trust most of all to the power of truth over a
constituency ? or would they not have far more con-
fidence in corruption and revelry ? The whole his-
tory of man is a melancholy reproof to those who
mouth about the mightiness of truth. " But," they
say, " truth will prevail in the long run." Yes,
blessed be God, it will ; but not because of its own
power over human nature, but because the Spirit
will be poured out from on high, opening the blind
eyes, and unstopping the deaf ears.

The sacred writings, while ever leading us Lo re-

170 THE TONGUE OP EIKE.

gard the truth as the one instrument of the sinner's
conversion and the believer's sanctification, are very
far from proclaiming its power over human nature,
merely because it is truth. On the contrary, they
often show us that this very fact will enlist the pas-
sions of mankind against it, and awaken enmity in-
stead of approbation. We are ever pointed beyond
the truth, to Him who is the Source and Giver of
truth ; and, though we had Apostles to deliver the
Gospel, are ever led not to deem it enough that it
should be " in word only, but in demonstration of
the Spirit and in power."

We well know that many who speak of the truth
as accomplishing all, do not mean the truth without
the Spirit to apply it ; but what is meant ought to be
said. Hold fast the truth as an instrument divinely
adapted and altogether necessary ; but, in magnify-
ing the instrument, never forget or pass by the
agent. The Spirit in the truth, in the preacher, in
the hearer ; the Spirit first, the Spirit last, ought to
be remembered, trusted in, exalted, and not set
aside for any more captivating name. There should
never be even the distant appearance of wishing to
avoid avowing a belief in the supernatural, or to re-
duce Christianity to a system capable, at all points,
of metaphysical analysis. If no supernatural power
is expected to attend the Gospel, its promulgation
is both insincere and futile.

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 171

In their reluctance to acknowledge any super*
natural element in religion, many take refuge in the
idea that, after all, we are not to expect wThat the
primitive Christians enjoyed. If this means that w
are not to expect miracles, to it w'e have no possible
objection. If it means that we are to expect less
grace, we can give it no kind of credit. Nothing
can be more contrary to the wrhole spirit and genius
of revealed religion, than that the progress of years
and events should be coupled with a diminishing
amount of Divine life and grace among men. All
things promise us progress, not retrogression. No
principle of Christianity, and no passage of the
Christian Scriptures, warrant the expectation that
the system is to decline with age, and to grow dim
before its day ends. The mode of thinking to
which wre now refer, seems to be closely connected
with the favorite idea of unbelief in the world — that
of the Almighty " leaving," as men express it, one
and another province of His territories to the care
of secondary principles and powers.

Limited as the human mind is, the idea of com-
bining attention to the general and to the particular
always presents to it an extreme difficulty. In its
own experience, when taking a general view, it nec-
essarily overlooks particulars ; wThen minutely at-
tending to particulars, it necessarily overlooks gen-

erals. Unconsciously transferring the idea of its
13

172 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

own limitation to the Supreme Power, it would
ease Him of the incomprehensible task of at once
minutely caring for every atom, and gloriously
ruling the universe. But in the presence of the
universal, the distinction between the particular
and the general fades away. Artificial lights either
shine in one particular apartment, leaving the street
dim, or shine upon the street generally, leaving
each particular apartment of the houses dim. But
when the Universal Light arises, he knows no dis-
tinction between general illumination and particular.
Every little casement in the world is equally lighted
as the broad valley of the Ganges, and every soli-
tary daisy as well shone upon as if there was no
other thing upon earth to lighten.

" He leaves, He leaves, He creates and leaves,
leaves to the course of nature, leaves to general
laws." Such is the crude language we continually
hear from men who would transfer the small ideas
of human sense to the infinite sphere of the God-
head. The idea of the Omnipresent leaving, for-
saking any part of His ow^n dominions, putting a
limit to Himself, creating in fact the most incom-
prehensible of all incomprehensible things, a place
where there wras not a Creator — the idea of His
presence being an effort, or His embrace and super-
intendence of nature being a task, is unworthy even

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 173

of the dignity of physical science, much more of
the sweep of human thoughts.

On the wings of the wind — on the universal flow
of electric power — on the swift sunbeams, filling up
with a finite infinity the whole expanse of the solar
system at once — on the light of a fixed star present
with our eye, and at the same moment present
through space inconceivably immense at every
point from our eye to the star, and then away
as far beyond, and round and round again at all
conceivable points of the circumference on every
side — on these confessedly finite objects our thought
may rest, and rise step by step, till it easily springs
to the idea of a complete and consistent Infinite, a
presence literally everywhere, a power constant as
eternity, an activity to which inaction would be ef-
fort, an eye to which attention is but nature, and
slumber would be an interruption of repose.

Those who would exclude the Divine Being from
His own universe, have been often exclaimed
against, and justly; but how much more may they
be exclaimed against who would exclude Him from
His own Church, and from communion with His
children ? Had His power been exhausted by the
act of creating and establishing the Church, and
then had he committed its future course to the de-
velopment of natural laws and the inherent power
of the truth, Himsel^* retiring from all action in the

174 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

great battle whereupon He had set His servants,
we might reasonably look upon Christianity as a
religion which, perhaps, wTas better than others,
more serviceable to the social interests of those
who embrace it, and more genial in its influence
upon the destiny of mankind ; but higher motives
than these for its propagation, or greater strength
for the men who undertake the task, could not be
calculated on. So far, however, from this being
the case, the express promise with regard to the
Spirit wTas, "He shall abide with you forever;" and
when about to leave the disciples as to his bodily
presence, the Saviour said, "And, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world.5' A
presence this, better than a bodily presence ; a
presence by His Spirit and His power, whereby the
souls of his children are made glad, and their
hearts made strong, not in some solitary village of
Galilee for the evening, but at the same hour all
over the earth, wherever two or three are gathered
together1" in His name. That presence will never be
withdrawn while there is a believer wThose heart
embraces the promise ; and such believers will not
fail while the world stands. So far from any thing
in Scripture countenancing the idea that Christians
of all subsequent ages were to be deprived of that
Divine help which constituted the strength and
holiness of the primitive disciples, we have no inti-

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 175

mation that they were to be even inferior in spirit-
ual attainments. On the contrary, every thing
countenances the expectation that, as generation
succeeds generation, the influence of holy faith an<?
holy example will steadily tend to the elevation of
he standard.

As Christianity makes progress among a popula-
tion, every new household which becomes imbued
with it is an additional power toward elevating the
standard of character in that neighborhood. It is
impossible to calculate the influence exerted, even
in a country like our own, where religion has yet so
much to do, upon those who are still ungodly. In
many points their consciences have been trained,
by force of example and precept, to a tenderness
and activity which Christian doctrine alone could
give ; and, as age after age rolls on, and the pro-
portion between the saints and sinners becomes
altered, the latter diminishing, the former growing,
the image of God in man will be yet more and
more brightly seen, if not more conspicuously, in
some rare and blessed individuals, yet much more
generally, as a common ornament and glory of
human nature. For a Christian now to expect to
be made as holy by the grace of God as the saints
of the New Testament, so far from being presump-
tion, is scarcely a worthy measure of faith. It may
be fairly said that, if we are not better than those

176 THE TONGCTE OF FIKE.

who went before us, we are not so good ; for the
very light of their example sheds upon us an influ-
ence to which nothing corresponding was shed upon
Aem, and thereby gives us a clear advantage, by
which, with a similar measure of grace, we ought
to present a character more complete.

Were it once proved that our moral strength in
the present day was natural, then, indeed, might
we reasonably limit our expectations, but not to
partial attainments and incomplete holiness ; for on
that ground the reasonable limitation wrould be,
not, " We shall attain to much, though not as much
as the early Christians," but, " We shall attain to
nothing." Our Lord's wTord is not, " Without Me
ye can do little," but, " Without Me ye can do
nothing." If it then be settled that in this age, as
in the first, our strength is not of nature, but of
the Lord, the reasonable range of our expectation,
now as then, is to be measured by His glorious
power. The question no longer is, Of what are we
capable in ourselves, or by ourselves ? but, What
can He perform ? and to what extent can He mani-
fest forth His glory by making us monuments of
His power, and mirrors to display His image ?
That grace of His which was shed so plentifully on
the believers of the first days, is not an intermittent
radiance, like the flash of a human eye, but is
steady as the g^ory which streams from the face

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUECH. 177

of the sun. Waning or exhaustion it does not
know; and from age to age, from generation to
generation, His saints will grow more and more
mature, human life will increasingly reflect the
glory of the Lord, and display His power to make
weak mortals, beset with temptation, meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Some who gladly admit that the Church, gene-
rally, may advance in Christian virtues, yet hesitate
to believe that individual Christians in our day are
to enjoy the same comforts of the Spirit as were so
conspicuous in the primitive Christians. Among
these latter nothing is more noticeable than filial
confidence and joy: their reconciliation to the Lord,
their interest in the death and intercession of Christ,
their consciousness of regeneration, of deliverance
from sins once reigning over them, their clear fore-
taste of heaven, and their peace in the prospect of
death, shine throughout the New Testament, and
all the early records of the Church. This was the
natural " fruit of the Spirit," the natural effect of
guch a Comforter as the Redeemer had promised
dwelling in the heart. Take this characteristic
away, and they would at once fall from the level
of "children of light," of "heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ," down to that of the votaries of
other religions, among whom personal "joy in

178 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

God," and prospects of immortal bliss, are things
unknown.

As we said before, that a religion without the
Holy Spirit would not be Christianity, so we may
say, that religionists without the Spirit in their
hearts would not be Christians. "Ye are in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of HisP It requires much of that cold
daring which men may acquire as to things spirit-
ual, for any one who even respects, though he
should not study, the record of Christianity at its
source, to teach that it is not a common privilege
of believers to enjoy a sense of their salvation, and
to walk in the light of God's forgiving countenance.
No scrap of holy writ even seems to favor this at-
tempt to sink modern Christians to a point almost
infinitely below that of ancient ones ; for who can
measure the distance between a soul which is sing-
ing, " We know that we have passed from death
unto life," and one that is saying, u I can not hope
to know, till death strikes me, whether or not I
shall escape dying forever ?"

A change more serious can hardly be imagined
in the relations of the Lord to His people, than
would take place under the Christian dispensation,
if, beginning by enabling believers to say, "We
have a building of God, a house not made with

PERMAXEOT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 17^

hands, eternal in the heavens," He ended by leaving
them in utter doubt as to their future destiny ; if,
beginning by giving them a sense of His favor,
clear as day, unspeakably joyful, He ended by leav-
ing them to serve Him throughout life, without
ever feeling conscious that He smiled upon them ;
if, beginning by holding communion with them,. He
ended by leaving them to doubt whether Pie was
even reconciled. It is trifling at once with a man's
common sense, and with his most sacred hopes and
fears, to tell him that he is called with the same
calling as the early believers, by the voice of the
same Redeemer, under the same covenant of grace,
and with the same promise of adoption ; but that,
while his brother, ages ago, had " peace with God,"
and "joy unspeakable and full of glory," knew
himself to be a child and then an heir of God, and
daily felt that heaven was his home, he is to pro-
ceed on his pilgrimage without any of these com-
forts, and learn at the end whether or not his soul
is to perish. Who has given any man the right
to assert that such a change has taken place in
the relation of the adopting Father to His adopted
children, affirming Him to have grown, in our
age, too indifferent to soothe* their hearts, and
make them partakers of the joy which He spreads
among the angels when He declares that the u lost
is found ?"

180 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

The change which the supposition we are com*
bating would require in the office, or, at least, in
the operation, of the Spirit Himself, under the very-
dispensation of the Spirit, is sufficiently grave, one
might imagine, to make the least careful pause, ere
he assumed that it had taken place. The act where-
in the everlasting Father absolves a guilty being
from his offenses, and recognizes him before the
angels, as an heir of His glory must ever be of deep
importance in the government of God. Of old time,
when that great act took place, heaven rejoiced ;
but the deed did not remain without effect upon
earth. The King had proclaimed a pardon, and
that proclamation must have effect. The Comforter
sped to the mourner's heart. " Where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty." With the presence
of the Comforter, the captive found " deliverance,"
and he that was bound, an " opening of the prison ;'
and, tasting the liberty of the children of God, he
sang, " O Lord, I will praise Thee : though Thou
wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away,
and Thou comfortedst me."

Are we, then, on the word of some men, without
one intimation of Scripture to support them, to be-
lieve that the Spirit has so essentially changed His
mode of dealing with a forgiven sinner, that now
the decree of pardon promulged above, and hailed
by angels, receives no effect in the soul of him

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUECH 181

whom it absolves ? that the Comforter abstains
from comforting, leaving the ransomed captive
still to mourn his captivity, without relieving
him of his load or of his chain ? O Dove o#
Peace, ancient Comforter of the pilgrims who
traveled this heavenward road before us ! they saj
that Thy wing has grown weary with the lapse of
time !

How great a change would take place also in the
privilege of believers! "We are of God," "born
of God," " heirs of God," " followers of God, as
dear children," " fellow-citizens with the saints, and
of the household of God;" "once darkness, now
light in the Lord." Such was the sense of adoption
enjoyed in apostolic times. Of all the privileges
wherewith the soul of man ever has been blessed,
or ever can be blessed in this life, by far the most
consoling and elevating is the sense of adoption into
the family of God. No man can vead the New
Testament, and deny that this was an ordinary
characteristic of the believers then living, or that it
was a main element of their strength, kindling in
them a joy which made them ready to face reproach,
and emulate hio-h service. Where is the intimation

CD

that this privilege was to be denied to Christians in
succeeding ages ?

When Paul says, " But I obtained mercy, that in

182 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-
suffering, for a pattern to them which should here*
after believe on Him to life everlasting," does he
give any intimation that the believers of following
ages, though they should be believers just as he,
and should obtain "life everlasting" just as he, and
should have his case and his mercies before their
eyes, as " a pattern" whereby to measure their ex-
pectations from Jesus Christ's " long-suffering" were
yet to lose an essential portion of the believer's
joy; namely, the power of saying, "But I obtained
mercy ?" Even the Psalmist, under a dispensation
lower than our own, could say, "I said, I will con-
fess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou for-
gavest the iniquity of my sin." Does he hint that
this is a privilege to which only few can attain, and
from wThich the children of God, in the better days
to come, shall be ordinarily debarred ? " For this
shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee, in a
time when Thou mayest be found" — conveying a
clear intimation, that, just as he, on confession of
his sins, found forgiveness, such forgiveness as healed
%he grief of soul which he describes a moment be-
fore, and enabled him to sing, as he here does,
" Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,"*
so would every godly-disposed person find an ac-
ceptable time, if he prayed to the same merciful
0 Psa'm xxxil

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCII. 183

Lord for like forgiveness. No godly man, no one
whose heart was seeking after God, in the day of
David, could read this without feeling that the
4 blessedness" of absolution was held out to him ag
his privilege. Indeed, all through the Psalms it is
taken for granted that the righteous man rejoices
in his forgiving God. And does the grace of our
blessed Redeemer grow narrower as time advances ?
Does He gradually withdraw the light of His coun-
tenance till upon us of the latter days complete dark-
ness settles, and we are doomed to grope our way
through life's temptations without the encourage-
ment of one smile from Him, and at the end to set a
doubtful foot on the threshold of eternity ?

The idea of any such deterioration in the privi-
lege of believers is totally groundless ; without one
prop in Scripture or in reason. It is a structure of
ice, formed in cold seasons, and melts away when
brought either into the sunlight of Scripture, or the
warmth of living Christian society. "We could not
easily believe in any accession to our privileges, be-
yond those of our brethren in early times, unless it
were clearly taught in the word oi God ; but if,
without Scripture proof, we must believe either in
an increase or in a diminution of them, we should
choose the former, as far more supported by the
analogy of the Lord's dealings with men.

"Pe^ce" was the Saviour's legacy to His follow

184 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ers ; peace to be imparted by the Comforter ; peace
which the world can not give, and which passeth
understanding. He leaves no hint that this legacy
was to be recalled before " the end of the wTorld."
Indeed, in both the Old Testament and the New,l
happiness is an essential part of religion ; that kind
of happiness which is called " joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." The reigning of such joy
in any human bosom clearly pre-supposes that the
individual is satisfied of the reconciliation of God
to him, notwithstanding his sins. Wherever this is
doubtful, distrust, fear, and gloom must ever accom-
pany the contemplation of the Most High; and
this gloom would settle most densely on the most
contrite spirit. Happiness is to be a feature of re-
ligion to the last. That odious caricature of Chris-
tianity, which offers to the view of the world a man
with all the doctrines of the Gospel on his lips, but
gloom on his brow, disquiet in his eye, and sourness
in his bearing, has done infinite injustice to our be-
nign religion, and infinite harm to those who never
knew its worth. Now, as in the days of Solomon,
" her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are peace." Now, as in the days of David,
she " puts gladness into the heart, more than in the
time that their corn and their wine increased."
Now, as in the days of Paul, she gives " joy and
peace in believing " Happiness is not a separable

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. J 85

appendage of true piety ; it is part of it, and an es-
sential part : " The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Some would regard happiness as if it were to relig-
ion what a fine complexion is to the human coun-
tenance— a great addition to its beauties, if present ;
but if not, no feature is wanting. In the sacred
writings, from first to last, it is regarded as a feature,
which we can not remove without both wounding
and defacing. The kingdom of God is not only
"righteousness," but "righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost."

While that kingdom stands, this " joy in the Holy
Ghost" will be the privilege of the children of God ;
and let no man stand between the humblest believer
of this our day, and the full light of his Redeemer's
countenance. Let none take it for granted, that the
work of God in the soul of man has degenerated ;
that the merciful Father no more gladdens the
prodigal He accepts, by letting him know He loves
him; that Jesus no longer says, "Be of good cheer,
thy sins be forgiven thee ;" or that when a penitent
is accepted as a son, the gracious Comforter does
not now, as in the old time, hasten on His dove-like
message to diffuse heavenly peace in another trou-
bled bosom.

The assertion sometimes confidently made, that
the witness of the Spirit to our adoption is given to
some believers, years after their conversion, as tho

186 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

reward of special holiness, has not even a pretext
of scriptural footing. The witness of the Spirit, so
far from being the reward of sanctification, is one
of its chief springs ; for without love there is no holi-
ness, and we only love because we feel that God
first loved us. "Because, ye are so?is, God hath
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father." Not because you are old
and eminent among the sons of God, but because
you are sons: it i3 not a good-service reward, but a
birthright ; not a crown of distinction, but a joy
of adoption. " In whom ye also trusted, after that
ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your sal-
vation; in whom after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Here the
order is, " Ye heard, believed, wrere sealed :" no
long period of doubt and labor intervenes between
the believing and the sealing. The father of the
prodigal does not keep him for years, working " as
one of his hired servants," before he prints the fath-
erly kiss of reconciliation on his cheek and on his
heart.

The hackneyed objection, that it is presumption
for any one to. say that he is a child of God, takes
too much for granted. It never is presumption to
acknowledge what you are. Had David never been
taken from the sheepcote and made king it would
nave been presumption in him to say that ne had ;

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 187

Dut, when it was the case, he was in gratitude
bound to own and to commemorate the mercy
showed to him. So, if a man has not been delivered
from the dominion of sin, and adopted into the fam-
ily of God, for him to say that such is the case is
presumption ; but if lie has, then not to praise his
Redeemer for it, would be ingratitude. Saying that
it is presumption for a?iy one to call himself the
child of God, takes it for granted that no one is; or
else it is absurd. Presumption has many forms;
and it is worth considering, whether a great and
good Being would most disapprove the presumption
which expected too much from His goodness, or the
presumption Avhich dared positively to disbelieve
His promise.

Many who readily admit that, to some extent at
least, the Church in all ages will enjoy the gifts and
graces of the Holy Spirit ; and who would not deny
that the first believers were favored with direct
manifestations of the favor of God, yet make a diffi-
culty of believing that, when sinners are forgiven in
the present age, they are comforted by the Spirit
manifesting Himself in their hearts, and crying,
" Abba, Father." They do not deny that, even in
our day, forgiven sinners are solaced with a confi-
dence that they are forgiven ; but they see pruden-
tial reasons against admitting that this is imparted
14

188 THE TONGUE OF FIHE.

by the direct witness of the Spirit, and would ar
riv^e at it by a process which, however unwittingly
on their part, removes the office of sealing the
adopted children of God from the Spirit, and gives
it to the reason of man. They teach the seeker of
salvation that, instead of looking to the Cross for
mercy, till the Spirit, as the Comforter, " reveals
the Son of God in his heart ;" he is certainly to look
to the Cross, but not to expect that to bring any
si .ch manifestation ; on the contrary, he is only to
?£arn what are the marks of a child of God, to com-
pare his life with them, and, if it and they agree, his
mind will arrive at the comfortable persuasion that
he is a child of God.

This is one instance of the common error of taking
part of a process for the whole. On the part of the
Christian, the comparison of the scriptural marks
of the regenerated with his own character, is not
only good, but absolutely necessary ; for, no matter
what may be his supposed comforts, joys, or revela-
tions, if, in his life, he is not led by the Spirit of
God, he is not a son of God. But because certain
evidence is essential as a corroboration, it does not
follow that it is the chief evidence of the fact, the
first ground of conviction. As a guard against delu-
sion, a strengthening of our confidence, and a con-
stant stimulus tc press forward to the things which
are before, a sober judgment passed upon our own

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 189

progress in grace is scriptural, rational, and indis-
pensable. As the mode of binding up the broken
heart of a penitent, of imparting to him the first feel-
ing of filial confidence in the Lord, it is neither scrip-
tural nor rational. It never can be the original
ground of consciousness in any soul, that, through
the abundance of grace, I, even I, am an adopted
child of God.

Yet this is the consciousness to be given, and
that not to the heart of one who is " whole," but
of one who is "sick;" not of a man who thinks
that he is good, who is ready to interpret every
thing in his own favor> and has no feeling that he is
vile, or that the Lord is angry with him ; but of
one who now feels what probably he believed all
his life, that he is a sinner, covered with dark and
filthy spots, the displeasure of the Lord hanging
over him for many unholy deeds, and his poor soul
both fitted for destruction and exposed to it. - Un-
til painfully sensible of his need of Christ, no man
flees to Him for refuge ; and one in this state of
feeling is soberly told, that his burden is to be re-
moved, and the sense of his salvation to be origin-
ated, by his being satisfied of the agreement of his
own life with the fruits of the Spirit, as stated in the
word of God.

What are those fruits ? "Love, joy, peace," etc,
or " righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy

190 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

Ghost." No enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit

will be found which excludes peace and joy, much

less love; and from these graces, if, indeed, not

from the last named alone, spring the various fruits

which unitedly constitute " righteousness." The

poor penitent, then, is not to be first relieved of his

load, and given to feel that God loves him ; but,

previous to obtaining such Divine comfort, he is to

become satisfied that his love, joy, peace, and other

graces, are such as to mark the children of God !

that is, while yet feeling that the Lord is angry

with him, he is to love the Lord ; while yet feeling

that is soul is unsaved, he is to feel joy in the Holy

Ghost. If it be said that the feeling of the Lord's

wrath and his own danger is removed before the

filial affections appear, then a direct action of the

Comforter, antecedent to his satisfaction with his

own graces, is admitted ; and if that be denied,

there is no alternative but to conclude that, at the

same time and in the same heart, one can both feel

that he is under God's anger, and love God as a

forgiving Father ; can feel that he is in danger of

hell, and enjoy spiritual peace. If the sense of wrath

and danger is removed before the fruits of the

Spirit appear, there is a direct witness of the Spirit

Himself; if not till after, the totally incompatible

states of mind just mentioned must co-exist

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO TILE CIIUHCH. 191

The relation of the fruit of the Spirit to the wit-
ness of the Spirit is clearly indicated to us. John
says, "We love Him because He first loved ns."
Here the fruit, " We love," is made consequent on
our sense of the fact, " He first loved us." To say
that we first know that God loves us, because we
feel that we love Him, is to make the fruit of the
Spirit the foundation of the witness of the Spirit ,
a relation totally repugnant to the principle an-
nounced in this text, and pervading the New Tes-
tament, as, indeed, also the Old. " Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all His benefits ; who for-
giveth all thine iniquities." The fact of forgiveness
ascertained is the ground of filial gratitude; not
filial gratitude the ground from w7hich the fact of
forgiveness is inferred.

Mental conclusions, as to spiritual truths, do not
govern the feelings. The marks of " a child of
wrath" are plainly laid down. Thousands know
that they bear them ; and yet this produces no con-
trition or distress, till the coming Spirit pierces
their hearts. As it is with convincing, so would it
be with comforting. A mental conclusion as to my
own spiritual attainments would never dispel a sense
of guilt from my conscience, or make my trembling
heart " rejoice in the Lord." Did an awakened
sinner conclude a hundred times that the marks in
the Bible and the traits in his character agreed, hia

192 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

woundtd spirit having no other balm, all this con-
cluding would never heal his sore. The same voice
which spoke condemnation into his conscience,
must speak justification ; the same hand which
broke his hard heart must bind it up.

The deeper the penitence of any one, the slower
would he be t j take comfort from any good in
himself; therefore, on a theory which makes this the
foundation of comfort, the further would he be
from finding rest ; while, on the more evangelical
view, the very depth of his penitence would drive
him the more speedily to bring his burden to the
Cross, when it would fall off.

This allusion brings Bunyan and his Pilgrim onoe
more to our view. He does not set Christian to
undo his own burden by arguing, "I have fled
from the City of Destruction ; I have forsaken
house and friends, wife and children ; have resisted
temptations to return ; have knocked at the gate
and entered in, and am in the narrow path :" but,
with all this done, he brings him to " a place some-
what ascending," where stands a cross, and, "just
as Christian came up with the cross, his burden
loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his
back." He did not cast off the burden by a pro-
cess which could easily be explained ; but, when he
set his eye on the cross, it fell off itself; and " it
Wras very surprising to him *hat the sight of the

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 193

cross should thus ease him of his burden.5' And so
it is to others ; but, however surprising, do thou,
my penitent brother, heed no other direction than
that which points thine eye straight to the Cross ;
for pardon, for escape from hell, for rest, and hope,
and purity, look thither, thither, only thither ! If
thy burden fall not at once, yet still look, look to
the Cross, and fall it will, far sooner, and far more
surely, than if thou attempt to untie it by thy ar-
guments !

As Christian thus stood before the cross, wonder-
ing, the " Three Shining Ones came to him : the
first said, ' Thy sins be forgiven thee ;' the second
stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with
change of raiment ; the third, also, set a mark on
his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon
it, wrhich he bid him look on as he ran, and that he
should give it in at the celestial gate."

This is unsophisticated Christianity. A burdened
sinner, after discouragements and wanderings, comes,
at last, to the foot of the Cross. He looks, and is
healed ; his pardon, freely given, is tenderly mani-
fested to him. The Father, Son, and Spirit unite
to assure his heart, and give him present and abid-
ing peace. He receives an evidence of acceptance,
where he may always

u Read his title clear
To mansions in the skies."

194 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

After this, the more he " searches" his own self,
" and proves" his own self, " whether he be in the
faith," the better for his vigilance and progress.
But no such examining before w^ould have unloosed
his burden, or given him the roll.

The theory of an inferential comforting of be-
lievers, as a substitute for the scriptural mode of a
" witness" of the Spirit, is singularly hopeless ; for,
at every step, it is obliged to lean upon that which
it professes to dispense with and replace. It rests
all " quietness and assurance" for penitent hearts on
the fruits of the Spirit; and the very chief of those
fruits, " love," etc., pre-supposes the witness of the
Spirit by a necessity as clear as that by which re
pentance pre-supposes His convincing operation.

No ; the sealing and solacing of penitent be-
lievers is not left to mere reasoning, especially w7ith
a foundation so liable to be misapprehended as our
own attainments in grace. It is the work and office
of that "other Comforter" whom our dying Lord
promised ; and let no man take it out of His hand .
He it is who " cries" in the heart, "Abba, Father!"
Ho who seals, He who bears wdtness, He who sheds
abroad the love of God, He who enables us to know
the things that are freely given to us of God. Any
attempts to escape the mystery involved in the
Holy Spirit revealing the mercy of God to a human

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 195

oul only leads to contradictions and perplexities.
To the old question, " How can these things be ?"
the one sufficient answer is, " They are spiritually
discerned." "What the Lord spiritually reveals, the
soul can spiritually discern ; and a Divine presence,
or a Divine communication, may be assumed always
to carry its own evidence with it, first to the con-
sciousness, and then, by its fruits, to the reason.
"One thing I know: whereas I was blind, now
I see."

It is not to be wondered at that many who are
sincere, and even earnest, pass the days of their
pilgrimage in gloom, having no roll in their bosom
which they know can be presented " at the celestial
gate ;" no conscious title to enter into the city ; no
permanent "joy or peace in believing." Nothing is
more dangerous than to divert the eye from the one
object of faith. And if persons are not taught to
look, and look upon the Cross, until their sins are
blotted out, and the comforting Spirit Himself heals
their wounds, but to seek rest by noting their own
progress in the Christian graces, and are at the
same time left without any fellowship of saints,
through which they might learn by what steps of
fear and doubt, of despair, and hope, and faith,
others, whose whole spirit savors of the peace of
God, obtained that blessing ; is it not natural that

198 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

they should walk in dim moonlight instead of walk*
ing in the sun? Yet, even amid those so dealt
with, the Lord oftentimes breaks up man's theories
by converting a sinner with such manifestation of
the Spirit that it would be equally impossible to
persuade him that his peace first came by contem-
plating his graces, and to keep him from telling
what the Lord had done for his soul.

The character of the Christian Church, as a whole,
must always be ruled by the character of individual
Christians ; for the Church is but the assembly and
aggregate of individuals. If, then, as the ages ad-
vance, the individual Christian degenerate, the
Church must gradually degenerate also, her minis-
try be debilitated, and her efforts upon the world
be less fruitful. All Christian character depends on
the relations of the soul wTith its Creator: if these
be cold instead of being joyous, if they be gov-
erned by the feeling of a doubtful reconciliation in-
Btead of that of a happy sonship, then, of necessity,
the life is overcast with the shadows of not im-
probable perdition instead of being sunned with
cloudless hopes of glory, and service is rendered
as to an austere Master instead of to a most forgiv
ing and loving Father. Strike from the language
of the Christian the words, " Our fellowship is with
the Father and the Son,'7 and at once we have a

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 197

race whose religion is not the religion of John,
whose heart-strength is not drawn from the same
sources as his.

Whether it be in comforts, in sensible communion
with the reconciled Deity, or in practical sanctifica-
tion of life, we contend that all Scripture holds out
to us disciples of this actual hour, poor and unde-
serving though we be, the same sources and the
same measure of grace as were open to our breth-
ren of former times. There has been no recall of
the Spirit, no curtailing of the " abundant pardon,"
no abridging of the privileges of the adopted. The
promise of the Holy Spirit was not only to the first
converts; but, as Peter, addressing them, said, "to
us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off
even to as many as the Lord our God shall call."
However distant from that spot in Jerusalem, and
however distant from that moment of time, the calJ
might sound, it would carry with it the promise ;
even that promise, the fulfillment of which made
the early Church so holy and so victorious. The
flames, the tongues, the outward signs, were not
the saving grace of the Spirit. That was " within
you," in the soul of man, and was shown in " new
creatures." That saving grace of the Spirit, work-
ing in Christians now, constitutes their identity with
those of old. Without this, in apostolic times,
though one spoke with " the tongues of angels and

*"nJ

198 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

of men," and could " work all miracles," he was

not a true disciple. With this, in our times, though

*

one work no miracle, and speak not with tongues,
he is a true disciple ; for, " as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
Miraculous gifts were not of the essence, but sepa-
rable attendants, of a real Christian ; and all that
was then essential remains to us, unimpaired and
free as ever it was to them.

Father, Son, and Spirit ! pardon the unbelief
which has imagined that Thou didst repent of
the exceeding abundance of grace once given to
Thy ransomed Church ! Afflict us not, on ac-
count of it, by a real withdrawal of Thy presence !
Manifest forth Thy glory anew, by filling Thy
children with joy and light, that the world may
see that Thine ancient love and grace remain our
heritage !

Next to the question, whether the privileges of
the modern Christian, as respects grace, are to be
equal with those of the primitive one, comes the
question, whether the Christian ministry is now es-
sentially the same institution as at first ? If be-
lievers are not now the same as formerly, it is im-
possible that the same religion should be preserved
in the world ; and if the Ministers be not the same,
it is highly improbable that the ordinary members

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 199

of the Church will be so. Few would take the
ground that our Lord founded His ministry on
an unstable basis, requiring essential changes to
render it capable of perpetuation in any age or
country to which Christianity might extend : and
all would admit the high probability that the prin-
ciples on which He established it were those best
adapted for its success under every future change
of circumstances.

When we look at the example of the New Testa-
ment, its spirit, usages, and principles, it is too
manifest to need more than assertion, that the
anointing of the Holy Spirit was the one thing es-
sential in the Minister of the Gospel. As wTe have
before said that a religion without the Holy Spirit
would not be Christianity, and that religionists with-
out the Holy Spirit would not be Christians, so we
may strongly say that teachers without the Holy
Spirit would not be Christian Ministers, according
to the original sense of that term, the only sense in
which we find it employed in the sacred writings.
Every arrangement respecting the training, or
labors, of Christian Ministers, which does not pro-
ceed upon the ground that they are certainly to be
men first regenerated, then gifted for the ministry,
and moved to it, by the operation of the Holy
Spirit — an operation not to be assumed without
proof, but to be tested by its fruits — must be as

200 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

faulty iii theory, and as inefficient in practice im
fcny arrangement for the employment of fire-aiv\s,
which did not proceed on the ground that explosion
is the source of power. The bow was a mighty
weapon, and its combination of steel and timber
of cord and arm, of the strength of the vegetable,
the mineral, the animal, entitled it to the admira-
tion and confidence of many a host ; and, as all its
forces were mechanical, no question ever needed to
be raised but one lying within the limits of mecha-
nical inquiry. But the moment you adopt powder
as your impeller, the elasticity of yew, or the
strength of muscle, are considerations out of place.
You have left mechanics, and cast yourself upon
chemistry ; and all your calculations must pro-
ceed on the ground that you have but to provide
an instrument which will co-operate with an ex-
plosive agent.

The New Testament ministry rests not on mental,
emotional, or educational strength, but, using each
of these as occasion may serve, finds its own power
in a spiritual influence ; and all reasoning applied to
it, without being founded on this fact, is reasoning
on the rifle upon principles belonging to the bow.

The miraculous gifts imparted to many in the
early Church are carefully ranked and marked by
the hand of the Apostle as inferior to those gifts
which were " for edification, and exhortation5 and

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUHCH. 201

comfort." "And God hath set some in the Church,
first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teach
ers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues."* Here mira-
cle-working, healing, and speaking with divers
tongues, are set as inferior gifts to those whereby
men were constituted teachers or prophets. A
similar design is observed in Ephesians iv. 11 :
"And he gave some, Apostles ; and some, Prophets;
and some, Evangelists ; and some, Pastors and
Teachers." Here we do not find any miraculous
gifts even mentioned as part of the institution of
Christ "for the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ :" to this — the true end of the ministry —
the effects produced by miraculous gifts were only
auxiliary. True, the Apostles, Prophets, and Evan-
gelists, as, indeed, also the Pastors and Teachers,
possessed, and often exercised, miraculous gifts ;
but it was not by these they effected the " perfect-
ing of the saints, the work of the ministry, or the
edifying of the body of Christ." The essential
point with regard to every one proposed for the
sacred office is, to ascertain whether or not he is " a
man sent of God."

As the gift of the Spirit Himself is represented
&$ consequent upon the ascension of our Lord, so,
* 1 Cor. xJi. 23.

202 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

in the passage in Ephesians to which we have just
alluded, the institution of the ministry also is repre-
sented as the result of His triumphant ascension.
" He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men;" and "He gave some,
Apostles ; and some, Prophets," etc. These were
the gifts which He, from His throne of mediation,
bestowed on His Church — men endued with power
by His Spirit, and also moved by the same Spirit to
spend their lives in the work of the ministry for the
edifying of the body of Christ. Whether we take
the Prophets under the old dispensation, or the
Lord's messengers under the new, we find that the
distinctive characteristics of a true Minister of God
lay in a call and a qualification. The qualification
involved a gift, a power, and a training. He who
had a call from God, a gift from God, and a powei
from God, and he only, was ever Prophet, Evange-
list, or Pastor and Teacher, in any scriptural sense.
The training varied with the age, dispensation, and
circumstances ; but no training ever did, or ever
can, make him a Minister who has no call, no gifts,
and no power sent upon his soul by the anointing
of the eternal Spirit.

The call pre-supposed grace, or the moral qualifi
cation, and implied a gift, or w7hat may be called the
mental qualification ; for, to call without imparting
a gift, would be leading an unarmed soldier into

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 203

oattle ; and to call and gift an unregenerate man^
would be to commission and arm a rebel : these
two, therefore, call and qualification, can never be
looked upon as separable. "The love of Chris
constraineth us," is the language in which the apos-
tle expresses that which is essential in the internal
working of a call from God to spend and to be spent
for the salvation of men ; and he who, thus con-
strained by the love of Christ, finds himself pos-
sessed of a gift to speak to edification, or exhorta-
tion, or comfort, has, in that motion and in that
faculty, strong evidence that the Lord is calling
him into His vineyard. What he feels is not a mere
desire to enter the ministry as a good and useful
office, or to spend life in an honorable and happy
vocation ; but is a constraining movement of the
love of Christ, as if issuing from His heart into the
heart of His servant, and working there a strong
impulse to cry out and labor for the recovery of
Adam's lost children to the favor of their God, and
the rest of heaven. But, however strongly this de-
sire may exist, if it be not accompanied with a gift
for public teaching, that alone proves that the Lord
has not designed the operation of His love to con-
strain this particular individual to the public labors
of the ministry, but to other efforts for the same
end. Him whom God sends to any work, He qual-
ifies for that work.
15

204 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

A person feeling a true impulse to labor fol
Christ, and misjudging his own gift, may conceive
himself to be called for the ministry when he is far
from being qualified for it ; and, on this point, the
onus of judgment can not properly be laid upon
him, but must rest upon the Church. He, and he
only, can judge as to the inward motive of his soul,
whether or not his heart is moved by the Holy
Ghost to undertake this work ; and the fact, that
the responsibility of declaring that he believes him-
self to be so moved is thrown upon the candidate
for the ministry by most Churches, if not by all, is a
public and solemn testimony that the operation of
the Holy Spirit in the heart is recognized as con
tinuing to be the one basis of qualification for the
ministry of the Gospel. Only one's own self can
tell what has passed between the soul and its Sav-
iour. No stranger intermeddleth with the question
whether the Spirit has, or has not, in holy prompt-
ings, moved one to consecrate his life to the sole
work of edifying and multiplying the flock of
Christ. If any come to offer his hand to the Church
for this high service, on his own soul it lies to say
whether or not he is led by an impulse from on
high, or by ordinary professional motives.

The Church, nevertheless, has her responsibility;
and before she seals the credentials of any, she is
bound to take note whether the Lord Himsolf has

PEKMANEOT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 205

sealed them by the gifts of His Holy Spirit. As
much as the responsibility lies on the individual of
making or not making a solemn profession that he
is inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, does the
responsibility lie upon the Church to see that he
has all the corroborative marks of such a call. Those
marks are grace, gifts, fruit. Does his whole life
testify that he has felt the repentance to which he
is to call sinners, exercised the faith to which he is
to encourage penitents, and experienced, in some
degree, that sanctification to which he is to lead on
believers ? If the evidence of this be not clear, the
Church sins a grievous sin in accrediting him to the
world as one qualified to "warn every man, and
teach every man, that he may present every man
perfect." No circumstance of time, age, nation, or
aught else, can authorize any Church to dispense
with the essential qualification that he who is to bo
a minister of God shall first be a child of God. Any
credentials given without full proof of this, are pre-
sumptuous and null. When our Lord was about to
restore to his beloved disciple Peter the commission
which his fall had seemed to forfeit, He puts to him
the question, "Lovest thou Me ?" and thrice repeats
it, searching him to the soul ; and, on the ground
that he does love Him, intrusts him anew with the
commission, " Feed My sheep," No man whose
true love to the Saviour is doubtful, who can not

206 THE TONGUE OF FIRE,

appeal to Him who knoweth all things as witness
that he does love Him, has that qualification for o
commission which is most indispensable of all — loy
alty to the King.

" The same commit ihou to faithful men.v
" Who is that faithful and wise steward whom the
Lord will set over His house, to give to every man
a portion of meat in due season ?" In both of these
passages, as all through the Word of God, the spir-
itual qualification is set as a consideration anteced
ent to that of gifts : first of all " faithful ;" but not
merely " faithful." " The same commit thou to
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."
The steward is to be not only " faithful," but " wise,"
able to distribute to every one in due season. He
who is not apt to teach, ought never to be commis-
sioned as a teacher. The gifts of the Spirit are va-
rious. " To one is given the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge, to another proph-
ecy." With regard to the servants of the Lord
Christ, according to the gift of each, so let his
sphere be. If " prophecy, let him prophesy accord-
ing to the proportion of faith ; or teaching, let him
wait on his teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on ex-
hortation."

When, therefore, any one comes forward to offer
himself as a laborer in the vineyard of the Lord,
before he can be rightly assigned to any sphere, the

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 20^

question as to his spiritual character must bo favor-
ably decided, and then his sphere should be deter
mined by his gifts. Which of the various gifts of
the Holy Spirit have been conferred upon him
If none of them, who dare say that he is to be a
minister of God, and a teacher of the souls of men?
Surely this is not the Church of Christ, that is going
to lay hands upon a man, of whom no one knows
whether he has any gift whatever from God — a
man whose voice has never been raised in exhorta-
tion, teaching, preaching, or public prayer, who has
given no more evidence of gifts and fitness than a
thousand others who make no pretension to be fit
— going to set such an one over hundreds of pro-
fessed Christians as their teacher and pastor, as the
leader of their devotions, and the only instructor
of their souls!

It is a manifest inversion of Christian order,
when the commission of the Church is taken to
be the authority to commence the exercise of spirit-
ual gifts. In the New Testament the Church's
only warrant for issuing her commission is the
known possession of such gifts ; and this can only
be proved by their previous exercise. Her work
was not to create gifts, but from among the gifted
brethren to select those whom the Lord had, by
His own will and act, previously fitted for special
offices. The ordination of the Church to the min<

208 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

istry was not a Christian's first authority to f reach
Christ ; for that, opportunity and ability were
authority enough ; but the special eminence and
usefulness of some among the company of preach-
ers was the Church's warrant for separating them
to the sole work of the ministry. If a commission
from the Church be held to supply the place either
of the Spirit's constraining call, or of His qualifying
gift, His office in perpetuating the ministry is super-
seded. To do this effectually, it is not necessary
to blot from creeds the expressions of right belief,
but only to adopt in practice such regulations as
will enable men without grace, or without gifts, by
the use of ordinary professional preparations, to
obtain a commission, and stand up as accredited
stewards of the mysteries of God.

The operation of the Spirit in fitting the minister
for the work of God is seen, in the Old Testament,
in connection, not with the priestly office, but with
that of the prophet. The former was a typical and
temporary office, existing only as the precursor and
type of the great High Priest, and terminating
at once and forever when He whom it foreshadow-
ed had made His offering, and passed within the
vail. The work of the priest was not to teach,
edify, warn, and forewarn, but to be the medium
of access to the presence of God on His mercy-seat.
As such, he has no earthly successor in Christianity :

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHXJKCH- 209

his office, we repeat, ended forever with the atone-
ment and ascension of our Lord. Then came a
change of the priesthood, that of Levi giving place
to that of Melchisedec, which was vested, not in a
succession of mutable men, but all in the Unchang-
ing One, whose sacrifice should never need repeti-
tion, whose years should never fail, and whose in-
finite tenderness should feel every infirmity of
every suppliant.

The office of the prophet was to warn, to re-
prove, to rebuke, to exhort, as well as to foreshow.
That office is not repeated in all its features in the
Christian " pastor and teacher," but as to its essen-
tials it is. Foretelling is the one function wherein
the two differ ; and that was appropriately the gift
of an age in which revelation was incomplete, and
all the hopes of believers turned to a light yet un-
risen. Indeed, it may be worth considering whether
the perpetuation of the foretelling gift would not
suppose an incomplete revelation, and whether the
closing of the canon of revealed truth does not nat-
urally carry with it the termination of that wonder-
ful gift by which, from age to age, additions had
been made to the previous stores of truth.

When St. Paul urges upon us to desire, and, in-
deed, to follow after, the " spiritual gift" of proph-
ecy, and holds out the inducement which should
lead us to covet it above all other gifts, he has not

210 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

in his eye, and does not present to ours, the honoi
or the profit of foretelling. The only inducement!
he assigns are these : " He that prophesieth speak*
eth unto men to edification, and exhortation, and
comfort." " I would that ye all spake with tongues,
but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he
that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,
except he interpret, that the Church may receive
edifying * * * But if ail prophesy, and there
come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he
is convinced of all, he is judged of all : and thus are
the secrets of his heart made manifest ; and so,
falling down on his face, he will worship God, and
report that God is in you of a truth." Thus, in the
passages where the Apostle speaks most upon the
Christian gift of prophecy, he makes no allusion to
foretelling; and in the Acts of the Apostles we
read that "Judas and Silas, being prophets also
themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words,
and confirmed them." We have no record any-
where of Silas foretelling, nor is there the least al-
lusion to the exercise of such a gift ; yet his ex-
hortation and that of Jude, with their confirming
arguments or appeals, are at once set down as the
exercise of the prophetic gift.

The highest oflice of the Spirit in the Prophet of
the old dispensation was to enable him to see and
to depict "the suflV'^ngs of Christ, and the glory

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 211

that should follow," as though they were before his
eye ; and the highest office of the same Spirit in
God's minister, in our day, is to enable him to des-
cry, by an inner eye, the glories and the grace of a
Lord whom he has never seen; and to descant
upon them as though his eye beheld Him, and his
ear was tingling with His voice. The same spirit-
ual light which made a future Redeemer present to
Isaiah, is needful to make a past Redeemer present
to the Christian preacher. Without it, the one
might have had an expectation, and the other
might have a belief; but neither could burn and
melt as in the presence of a living, loving, redeem-
ing Prince of Peace. The spirit of prophecy illu-
minated the future to the one, and illuminates the
past to the other — gave that which was a promise
the force of a thing done, and gives that which is a
record the force of a thing now doing.

The difference, within the soul of a man, between
merely cherishing an expectation or a belief, and
seeing, feeling, thrilling under the impression of a
present Friend and Deliverer, makes in his utter-
ance the difference between a tame declaration
which disturbs neither prejudice nor indifference,
and an overpowering force of speech that bears
men's hearts away. So far was the gift whereby
the Spirit enabled the servants of Christ to speak
as the oracles of God respecting the Master whom*

212 THE TONGlTE OF PIKE.

chough "not having seen, they loved," from being
considered essentially different from that where-
with He had endued the ancient Prophets, that
fche same name is freely applied to it, even when,,
as we have seen, the idea of foretelling is not in-
cluded.

However decided might be the evidence, that an
individual was a child of God, and had a gift, an-
other element is ever kept in view as an attestation
that he is truly commissioned from the Father — the
power and anointing of the Holy One transfused
throughout his preaching, and giving it a moral
effect which ordinary speech, however wise, would
never carry. " Not in word only," however true
and scriptural that word might be, " but in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."
"The kingdom of God is not in word, but in
power." " The preaching of the Cross is to them
that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved
it is the power of God." "My speech and my
preaching were not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and
of power, that your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Here
we see the most highly gifted of the Apostles clearly
recognizing the fact, that his success as an embassa-
dor to sinful men lay not in the perfectness of his

PERMAISTENT BENEFI1S TO THE CHTTltCII. 213

intellectual perceptions, nor in the mode in which
he presented the truth to the intellectual view of
those whom he addressed, but in a spiritual element
of his preaching, as distinct from its intellectual
characteristics as they were from its physical eloca
tion, and as necessary, in addition to the intellectual
presentation of truth, as was the latter in addition
to a rush of words. Without clear intellectual pre-
sentation of truth, any flow of words would fail to
convince or to enlighten. Withcut the spiritual
power, any exposition or argument would fail to
awaken or regenerate. The work of Paul was
nothing short of a commission to " turn them from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanc-
tified ;" and this he knew would never be effected
except by " power and by the Holy Ghost," work-
ing in and through whatever truth he might utter
as the bearer of God's great message.

Without this call from God, this gift from God,
and this power from God, no one can be recognized
as, in the scriptural sense, an embassador from God.
To dispense with any one of these essentials in the
qualification of a minister, is to introduce a radical
change into the institution of the ministry itself,
and to set it up on a basis for which there is no
scriptural precedent, The^p essentials being so.

214 THE TONGUE OF EIRE

cured, the training is varied according to circun>
stances. In the case of the Apostles and the Sev-
enty, after our Lord had called them under the
p omise that He would make them fishers of men
He retained them near His own person, continually
instructing them in the oracles of God, giving them
the highest example of teaching and of a holy life ;
and this training ne continued for three years.
After the call of St. Paul, we find that three years
elapsed before He came up to Jerusalem, which
time he had spent in Arabia and Damascus, in what
manner we are not informed, but probably in study
of the Holy Scriptures, tending to give him a fuller
acquaintance with the revelation of God in Christ.
It is certain, however, that he was also exercising
his gifts ; for even in Damascus, immediately after
his conversion, he began to preach. The training
of Apollos lay first in such light as he received as a
disciple of John's baptism, next in the exercise of
his gifts, and then in the further instruction of
Aquila and Priscilla. The training of Timothy lay
in the early teaching of a holy mother and grand-
mother, the ordinary means of grace, study of the
word of God, and then personal fellowship with the
Apostle Paul and his fellow-laborers on their jour-
neys and in their toils. Whatever special training
individuals may have been favored with, that which
was essential in the training was common to all

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 215

namely, instruction in the Holy Scriptures, the ex-
ercise of their gifts in religious assemblies either of
the Church or of the synagogue, and the gradual
development of those gifts, until fitness for the
ministry was clearly proved.

Whatever value general education may have
held in the eyes of our blessed Lord, or of the
anointing Spirit, it is plain that even the Apostles,
in the height and glory of their Pentecostal preach-
ing, were not gifted with any power which would
cover the provincial peculiarities of their speech, or
enable them to conciliate the refined by graceful
enunciation. The educated ears of the Scribes
of Jerusalem at once recognized, in the workers of
miracles and the teachers of an increasing Church,
" unlearned and ignorant men." But, as we noticed
before, their want of learning related only to mat-
ters of polite education, not to the deep things of
the word of God, the doctrines, facts, and promises
of which they were commissioned to expound to
the world. The general education of Luke and
Paul was gained with a view to general purposes,
and turned to the service of the Church by the
grace which converted them.

We now come to the simple question, Are the
call, the gift, the power, and the training of the
Christian Minister to continue to the end of time,

216 THE TOXaUE OF fike.

as to essentials, the same as in the apostolic age ?
Are we to expect identity, in these particulars, be-
tween the ministry of our day, and that of the first
century; or, dispensing with this, are we to be
contented simply with a lineal connection ? To put
out of sight the scriptural precedents and essentials
of ministerial qualification, to give up the spiritual
identity of the ministry, and be satisfied with a
lineal connection, is a lamentable abandonment of
the Church's hope. If she do not obtain for the
sacred office a succession of men able to teach, and
endued with the Holy Ghost, she can not preserve
to herself, or transmit to future ages, the primitive
and apostolic ministry. Though all the appendages
of the office be preserved, if the spiritual essentials
of the Minister be lost, the pith and sap of the
ancient tree are gone, though the bark and foliage
may survive. It is for the Church to see that un-
equivocal signs of grace, and gifts, and fruitfulness,
mark out every candidate for the sacred office as
one chosen of the Lord ; and not to accept instead
of these any substitute whatever, whether it be his
own profession, or some qualifications supposed to
replace the primitive ones.

Though no one formally professes that the Chris-
tian ministry has become a totally different institu-
tion from that which Christ founded — different in
the qualification it requires, in the mode of indue*

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 217

tion, and in the source and fruit of its efficacy — yet
all this is assumed in the current writings and
thoughts of many, and the assumption is wrought
into the framework and usages of different Churches.
For a call of God, delivered by the voice of the
Holy Ghost, in the silence of a believing heart,
and manifested by earnest efforts to save souls and
to promote holy works, a formal commission from
ecclesiastical authorities is relied upon. Instead
of a gift from God — a gift of sacred and impress-
ive speech, a "tongue of fire" — we have substi-
tuted a ritual; instead of a scriptural training, a
high education ; and instead of a power from God,
some substitute intellectualism, and others pro-
priety.

We are very far from decrying these things in
their right place. The commission is good and
needful as the Church's seal and recognition of the
Lord's call, but ridiculous and self-contradictory as
a substitute for it. Learning is invaluable when
associated with and adorning gifts from God, but
lower than pitiable when offered as a substitute for
the power of opening and enforcing the Divine
oracles. Propriety, intellectualism, and ritual, have
their honorable place , but when, instead of the
power which penetrates the soul, we have only
ceremony which fascinates the taste, or talent which
regales the intellect, then are we fallen from the

218 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

region of Divine to that of human things, brought
down from " the power of God" to " the wisdom
of man."

For this substitution different classes are to be
blamed ; Church authorities, chiefly for covering
the want of a call and a gift from God by a com-
mission from man ; and the multitude of professed
Christians, chiefly for coveting not so much spiritual
power, as propriety or intellectualism. Did the
former adhere to the primitive idea of the ministry,
they would no more commission, as a Minister oi
God, a man who had not given proof, first of sincere
godliness, and then of ministerial gifts, than would
any naval Board accredit a man as a pilot who had
studied navigation and charts, but had never sailed
the particular channel on which he was to be in-
trusted with valuable lives ; or than would any
medical Board give a surgeon's diploma to a man
who had read and heard lectures, but had never
been in a hospital, or dealt with an actual patient.
To substitute education for the ministerial gift
(even when grace is possessed) is, in fact, to set
aside the question, Is this man called of God ?
And to substitute it for evidences of grace (even
when gifts are possessed) is equally to set that
question aside. True, it may be still retained in
words ; but if that is done, and yet, without proof
of both gifts and grace, a man be inducted into the

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 219

taiinistry upon the simple evidence of education,
the question is deliberately evaded, and the sin of
falsifying Christ's own institution is not mitigated
by the plea of forgetfulness, much less of ignor-
ance ; but, with both knowledge and memory
of what it originally was, another thing, differing
from it in the first and most essential qualities,
is hailed by its name, and invested with its func-
tions.

To constitute a Christian, three things are neces-
sary— faith, experience, and practice : to constitute
a Minister, four — faith, experience, practice, and
gifts. Without experience, knowledge or belief
can no more qualify a man to teaoh heart repent-
ance, and heart faith, and heart holiness, than book
knowledge, whatever might be its amount, would
qualify a man to train soldiers, if he had never him-
self passed through the process of military disci-
pline. Without gifts, education and experience
would be together as insufficient a qualification, as
if a soldier had ammunition and discipline, without
weapons.

It is difficult to describe the evil done, when the
Church overlays the essential qualification and train-
ing of the primitive ministry by exalting substitutes
for the active power of the Holy Spirit, and when
she further sets before all men a profession with

high prizes, the door to which will infallibly bo
16

220 THE TONGUE OF EIRE.

opened by a certain course of education, unless
they disgrace themselves, and thus allures them to
make sacred professions from secular motives. On
each individual who makes such professions without
due care the guilt of voluntarily sinning must for-
ever lie ; but how far has the Church been his
tempter, when she makes overtures to him irrespect-
ive of qualifications which are clearly laid down in
the word of God, as those only which attest the
Divine sanction and call ?

It may be asked whether we are to expect that
in all ages a sufficient number of men will be raised
up, bearing the primitive marks of a call from God,
and of gifts from God ; and our reply would be,
simply, Remember the ten days. There we see
men whose commission had come from the lips of
the Lord Jesus, whose training had been under His
own eye, who have forsaken houses, and lands, and
all that could bind them to secular avocations, who
are ready to set forth upon the work of calling and
warning a world that is " lying in the wicked one ;"
and yet day after day the inhibition lies upon them,
that they are to tarry until they are endued with
power from on high. As we look at that spectacle
— sinners dying, time rolling on, the Master looking
down from His newly-ascended throne on the world
which He has redeemed, seeing death bear away its
thousands while His servants keep silence — there is

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 221

in that silence a tone which booms through all the
future, warning us that never, never, under the dis-
pensation of the Spirit, are men to set out upon the
embassy of Christ, be their qualifications or creden-
tials what they may, until first they have been en-
dued with power from on high, been baptized with
tongues of fire. Better let the Church wait ever
so long — better let the ordinances of God's house
be without perfunctory actors, and all, feeling sore
need, be forced to cry with special urgency for
fresh outpourings and baptisms of the Holy Ghost,
to raise up holy ministers, than that, by any man-
ner of factitious supply, substitutes should be fur-
nished— substitutes no more ministers of God, than
coals arranged in a grate are a fire ; or than a golden
candlestick with a wax candle, which flame has
never touched, is a light.

If it was the original design of the Lord to with-
draw from the Church the ministerial grace of the
Spirit, and to leave her to the care of pastors, all
whose qualifications were natural, or gained by nat-
ural acquisition, all whose authority was derived
from human commission, without any "manifesta-
tion of the Spirit," either in gifts or moral power ;
it was clearly His purpose that His religion should
essentially change its character, after its establish-
ment in the world. This change, also, would be not
in the direction of improvement, but of degeneracy ;

222 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

not by progressive increase of communication with
His redeemed flock, but by progressive increase of
distance between it and Him ; not by bringing
earthly things nearer to heavenly, but by removing
them further away. It would imply a design, on
his part, to reduce the Christian dispensation lower,
as to ministerial grace, than even the Jewish : for in
it the prophetic spirit was constantly giving mani-
festation that there was a God in Israel ; not merely
that there was truth, order, priesthood, a Church,
but a God, a living Being, high, holy, and wise,
who dwelt amid the people, and actively moved,
through His servants, for the instruction, reproof>
and holiness of all ; — " rising up early and sending"
messenger after messenger. It wrould, in fact, im-
ply, that while the dispensation of the Gospel was
the most favored as to truth, it would be the least
favored as to tokens of actual intercourse between
the Saviour and His people : for even the days of
the patriarchs were lighted with frequent manifesta-
tions of God. It is laid down as the principle of
our dispensation, that the manifestations of God are
to be by the operation and gifts of the Holy Spirit,
It is, therefore, consistent Christianity to expect no
supernatural manifestations but of this kind. But
is it consistent Christianity, or Christianity of any
kind, not to expect these at all ; not to count upon
direct gifts from above, upon such wonderful work-

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 223

ing of the Spirit through the mind and tongue ol
messengers, as would compel all to feel that their en-
dowments were not from nature only, but were indi-
cative of Divine power ?

If it be not alleged that the Lord did indeed
mean to withdraw ministerial grace, in every appre-
ciable and practical form ; on what other ground
can the notion that the ministry is to be supplied by
candidates, just as any other profession is supplied,
be rested ? and all that is necessary is, that fathers
should decide that their sons are to be ministers,
and not soldiers or lawyers ; and should educate
them; that then, after an examination in general
knowledge and theology, the candidate shall be in-
vested with an office which professes to be held by
commission from God ? On what other ground can
one avoid the conclusion, that the first movement
toward placing any one in the ministry, should re-
sult from proof given that the Holy Spirit had en-
dued him with pastoral dispositions and pastoral
gifts ; and that every subsequent step in the same
direction should be taken carefully, after confirma-
tory evidences of the same ?

It is easy to say that we must not expect such
clear cases to occur constantly; and must follow
some definite mode of preparation. Yes, we must
follow some definite mode ; but defined on princi-
ples of faith, not of unbelief. " We must not ex-

224 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

peel a constant occurrence of clear cases!" On
what principles must we not ? On those of the
New Testament, or of modern writers ? On those
of the Church in the apostolic age, or of subsequent
and degenerate ages ? On those of Christ's uncor
rupted Christianity, or those of fallen Churches
On the principle of "I believe in the Holy
Ghost," or on the principle of " I believe only in
nature ?"

The definite mode of perpetuating the supply of
ministers should rest on the sole foundation of the
Christian faith, rejecting every idea of distrust as
resolutely as a chemist would reject every idea of
inconstancy in the affinities of elements ; rejecting
every idea of substituting other action for that of
the Holy Spirit as decisively as a gunner would re-
ject the idea of aiding his explosion with mechanical
force. If we have not the spirit to raise up agents,
we can not preserve Christ's Church alive ; if we
have Him, we may fully trust Him to do all that is
not made to depend on our own fidelity. To doubt
the supply of summer heat, and to set ourselves to
rear harvests in hot-beds, would not be doing more
violence to the laws of the physical kingdom, than
it is to the laws of the spiritual kingdom to doubt
the supply of the Spirit whereby laborers fit for the
field are raised up, and to set ourselves to furnish
others.

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 225

Firm in faith, the Church ought to set at the very
entrance of the pathway toward the ministry, a gate
which no family influence, no education could open ;
which none could pass but they whom a number of
serious and godly men — -not ministers alone, but also
laymen who had to hear, and feed, or starve, ac-
cording to the quality of the ministrations — would
deliberately conclude were worthy, at least, to be
admitted to probation for the work of the ministry.
Such a gate none could pass but one who was either
in earnest, or a studious and practiced hypocrite.

Where the primitive training is maintained, all
the members of the Church exercise such gifts as
the Spirit has distributed to them — prayer, and ex-
hortation, and teaching, and mutual speaking one to
another, and admonishing one another. Anions the
working believers of such a scriptural Church, a
suitable proportion will ever be raised up whose
gifts will fit them to lead in all the offices. This is
the real training school for Christian agents ; a fruit-
ful Chnrch is her own nursery. Meetings for fel-
lowship of saints, for free-hearted prayer, for exhort-
ation, are the legitimate means by which they whom
the Lord is fitting for His high ministry shall be led
to the development of their gifts. This training
must be held as indispensable, and of an essential
importance with which no other training has any
pretense to claim a comparison ; and then general

226 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

education must be held to have the same relation to
the Christian ministry as a general education has to
any other profession ; and theological education the
same as special education has to the other profes-
sions.

Classics and mathematics, history and logic, are
of admirable use to a lawyer ; but if, qualified by
these, he is to attempt to conduct cases without
having been specially trained in pleading, alas for
his clients ! They are of great use to a physician ;
but if, by their light, and without study of diseases
and remedies, he undertake to heal, alas for the
families which put precious life in his trust ! To a
minister their value is quite as great as to either of
the others ; but study of theology is as indispens-
able to him, as study of law or medicine to them ;
and practical experience of that repentance, faith,
and holiness which he is to enforce, is as necessary
as practical treatment of disease in addition to
study ; or as practical acquaintance with a ship at
sea is needful for a mariner, in addition to the
science of navigation.

Were we forced to choose between two men, one
of whom is an accomplished scholar without prac-
tical godliness, the other a holy and gifted man
without refined scholarship ; to ask us the question,
which we should prefer for our minister, is about as
respectful to our faith as Christians, as it would be

PERMANEOT BEIOIFITS TO THE CHURCH. 227

respectful to the common sense of a ship-owner,
soberly to ask whether he preferred, as a pilot for
his ships, a scholar from a nautical academy who
had never walked a deck, or a rough sailor who had
often sailed the very waters over which the precious
freight must be conveyed. Alas for those whoae
souls are watched over by unconverted scholars!
And even if converted and gifted, the minister of
Christ should not come to his office without havLig
been practiced in prayer, in exhortation, in preach-
ing, in all the art of healing souls, and that not in
books only, not in schools only, but also in the
lively meetings and labors of the Church.

We not only acknowledge, but gratefully belike
and record, that many of those who had been in*
vested with the ministry without sufficient test of
their fitness, have, in the event, become burmng
and shining lights. But if this, on the one hand,
deserves to be continually remembered as a proof
of God's tender mercy to His Church, it is, on the
other hand, not less to be noted, that He has ordi-
narily allowed such unauthorized appointments to
be followed by their natural consequences, until
whole nations have come under the curse of a min-
istry who either taught another Gospel than that
of the Apostles, or who, perfunctorily exhibiting
the shell of the truth, set the example of denying
its power; and that even where the Church had

228 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

been reformed, although primitive Christianity had
not been generally revived. What England was a
century ago — what many Protestant Churches on
the Continent are at this moment, sufficiently shows
that if guards are not placed at the entrance to the
ministry, such as will hinder the admission of any
but spiritually-minded men, the course of Provi-
dence is to allow the sin to work out its own pun-
ishment.

While ecclesiastical authorities may be justly
blamed for too readily substituting a Church com-
mission for the genuine call and gift of God, the
multitude of professed Christians are no less ready
to accept, instead of the genuine moral power which
is the true pre-eminence of the Christian minister,
a substitute in either propriety or intellectualism.
A people whose idea of the ministry was formed
by inspirations from the New Testament, would
look and crave, with feelings amounting to hunger
and thirst, for men " endued with power" — the
true power of the Holy Ghost, awakening, con-
verting, edifying power; power under which hearts
would melt, lives would change, old men would
put off the evil ways of a lifetime, and youth put
on the wisdom of gray hairs, thoughtless revelry
would give place to benevolent associations, and
the whole neighborhood begin to breathe a purer

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 229

and a nobler spirit. Nothing could to them com
pensate for the absence of this. Though all pro
prieties gratified the taste, though the intellect
were charmed, yet would they pine and long for
that power which lies beyond the ken of the eye,
the taste, or the intellect; but which the moral
nature at once feels and responds to, either by a
stern moral resistance, felt to be a resistance to
the voice of the Spirit, or by contrite acqui-
escence, felt to be the surrender of the heart to
the constraining love of the Redeemer.

" Ye shall be endued," said our Lord, " with
power from on high" — robed with power. This is
the true robing and vestment of the minister of
God — an invisible garment of power, which sits not
upon his shoulders, but upon his spirit, shading him
over with a moral dignity, as if he held office from
the King of kings, and conveying to every con-
science before him the instinctive perception that
he comes commissioned to deal with it on the
things that affect its purity, and its relations with
Him wTho planted it in man.

All power is indescribable, but at the same time
appreciable. What it is, where it is, how it came,
where it goes, its measure, movement, nature, form,
or essence, no human skill can discover. We may
ask the sunbeam which has such power to fly and
to illuminate, the lightning whuh has such powet

230 THE TONGUE OF EIRE.

to scathe, the dew-drop that has power to refresh,
the magnet, the fire, the steam, the eye that can
see, the ear that can hear, the nerve that can con-
vey the messages of will — we may ask all the agents
we see exerting power to render us an account each
of its own power, and all will be dumb. Not the
cannon-ball on its flight, or the lion in his triumph,
not the tempest or the sea, not even pestilence itself,
can tell us what is power. If we ask Death who
has put all things under his feet, even he has no re-
ply ; and after we have passed the question, " What
is power ?" round a mute universe, we must say,
" God has spoken once, yea, twice have I heard this,

that POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD."

Yet power, in itself so hidden and indescribable,
is ever manifest by its effects. An effect demon-
strates the presence of a power. "Where gun-powder
explodes, there must have been fire ; where water
shoots up through the atmosphere in steam, there
must have been heat; where iron moves without
mechanical force, a magnet must be; and the ab-
sence of the effect is conclusive evidence of the ab-
sence of the power from which the effect would
have followed. The intellect at once recognizes the
presence of intellectual power. The emotions, also,
faithfully tell whenever an emotional power is
brought to bear upon them; and no less surely

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUECH. 231

does the conscience of a man feel when a moral
power comes acting upon it.

In unconverted men a singular conflict goes on;
they share the admiration which every man feels for
moral power — an admiration which none can help
feeling, even though he be so wedded to his sins
that he is lashed into enmity when the action of
such a power makes him fear that, after all, he will
be converted into a saint ; yet this feeling is com-
bated by the natural aversion which men have for
every thing that crosses their earthly inclinations,
and tends to lead their affections to holy things.
On the one hand, they feel that the man who
preaches to them ought to be able to disturb them
in their evil ways, as by a voice and a call from
their Maker ; and they are drawn toward him who
has this character. On the other hand, they desire
to continue longer in worldly ways ; and it is com-
fortable to them, and welcome, when, instead of a
trumpet peal which wxmld break their slumbers,
they hear a pleasant song that will help them to
sleep on. With the great majority these latter feel-
ings prevail, and, according as their own inclinations
and training lead, they seek in the public ordinances
of God's house either what they call an intellectual
treat, or what they consider a well-performed and
creditable solemnitv.

232 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

With one class, the highest ideal of a Chr;sL»Hn
service seems to be, that nothing should pass that
could, by any possibility, offend the taste of any
human being who might look upon the whole scene
as an assembly for some dignified purpose. As to
the pulpit, their great desire is, that the pulpit
should " behave itself;" and in this country of oura
many a service may be found which is

" Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null."

That is, " faultless" in such eyes — " faultless," if the
idea of a Christian service be not a scene of peni-
tence, fervent prayer, bursting adoration; a triumph
of spiritual power ; an assembly the atmosphere of
which breathes of living souls and the present Spirit
of God, of transgressors awakening, and penitents
finding mercy, and saints standing truly nigh to the
countenance of their Father ; but, instead of all
this, a number of well-dressed people decorously
meeting, and celebrating something that affects no
one, and coolly listening to something not formed
to affect any one, and, above all, not formed to
offend any man, except him who wants to feel his
own soul, and see the souls of his neighbors, moved
to their depths as by a call from above.

The sanctuary of God ought, undoubtedly, to be
the highest scene and model of propriety; the pul-
pit to be its foremost and most shining example..

PERMAISTENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH, 233

lie who, under any pretext, introduces trifling, odd-
ity, or coarseness there, strikes fearfully at a main
support of power — true reverence. However offens-
ive want of propriety may be elsewhere, it is doubly
so in the house of God. But the united praying of
Christians, the delivering of a message from above,
and the mingling of thankful voices in praise to the
Most High, like all other peculiar actions, have a
propriety of their own ; and of all improprieties,
none is more thoroughly alien to them than that,
be it what it may — whether stiff form or elaborate
literature — which gives to the place a savor rather
of the wisdom of man than of the power of God.
At a marriage-feast the solemnity proper to a fu-
neral would be an impropriety. In a company of
friends the precision of military movement would
be improper. The noise of instruments is pro-
priety in a concert, the sound of grinding in a
mill, the clatter of shuttles in a factory, the ring
of hammers in a forge, the laughter of children in
a nursery.

And so the house of God has its own atmos-
phere ; whatever would extinguish the reverent
utterance of penitent or grateful emotion on the
part of the simple and the poor, of the newly
awakened or newly forgiven — whatever would train
all Christian feelings to move there, in God's owr
house and in the assembly of His people, as if unde

234 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

the cold eye of a heathen world, is a more crying
impropriety than those departures from taste which
not only might flow, but must flow, from the utter-
ance of feelings, where any multitude, composed of
all classes, is deeply affected. When the noble idea
of Christian propriety gives place to the paltry
idea of properness — when intense reverence and
love and joy, meeting and stirring the breasts of a
multitude, are distasted, and men are set on having
every thing square, well cut, and arranged before
hand, then we have little right to expect the highest
of all proprieties — the breaking of sinful hearts as
if in pieces under the hammer of God's word, and
the cry of awakened sinners, " What must we do
to be saved ?" In fact, many, who call themselves
Christians, and whose claim we readily allow, would
regard the utterance of such a cry in the house of
God as not less improper than if raised in a theater.
The people may say, " Amen," if it be just by rule ;
many murmur a response, if just where good men,
long since dead, marked, "Respond here;" but
any thing like the pentecostal scene — any general
outburst of penitent emotion — would be intolerable;
and even to see a solitary man, " unlearned and un-
believing," feeling himself judged and condemned,
and "falling down upon his face and worshiping
God," would be a disturbance of propriety, for-
sooth, because it would make a fracture in that icy

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 235

properness wherein a long continuance of cold has
encased many a branch of Christ's Church. Yet
this scene is just as proper to the house of God, as
the crash of a falling tree is to the forest where th
woodman is clearing.

A class very different from those who worship
properness, set up intellectualism as the substitute
for power. We are far from wishing, in any way,
to undervalue that great gift of God, mental power.
Some measure of this is always implied in the com-
mission to preach the Gospel ; and the more of
sense, pathos, imagination, of any real talent, that
a Minister may possess, the more is he fitted to
give his office effect. The talk in which some good
people indulge as to the great benefit of having
weak instruments in the ministry, is without a tittle
of scriptural foundation, the Scriptures being fairly
applied to the case.

It is true that, to the wise of this world, the Crosa
in itself is " foolishness ;" but Christ never sent
fools to be its heralds. The institution of preach-
ing, as the means for regenerating mankind, is in
itself " foolishness ;" but none of the preachers sent
of God were simpletons. Though they were de-
cpised by the great, and were of no account with
the learned, every one of them was mighty through
God to strike home to the consciences of sinners
H

236 THE TONGUE OF If IRE.

and to confound gainsayers; the evidence of Divine
power working with them being all the more con-
spicuous by reason of their natural or educational
defects. Men who have no gift to teach, warn, or
exhort, ought to betake themselves to whatever
honest calling their Maker has fitted them to fulfill,
and not pule about the Lord delighting to use fool-
ish instruments, while every day proves that He is
in no way using them, unless it be as an example to
all not to assume an office without having proved
their fitness. The men whom God sends may be
without the accomplishments of scholars, but never
without sense and utterance. They may be desti-
tute of the talent which would enable them to treat
secular subjects with oratorial or literary success
— to allure the fancy, or exhilarate the emotions,
to satisfy by logic, or illuminate by exposition, but
never, never without power to act upon the con-
science ; and this, in the absence of other endow-
ments, is often at once the scepter of a preacher's
command, and the mysterious seal of his commis-
sion.

He who speaks to us in the name of our God
may bring statement as lucid and nervous as that
of Moses or Matthew, wisdom as racy as that of
Solomon, pathos as overwhelming as that of Jere
miah or John, argument as cogent as that of Paul,
or imagination as gorgeous as that of David or

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 23?

Isaiah ; any powers, however lofty, may he bring- ~
any eloquence, however poetic, refined, or bold ;
only let him make us feel, as we always do under
the hand of the Prophets and the Apostles, that all
his powers are put in operation but to bring us
nearer to our Redeemer.

Where the notion that the talent employed in
Christian preaching ought to lie within a limited
and humble range, without any high flights, any
deep soundings, any glowing language, any meta-
phorical illustrations, or any masculine argument,
can have originated, one would be at a loss to learn,
were the Bible alone — Old Testament and New —
the source of our information. There we see the
power of the Holy Spirit, not allying itself with one
order of mind, or with one stamp of composition,
tamed down to a standard of properness, conse-
crated by the aesthetics of some small and proper
men, but using every faculty that God ever gave to
the human soul — every faculty of thought, illustra-
tion, and speech — hallowing by its fire all genius,
all life, and all nature, touching every thing and
illuminating every thing ; so that there is not one
scene of domestic life, and not one object of God's
outer world, to which the tongue of Psalmist or
Prophet, or the Great Teacher Himself, has not
given a voice, and made it speak to us in sacred
poetry. From the grass beneath the mower's

238 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

scythe, or the lily that a child has plucked — from
the bridegroom's beaming face, or nursing mo-
ther's bosom — up to the lightning, the sun, and
the stars, every thing is hallowed by a ray from
the Bible, and is hung round by its sacred associa-
tions.

We can not but believe that this is the inten-
tional model, and that men of all orders, with
talent of every possible shade, are meant to be
employed in God's holy ministry ; and that, there-
fore, any narrower view, founded either upon the
ideal of some prominent example in one class of
preaching, on the taste of a given age, or on any
notion whatever of classic style and propriety, is
but an invention to cramp and trammel that which
must everlastingly be free — the utterance of men
who come to speak to us of all things infinite.

On the other hand, that which now-a-days is
called intellectualism does not appear so much to
lie in the possession and exercise of superior powers,
as in the art of casting common things in elaborate
molds, and robing every familiar truth, which, in a
plain garb, all would recognize as an old friend, in
such array that those who do not look closely may
take it for a distinguished stranger. It is true that
thoughts which outgrow the ordinary stature will
naturally drape themselves nobly ; but all haze, 01

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 239

extravagance, in the style of wise men, will be in
spite of themselves. They will ever use their best
endeavors, first to clear their ideas in their own
minds, and then to render them clear to others;
Often they will expend much labor in reducing
what gushed from their pregnant thoughts, from
its original splendor to something more simple and
perspicuous, something perhaps less calculated to
dazzle, but more calculated to enlighten.

Some intellects are, among ordinary ones, what
a hothouse is in a garden — a special shrine which
receives the beams of heaven, through a medium
of crystal, into an atmosphere of high temperature,
within which bloom fruits and flowers that would
not grow in the ordinary ground ; fruits and flow-
ers from brighter lands, and wondrous in our eyes,
which, however, though at first nursed there, may
in time, be naturalized, and become familiar beau
ties in the homesteads of thousands. It is mani-
festly the will of Providence to create such intel-
lects ; and even had we not the Bible to throw
light on His design, it would certainly seem vio-
lently improbable that He should create them only
to fringe with flowers the world's broad and down-
ward way. Some men always treat richness of
style as if it were the result of effort; just as if
deal, which always owes its color to art, were to
say to mahogany, or maple, or rosewood, " What

240 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

labor it must have been to produce all these shad-
ings !" No labor whatever; it is all in the grain.

At the same time the inteliectualism of our day
is something so entirely apart from the exercise of
power of mind, that it seems to us more like an at-
tempt to invent great intellects, than like an honest
endeavor to put out to the best account such in-
tellect as God has given. The use of factitious
power is to make common things loom up in misty
grandeur, and the use of real power is to make
strong, new, rare, or vast conceptions clear to the
ordinary eye, or to bring what appeared cold in
tellectual abstractions home to the common heart
If viewed only as a specimen of natural power, how
wonderful the effect of that one stroke by which
the simplest man in Chistendom, from the time of
our Lord down to this day, has been enabled to
see in the fair drapery of a lily a pledge of provi-
dential care for his clothing, and to hear, in the
glee-chirp of a sparrow, a pledge of the same care
n feeding him and his children ! Whatever is used
with a view to clear Divine trnth to men's con-
ceptions, to enforce Divine law on the conscience,
or to commend Divine love to their hearts, that
will the Spirit work with and quicken ; but what-
ever is used merely to excite surprise or admiration
at the powers of the speaker, must be forsaken by
that sacred Power which moves, never to glorify

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 241

one man in the eye of another, but to reveal the
things of God to His wandering creatures.

It is very probable that not a few deceive them-
elves by Burke's idea of sublimity, to the effect
hat a clear idea is but another name for a littte
dea ; a notion which he supports by quoting the
vision of Eliphaz, and ascribing the sense of the
sublime which that description at once conveys, to
the haze and mystery wherewith the subject is in-
vested. But he loses sight of the cardinal fact,
that the mystery lies not in the medium, but in the
object. In language clear as the light of heaven,
that object is presented to the mind; and, gazing
through that pure and illuminated medium, we see
what can be seen of the object. That is only
enough to tell us that it is no ordinary thing, but
some mysterious being, an index of a whole world
of invisible spirits: and this it is which carries with
it the idea of the awful and infinite, and, therefore,
of the sublime. Had he said that complete com-
prehension in our mind argued a finite object, he
would undoubtedly have been correct ; but, in cr-
ier that our impression of the infinity of an object
nay be deep, some token of infinity must be clear.

Let those, then, who would wield a power over
us present to our minds objects so great, if they
will? that we can only catch a glimpse of some lower
or hinder pai't, but let that glimpse be such as to

242 THE TOXGUE OF FIRE.

convey to us an intimation of the whole as clearlj
as any stray flash of morning light carries with it
the whole idea of sun and sky. Let their great
thoughts be robed in any language, however simple,
or however gorgeous, provided only that it be
clear, that the medium obscure not our view of the
object to be seen, and so confuse our sense either
of its nature or dimensions ; and provided also it be
plain, that their ruling idea is not a literary but a
religious one, not to " acquit themselves well," and
please their audience, but to produce instant and
iasting religious impressions. Let them bring before
our souls the heights, the depths, the lengths, the
breadths of God's revealed glories ; and, whether
they be plain in style as the homeliest peasant who
passes our door, without one poetic idea in his
mind, or one poetic phrase in his vocabulary, ex-
cept those that his Bible has given to him — and
many such plain men will ever be employed in the
most eminent and glorious works of God — or
whether all their expressions have the glow of
sunerhuman fervor, or the luster of superhumai
imagination, rivaling, in its wealth of imagery, in
its purple, its scarlet, its gold, its precious stones,
its frankincense, and its myrrh, the Prophets of
old, they will produce upon us healthy effects, will
feed our spirits with angels' food, or enamor oui
contemplations with God's providence, His work of

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUECH. 243

grace, or His eternal mansions provided for those
who love Him.

We repeat it, that it is not from any peculiar
style, whether it be extreme plainness, or high
elaboration, or what else, that we expect the minis-
try to acquire a world-renewing power. Let the
style be ruled by every man's natural endowments ;
but, whatever these be, let them all be employed in
the one direction of carrying out an embassy from
God to the souls of sinful men. The greater the
variety of talent and of style, the more will the
pulpit be like the Bible — the more effectually will
its work be done; but let no form of talent be ever
accepted instead of power. For we must have
power — power which the godly will welcome as
meet to minister grace to the hearers — power which
the ungodly will fear as certain to make them un-
comfortable in their sins, or else force them to
harden their hearts, as if they were refusing the
voice of God.

Take away from the minister spiritual power, and,
though you give us the fairest deportment, the
richest eloquence, the most subtle and fascinating
speculation, you leave us without any sense that we
are hearkening to a man of God. Did the multi-
tudes of the Christian Church only set a due esti-
mate upon this, and rank propriety and intellectual-
ism in their proper place, the idea that a man could

244 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

|pass creditably as a minister merely by carefully
Derforming a ceremony, or by weaving webs of
jurious and cunning language, would be as far from
(lien's minds as is now the idea that one can obtain
credit as a soldier without courage, as a painter
without skill of hand, or as a musician without an
instinct of tune.

The lowest effect (for less is no effect at all, or a
negative one) which a Christian minister can pro-
duce, is merely to please his audience ; next to that
ranks astonishing them : for both of these effects
terminate in himself; and when a certain amount
of admiration has been expended upon him, the
whole harvest of his labor is reaped — a poor and
scanty harvest, sufficing only to pass over the pres-
ent hour, but yielding no seed for future sowing, no
store for time to come. The creature who covets
and earns the reward of being counted " an accepta-
ble preacher" — a miserable praise, fit only for an
impotent and soulless discourser — but shakes no
sinner's heart, brings back to no father's arms a
prodigal son, cheers no mother's soul by the con-
version of her children, nor ever makes a believer
feel that his preaching has formed a new and happy
era in his spiritual life, may spin fine paragraphs for
the winding-sheet of souls that are dying under liia
hands ; may perform over dead souls the solemni-
ties of <( Christian burial;" but when the body dies

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 245

too, and then when the trumpet sounds, and the
graves are opened, what reward will crown his
resurrection ?

As no variety of talent is effectual for the end*5
of the ministry without spiritual power, so, when
accompanied by that power, every form of talent
is. The refined are ready to demand a certain
chastened style, in which, above all things, there
shall be no extravagance cither in composition or in
delivery. On the other hand, the poor are slow to
recognize power unless it be accompanied by strength
of voice and physical vehemence. Some will admit
of little value in what is only exhortational or
declamatory ; others, again, can not imagine that
close argument, though it may enlighten, shall ever
awaken or convert : and thus most porcons are in
danger of forming a narrow ideal circle, within
which they would have the Spirit to co-operate
with the agency of man.

We are often told with great earnestness what is
the best style for preaching ; but the fact is, that
what would be the very best style for one man
would perhaps be the worst possible for another
In the most fervid declamation, the deej^st prin-
ciples may be stated and pressed home ; in the
calmest and most logical reasoning, powerful motives
may be forced close upon the feelings ; in discussing
come general principle, precious portions of the text

246 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

of Scripture may be elucidated ; and in simple ex-
position, general principles may be effectively set
forth, Let but the powers given to any man play
with their full force, aided by all the stores of
Divine knowledge which continuous acquisitions
from its fountain and its purest channels can obtain
for him, the fire being present — the fire of the
Spirit's power and influence — spiritual effects will
result.

The discussion about style amounts very much
to a discussion whether the rifle, the carbine, the
pistol, or the cannon, is the best weapon. Each is
best in its place. The great point is, that every
one shall use the weapon best suited to him, that
he charge it well, and see that it is in a condition
to strike fire. The criticisms which we often hear
amount to this : We admit that such-an-one is a
good exhortational preacher, or a good doctrinal
preacher, or a good practical preacher, or a good
expository preacher ; but because he has not the
qualities of another — qualities, perhaps, the very
opposite of his own — we think lightly of him,
That is, we admit that the carbine is a good
carbine ; but because it is not a rifle, we condemn
it ; and because the rifle is not a cannon, we con-
demn it,

Nothing can more directly tend to waste of
power, than the attempt to divert th i mind from

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 247

rts natural course of action into one for which it is
unfitted. Instead of resorting to this with the idea
of forming ail after some pre-conceived model, it
would be better to teach all to recognize in the
variety of individual character another proof of the
manifold wisdom of God.

Sometimes it is remarkable how small an amount
of intellectual or literary power is combined wTith
considerable, or even commanding, spiritual power.
A man who by natural talent would impress an
audience less than most men, yet by the superior
unction of the Spirit may produce religious impres-
sions, and raise up religious fruit, such as wiser and
greater men might envy. Possessing this, his other
defects are of comparatively little importance. A
general may have many defects in his character,
temper, and habits, without losing command over
his men : but if his defects be unsoldierly — if, above
all, he lacks courage, then inevitably does his con-
trol over them decline. So a statesman may have
a thousand defects not directly affecting statesman-
ship, and yet retain his ascendancy over the mind
of the nation ; but let him show a lack of political
sagacity, and at once his ascendancy is gone. So
if a Minister of the Gospel be justly described as
"dry;" that is, if he give godly and candid hearers
the impression that he habitually delivers Divine
truths without any unction which either moves bis

248 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

own soul, or those of others ; the fault is fatal. It
is what cowardice is in a soldier, folly in a states-
man, or lameness in a runner. The hold of such
an one upon the conscience must hopelessly pass
away. Rather let us have the man of humblest
talent, or of plainest education, who can speak to
us a word at which the soul within us thrills, than
one who possesses no such power, though he can*
wrestle with every prejudice, or excite and fascinate
every faculty.

The power of which we speak being neither
more nor less than the co-operation of the Holy
Spirit with the preacher, that which is essential to
its presence must lie, first, in the state of the
preacher's heart ; secondly, in the staple of his dis-
course. There must be a soul itself in communion
with the Holy One, and there must be rays of truth
— God's own truth radiated from that soul to
others, along which the Spirit's secret influence
may be communicated from heart to heart. The
preacher must first imbibe the Divine fire, and then
hold it in his heart, as a Ley den jar will hold the
invisible electricity ; and, this done, he must havo
a conductor to communicate it to those who are be-
fore him. Unless the truth of God be uttered, and
aimed in the right direction, aimed at the auditory,
at their conscience, whether through the avenue of
the imagination, the understanding, or the emo

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHLr.RCH. 249

lions, even had he himself the power of the Spirit,
he could not convey it to others. There is but one
conductor, and that is the Word of Life.

Suppose that a person wishing to send a message
from London to Edinburg by lightning, knows
how to construct an electric battery ; but when he
comes to consider how he will transmit the impulse
through hundreds of miles, he looks at an iron wire,
and says, "This is dull, senseless, cold, has no sym-
pathy with light ; it is unnatural, in fact, irrational,
to imagine that this dark thing can convey a light-
ning message in a moment." From this he turns
and looks at a prism. It glows with the many-
colored sunbeam. He might say, " This is sym-
pathetic with light," and in its flashing imagine that
he saw proof that his message would speed through
it ; but when he puts it to the experiment, it proves
that the shining prism will convey nd touch of his
silent fire, but that the dull iron will transmit it to
the furthest end of the land. And so with God's
holy truth. It alone is adapted to carry into the
soul of man the secret fire which writes before the
inner eye of the soul a message from the unseen
One in the skies. Other proposed conductors may
riash more in the showy light, but they will not
convey the invisible fire.

Again we repeat, that this fire may b« romhinpd

250 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

with any form of talent, and with any style of com/
position. Who has not seen a tranquil man, whose
tones seldom rose to passion, and never went
beyond the severest taste ; whose thought, de-
meanor, phrases, all breathed a gentle and quiet
spirit ; and yet, with the placid flow of instruction
cr exposition, a heavenly influence silently stole
along, stole into the veins of the heart, diffusing a
sacred glow, a desire to be holier, a sense of near-
ness to God, a refreshing of all the good principles
within you, a check and a restraint on all the evil ?
Again, you have seen a man who begins by some
calm argument, passes to another point, closely
reasoned, which again leads him to another well-
pointed stroke at- some error or prejudice; no by
play of imagination, no home-thrust to your heart,
but one steady grapple with your intellect — a dis
course which would be pronounced " dry," were it
not for a mysterious power which accompanies it,
not in the sentences, not in the syllogisms, not in
the action, riot in the tones, but a spirit infusea
through it all, that makes reasoning turn into a
gpiritual power, and seems to put God's law into
your mind, and, at the same time, to write it upon
your heart. Again, you see a man who at once
begins wath pictures, and from history, from nature,
from the Bible, from science, he strikes up before
you a succession of bewitching or affecting scenes,

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO TDE CHUKCH. 251

playing with your fancy all the while as a poet
might play with it ; and yet every picture carries
some sacred impulse to your soul, and leaves a
moral lesson and moral strength behind. Another
man moves simply on in a straightforward state-
ment of some great doctrine, opening out its
various branches, defining, setting guards upon his
definition, shading from possible misconception,
setting up fine distinctions, and seeming occupied
principally with putting a truth into a compact and
portable shape in your mind ; but somehow this
one truth, which he thus explains and defines, rouses
within your breast the voices of all other truths,
and evokes an appeal from every sacred thing you
ever knew in favor of holy living. Another as-
sumes that you know all that need be known ; and,
seizing upon the truths that are within you, upon
your conscience with its light, upon your fear, or
hope, or love, on your instinct of self-preservation,
or on some other of the deathless principles of your
nature, he pours upon you a succession of fervid
declamation, exhorting you to that which is right ;
giving nothing to enlarge your knowledge, nothing
to feed or even to exercise your reasoning power?,
nothing to enrich the stores of your fancy, or to
perfect your conceptions of truth ; and yet his
declamation brings a holy power which commands

you more than the might of strong-minded men ;
18

252 THE TONGUE OF FIRE,

and good resolutions and hopes that have often
been vanquished in days gone by, rise up again at
the voice of this simple man, and you follow him to
the feet of the Saviour.

Come, then, with what voice thou wilt come, thou
power-clad messenger of my Redeemer ! Come
with thunder on thy tongue, or with a sweet "harp
of ten strings ;" come to us simple as a little child,
or wise as a scribe instructed of God ; but, O ! let
us only feel that fire in thy message which lies not
in sentences, nor in tones, but in a heart itself in-
flamed from above, and pouring fire into our hearts !

Just as we find all these types of men imbued
with Divine power, so do we find every one of them
destitute of it. You have the gentle man, far away
from any thing extravagant, never bringing upon
himself one word of blame, or giving to his audi-
tory one feeling of trouble ; but, O ! how drearily
years and years pass over him ! — precious j ears, yet
no souls are converted, no flocks grow larger ; the
field where he labors is never white unto the har-
vest, and it is always sowing time with him ! Very
Drobably he is content with this, and will tell you
that in his sphere, though there is nothing extra-
ordinary going forward, things are encouraging.
Placidly does he pass on, although he knows well,
and all who mark his course know well, that foi

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 253

long, long years it would be hard to say what spir-
itual life has flourished under his hand. So, again,
you may find the reasoner, clear, cogent, and forc-
ible, enlisting you on his side, perhaps exciting you
against every thing which opposes his system ; but
no sinners are turned into saints by his reasoning ;
yet he reposes well pleased upon the miserable re-
sult of having argued his point ably — an advocate
who .has shown the jury that he is a master of law,
but has lost his client's life. And you may find the
expositor, who will open up paragraph after para-
graph with rare subtlety of analysis, while his audi-
tory learn something of the Word of God, and so
far become more prepared to be good Christians, if
once converted; but with his exposition no con-
verting power ever comes : perhaps, indeed, he does
not think that it is his calling to convert sinners.
You may also find the man of imagination, who
plays brilliantly upon the various instruments of na-
ture and science. His auditory are dazzled, per-
!;aps enraptured ; but who among them goes home
to his closet to seek his Saviour, or rises up in after
life to bless the preacher ? He was sent to fight,
1 ut he played off fireworks before the enemy, and,
instead of flying or failing, they only said, " How
grand !" The declaimer you may hear, too, whose
exhortations run apparently to the one point of pro-
ducing a practical result; you have vociferation,

254 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ant1 the swell and throe of great vehemence ; but
it is like the hollow report of a cannon without
shot.

This absence of power is sometimes so clear that
the soul that has come to the house of God seeking
bread, painfully feels that it is getting but a stone;
and never is that feeling so painful as when all that
ought to attend upon spiritual power is there — the
truth, well understood and well stated — all the lin-
eaments and outward form that would lead us to
expect life ; but, when we draw near, there is no
breath in it. Sometimes one may see that this soul-
less thing is not a wax figure which never breathed,
but a corpse from which the life has gone. The
truths, now uttered with such impotence, once
thrilled through men as they fell from those lips ;
the appeals which now grate, like a chime of cracked
bells, once carried multitudes before them. In days
gone by many rose up to bless this man as a mes-
senger of God ; to-day his words are as a tale twice
told. Perhaps, conscious of the loss cf the real
power, he endeavors to compensate for it by a
greater force of physical oratory, spurring himself
o impetuosity, or swelling to lofty and solemn im-
pressiveness ; but it is only as when a ship in a calm
makes her sails bulge by rolling ; they flap and rus-
tle, but there is no strength in them, as when filled
by the silent wind they bore the vessel onward.

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CD 0 BOH. 255

Every one of the effects flowing from the opera,
tion of spiritual power in the ministry is indescrib-
ably precious ; and it must be grievous to God, as
it is manifestly injurious to man, to underrate any
kind of fruit. One professes to be so bent on attain-
ing progress in the spiritual life, that preaching
which is effectual only to the conversion of sinners,
is to him elementary and poor. Another is so ex-
clusively occupied with the dark condition of tho
unsaved, that preaching which tends only to ripen
the holiness of those already converted, is to him
beside the mark. One specially looks for preaching
which will tell upon the young ; and another for
what wTill content men of years and experience.
But every one ought to learn that each variety of
usefulness is far too estimable to be lightly dealt
with. He wTho is in any way used as an instrument
to benefit the souls of any of my fellow-pilgrims
here, ought to be cherished by my heart as a pre-
cious friend of my own.

Where real spiritual power exists, it will not be
wholly confined to one class of effects. He who
leads on believers to brighter holiness, will surely
lead sinners to see somewhat of the sinfulness of
their sins ; and he who is the means of turning a
sinner from the error of his ways, is the means, in
that very act, of aiding the progress of all those
around him : for each one detached from the world

256 THE TONGUE OF FLEE.

and ranked on the side of godliness, becomes a help
to the general cause of Christianity in the land.

In our own age and nation, we feel no hesitation
in saying, that the particular form of spiritual power
for which we have most crying need, is that where-
by men who know the truth are brought to the
point of deciding for God, and setting out in earn-
est on the way to heaven. We are in danger of
laboring as if the ground still needed to be sown ;
while the fields are white unto the harvest, and need
but a reaper. We are in danger of preaching as it
the people were either all serving God, or were all
so far away from the possibility of being converted
soon, that they must be approached as from a dis-
tance, and principles laid down and left to work
which may bring forth fruit after some long time.
Whereas the fact is, that everywhere the ground is
sown. We meet with comparatively few men in
whose minds there is not enough of truth to awaken
their conscience and point them toward the Cross,
were that truth only brought home to their hearts
with power. Men fitted as instruments to use what
the people believe and know, in order to bring them
to a decision for God, are those whom the interests
of our generation most loudly call for. Taught by
Christianity, but led captive by sin, men are going
downward by thousands and tens of thousands — at

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 257

once in the light and in the dark, knowing their
Master's will, but doing it not — downward to the
punishment of many stripes. He, then, who can
bring those multitudes to stop and think, to feel
what they believe, to act on wrhat they feel, to cry,
" Lord, save me, I perish," he is most distinguished
and most blessed of all the servants wrhom the Mas-
ter honoreth.

To heal the leper, to open the eyes of the blind,
to make the lame walk, and the paralytic strong,
were great and blessed works; but all these suf-
ferers were living men ; and great as was the work
of healing them, to raise the dead was greater far.
Blessed are ye among men, whom our Lord and
Master honors to help or heal, or restore any of
those souls which are living, but not in perfect
soundness ; but trebly blessed art thou, my brother,
wrhose joyful lot it is to stretch thy soul over a soul
that is dead, as Elisha stretched himself over the
dead son of the Shunamite, and to raise it up
breathing and calling upon God! O for a thou-
sand men imbued with converting power! Bet-
ter they than ten thousand times the number,
however gifted, however learned, however pleas-
ing, who are destitute of that crowning grace of
the messenger of God !

Our Lord said, " He that beiieveth on Me, tho
works that I do shall he do also ; yea, and greater

258 THE TONGUE Ol FlfUL.

works than these shall he do, because I go to M^
Father." By " greater works" He could not meai?
more wonderful miracles ; for the wonders wrought
by His own hands had reached the limits of pos-
sibility. Greater miracles than raising the dead,
and making the winds and the seas obey Him, were
not to be performed. Besides, the " greater works"
to be done are shown to have some special charac-
ter from this, that they are to exist in connection
with a new order of things, " Because I go to My
Father." We are at no loss as to that which was
specially dependent on His ascension. It was the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. And we may therefore
reasonably conclude, that the a greater work" than
all the other works which could be done, was that
work which Pie Himself from heaven announced to
His servant Paul, as the purpose of his mission,
" To open their eyes, and to turn them from dark-
ness to light,' and from the power of Satan unto
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in Me." This was the end of His
own life and death, this was the crown of His own
glory : " Thou shalt call His name Jesus ; for H<s
shall save His people from their sins." Only in
men actually saved from their sins did His soul,
afflicted and smitten, foresee the fruit of its travail,
wherewith it should be satisfied. Only in men

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THF, CHUECH. 259

actually saved from their sins while in the flesh,
while surrounded by temptation, could He foresee
the possibility of glorifying His Father upon earth,
by His own branches bearing much fruit, by Hip
own life, " the life of Christ, being manifest in mor-
tal bodies." Only by this could He see that which
he so dearly purchased, a holy Church formed out
of Adam's fallen sons. Only by this could His own
especial joy, the joy set before Him, the joy of
"bringing many sons to glory," ever be secured.
To this one result His whole work pointed ; upon
this all the interests of His kingdom turned.

No glory of the Eternal One is higher than this,
" Mighty to save ;" no name of Godhead more
adorable than that of u Saviour ;" no place among
the servants of God can be so glorious as that of
an instrument of salvation. " He that winneth
souls is wise." "They that turn many to right-
eousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever."
Under the new dispensation, the Lord's messengers,
abundantly replenished with the Spirit, having the
Cross for their theme and the baptism of fire foi
their impulse, were to go forth as men with whom
God would wrork, and would accompany His word
with signs following it. It was great to cast out
devils from the body; it is greater to cast them out
of souls and out of society. It was great to heal
the sick or to feed the poor ; it is greater to heal

260 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

the sources of disease and want, by turning sinful
hearts to purity. He around whom are continually
springing up new converts from sin to holiness — he,
the sound of whose voice many bless as having been
to them the trump of God, who at the great day
will have for his crown of rejoicing tens, or hun-
dreds, or thousands, to whom many others were
" teachers," but only he a " father" — he rises to
such joy and dignity that he may look back upon
the best and most honored of God's ancient serv-
ants, and feel that, in comparison with them, he has
only to be thankful for his own more blessed lot.
He need not envy Moses his rod, or David his harp,
or Elijah his mantle, or Solomon his wisdom ; for
iis own crown and his own prize are the highest to
which man may aspire. How close the servant is
brought to the Master ! The Master is Saviour,
the servant the instrument of saving !

When we speak of ministerial power, we are
Qever to be understood as implying that any amount
of power in the minister will necessarily subdue his
hearers. What may be fully relied upon as the re-
sult of power dwelling in the minister, is that he
will make every hearer feel that a spiritual power is
grappling with him, and bringing him either to
yield to the voict that wains him, or to set up a
conscious resistance " Almost thou persuadest me,"

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHU5CH. 261

is the language of one who can scarcely prevent
himself from yielding to the force that is impelling
him toward Christ. Felix trembled, and said, " Go
thy way for this time; when I have a conven-
ient season, I will call for thee." Here is a man
consciously under the impulse of a power which is
urging him to a result that he dreads; and, to es-
cape its influence, he adopts the ordinary plan of
" putting off for a while." But the very awaken-
ing of this conscious resistance, the setting-up of
this struggle in the breasts of men, is in itself a
proof of power ; and he who can do this, although
he will have his Agrippas and his Felixes over whom
to mourn, will undoubtedly have numbers of others
over whom to rejoice.

A farmer who all his life-time has been sowing,
but never brought one shock of corn safe home ; a
gardener who has ever been pruning and training,
but never brought one basket of fruit away : a mer-
chant who has been trading all his life, but never
concluded one year with clear profit ; a lawyer who
has had intrusted to him, for years and years, the
most important causes, and has never carried one ;
the doctor who has been consulted by thousands in
disease, and has never brought one patient back to
health ; the philosopher who has been propounding
principles all his life, and attempting experimenl i
every day, but has never once succeeded in a d.

262 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

monstraf ion ; — all these would be abashed and ha.
miliated men. They would walk through the world
with their heads low, they would acknowledge
themselves to be abortions, they would not dare to
look up among those of their own professions ; and
as for others regarding them with respect, pity
would be all they could give. Yet, alas ! are there
not cases to be found wherein men whose calling it
is to heal souls, pass years and years, and seldom, if
ever, can any fruit of their labors be seen ? Yet
they hold up their heads, and have good reasons to
give why they are not useful ; and those reasons
generally lie, not in themselves, but somewhere*
else — in the age, the neighborhood, the agitation or
the apathy, the ignorance or the over-education, the
want of Gospel light or the commonness of Gospel
light, or some other reason why the majority of
those who hear them continue unconverted, and
why they should look on in repose, without smiting
upon their breasts, and crying day and night to
God to breathe a power upon them whereby they
might awaken those that sleep. Probably they
have wise things to say about the undesirableness
of being too anxious about fruit, and about the ad-
vantage of the work going on steadily and slowly,
rather than seeking for an excitement, and a rush
of converts. But while they are thus dozing, sin-
ners are going to hell.

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 263

It is pitiable to see a minister who has all his life,
uhen judged by die fruit of his labor, been destitute
of the power of the Spirit ; but there is something
c even more touching to see, as, alas ! sometimes we
do see — one who in his early days had truly a gift
of God in him, becoming wreak, like other men,
without unction, and without fruit. The gift, not
stirred up, has passed away; the power, not re-
newed and renewed again by fresh supplies, has for-
saken him. Perhaps, desirous of more efficiency, he
has heaped up knowledge — not too much knowl-
edge, for none can have too much ; but he has not
maintained a due proportion between his acquisi-
tions of knowledge and his acquisition of spiritual
power. He is like one who would pour coals upon
a feeble fire writh the idea of making a great one,
until the few live coals were smothered under a
black mass. Perhaps another has gone just to the
opposite extreme ; and, fearing to damp his lively
fire, has allowed it to flame on, without constantly
feeding it with truth, and knowledge, and experi
ence, and thought; and his fire has burned out.
Perhaps another, beginning to distrust his simple
weapon, which had no adornments, and could only
strike right home, has got for himself a jeweled
sword with a golden blade, but finds that the edge
is turned by the least resistance. Perhaps another,
who used to thunder as a second Baptist, and make

264 THE TONGUE OF FIXE,

the truths of the eternal law, of the resurrection, of
judgment, and of the world to come, ring in tho
ears of slumbering souls with a supernatural and
awakening power, begins to desire something more
alluring, less distressing to the sensitive, more ac-
ceptable to the sedate, more " attractive," as tho
phrase is ; and now you may find him an absurd
combination of strength and feebleness — a gunner
working heavy guns, but with silver barrels, and
scented powder, and balls of frozen honey.

In the progress of a man's life it will often
happen that great variations appear in his useful-
ness ; but, if he walk with God, maintain his in-
tegrity, and make steady progress in knowledge
and in faith, although the form of his usefulness
may change, it will never change into uselessness.
When the flush and glow of youthful ardor disap-
pear, they will be replaced, not by vapidness 01
lameness, but by more of the unction that elevates
and hallows. There is a bw of mechanics, the
moral counterpart of which we see in such men,
that what is lost in velocity is gained in power.
And yet such men, though they may be blessed
with great usefulness, if they see not conversions
such as rejoiced their earlier days, will ever look
back with yearning and humiliation. I^ever will
they fail to honor, above all their brethren, those
whom God honors by making them the instruments

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKCH. 265

of many conversions, or to covet, with a coveting
more eager than they could feel for any other dis-
tinction, or joy, or gift, the restoration to them oi
the power to persuade sinners to be reconciled to
God.

A more pitiable thing can not be than to see a
man who, himself destitute of ministerial power,
not only is unconscious how miserable a creature
he is, but is even ready to make light of the useful-
ness of others ; and, in his ordinary conversation, to
set down those whom the Lord honors as the in-
struments of converting sinners, below what he
calls " intellectual" men, fine soliloquizers, or curi-
ous speculators, who deal out dainties from the pul-
pit, but do no work that will live when they are
dead. This style of depreciating the useful and the
earnest, painful in any one, becomes appalling when
it falls from the lips of a man who at one stage of
his own life was remarkably useful, but who has lost
his fire; and who, instead of mourning, and seeking
to recover it, can even make light of those who
have retained theirs. " It is not hard to convert
servant-maids," and such depreciating expressions,
may lightly drop from an unthinking lip, but they
will affect hearers, and will be remembered in the
great day; and how differently will the two men
appear — the one whose humble labor has been the
means of converting servant-maids, and the one

266 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

whose envy and whose wit were vented in making
light of the work !

O, let those of us whose history too plainly tells
that no extraordinary power of God has rested
upon us; who can look back to years of labor
which, if not absolutely barren, yet, in comparison
with what others have reaped, must be called
years of barrenness — let us not fail to bless and to
honor, in our own hearts, those who have been in
the mean time doing us good by the news that has
reached us, every now and then, of the fruit of
their labor. Above all, let us look back on our
years of barrenness with most tender and contrite
humiliation, crying earnestly to God to take away
our reproach from among men, and to give us
many, many children !

A minister can never be responsible for success,
but he is responsible for power ; responsible not
only for presenting the truth to the people — in
which many seem to think that their responsibility
terminates — -but responsible also for this, that the
truth he presents be not dry, but accompanied with
some energy of the Spirit. If the Spirit be in the
man, shining upon his soul with the light of God,
more or less of holy fire will go with the word. A
frame having muscular strength, without nervous
energy — a countenance with linear grace, without
expression — a needle for the compass, without mag-

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THJ2 CHURCH. 267

netism, are not more defective than is the state
ment of religious truth without the accompanying
power of the Holy Spirit, This power was pre-
supposed in the man's first entrance on the ministry
Ho stands there by virtue of his solemn declaration
before God and men that he felt it in his heart ; and
he is bound to stir up the gift of God within him,
to keep his lamp trimmed, and his light burning,
and evermore to be replenishing with holy oil.

This power has but one source — the Spirit of
God in the soul of man. It is the one thing that
can not be feigned. A hypocrite may possess the
truth, and clearly explain, and powerfully urge, and
passionately apply it. He may feign tenderness,
feign ardor, feign all the passions, but he can not
feign the power that searches the conscience, that
makes men feel, " God is in you of a truth," that
leads them in the silence of their own closets to wet
their couch with their tears, and spend long nights
in repenting before God. You may as well attempt
to feign life in a dead eye, or music in a cracked
voice, as to feign the power of the Holy Spirit in a
soul that does not habitually wait at the throne of
grace, until endued with power from on high.

Those of us who are manifestly not endued with

great power, who can not flatter ourselves that any

oue looks upon us as blessed messengers of God,
19

268 THE TONGUE OF FIKE,

or in any light higher than that of weli-meaning and
useful men, by whose ministry, perhaps, now and
then, at rare intervals, such a thing may be heard
of as a sinner being converted, and who yet feel dis-
inclined to take any blame to our own heart on ac-
count of our barrenness, can best judge how much
time has been spent in our closets, in deploring the
state of the souls that are perishing under our sight,
in strong crying and tears to God for their deliver-
ance, in importuning and imploring that we might
be robed with power, and made mighty to blow an
awakening blast, and rescue multitudes from the
grasp of the devil.

We can, each one for himself, best tell whether
or not the results of our labors do very fairly cor-
respond with the depth, intensity, and continuity
of our secret search after the co-working fire of the
Spirit. If on a review it should appear clear to us
that far, far more might have been done in our pri-
vate w^alk with God toward having our own souls
imbued with the Spirit of Christ and of Christ's
Apostles, then let each of us conclude for himself,
whether much more might or might not have been
done to " save those that hear him." And should
tne conclusion on our mind be clear that more
might have been done, much more — that it ought
to have been done — that we are very guilty by rea-
son of supineness, of unbelief, of feeble and inetlbc

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 269

tual prayer, of duplicity in our aim, or of any other
defect in the keeping our own souls as God's embas-
sadors, let our penitence be deep, our cry for for-
giveness pressing and earnest ; but not for one mo-
ment let it take that form which strangely unnerves
and debilitates a man, namely, the state of mind in
which one takes pleasure in talking of his own
feebleness and unworthiness, or, at least, finds suffi-
cient relief in talking of it. Rather let us feel sur&
that the God of grace and mercy will hearken to
our voice, will answer our prayer, will forgive our
past unfaithfulness, will draw near to us with new
and gracious power, will enable us to go forth as
giants refreshed with new wine, to bear away from
the arms of the adversary, in triumph and with
shouting, many a lamb that is ready to be torn to
pieces.

We can not be content to look upon the minister
of this actual hour as any thing less, in the intention
of our God and Saviour, than an instrument " of the
mighty power of God" — the power which is unto
salvation. We do not expect the gift of tongues or
of miracles, because these were not essential to the
work of the ministry ; but the active co-operation,
the abiding unction of the Holy Spirit is. If we
were forced to believe either that all the primitive
manifestations of the Spirit were now attainable, or
that all had now passed away, we could a thousand

270 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

times rather look for the tongues and the miracles,
with the gift of prophesying, than dismiss the hope
of this last with, that of the other gifts. Better the
excess of faith, a thousand times better and more
rational, than unbelief in any promise that stands
clearly for all generations. Better to suppose that
the Lord designed every sign and every token of
His presence to continue with His Church to tho
last ; than suppose that they were all to be called
back, and that the Christians of the latter day were
to suffer a total privation of the Holy Spirit's minis-
terial gifts.

We will covet, earnestly covet, the Lord's good
gift of prophesying ; and we will covet, also, the
" manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal," not
only in the pastors of the Church, but in the mem
bers, giving to one the word of wisdom, to anothe;
the word of knowledge, to another the spirit o(
grace and of supplications, that men with fire ii?
their hearts may go everywhere, and publicly or
privately preach the word, the Lord working with
them, and confirming the word by signs following,
Let us look up and hope to see, not one, or two, or
three, not merely an occasional and extraordinary
man, shining in the churches as with a light from
on high ; but let us soberly, and steadily, and in
prayer, expect companies of preachers, each differ-
ing from his brethren, yet all of them manifesting is

TEEMAKENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 271

some form or another that ail anointing from the
Holy One abides upon them, teaches them in all
things, and enables them to appear before men, not
only saying in words, but by their commending
fruits saying to the conscience, " Now, then, we are
embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us : we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye "
reconciled to God." One such man is better than
a thousand, and two of them will put ten thousand
to flight.

Intimately connected with the question of minis-
terial power is another vital question — whether or
not the Church is to retain the converting influ-
ence of the Holy Spirit on any thing like the original
scale. Here, again, we do not confine ourselves to
combatting formally stated opinions, but deal with
vague, undefined, unexpressed, or but half express
ed, sentiments, not embodied in the creed of any
Church, but perceptible in the ordinary tone equally
of religious conversation, literature and preaching.
Is it not a prevalent state of feeling, that to look for
a very large number of conversions at once is ex-
travagant ; that for any minister to expect a great
many to be converted while he is delivering the
sermon then in hand, argues a mind scarcely bal-
anced ; that sudden conversions have much to be
said against them ; that we ought to be content if

272 ' THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

the work of God proceed slowly, and to be elated
if the good men of any community bear some re-
spectable proportion to the numbers who forget
God?

It is manifest that the conversions effected by the
primitive Church were very numerous, compared
with her agencies and facilities ; varying greatly in
different times and places, but, in the main, going
onward with accumulative power. The difference
between the conversion of a Jew to the faith and
holiness of the Gospel, and the conversion of a nom-
inal Christian to the same faith and holiness, is a
difference, not of kind, but of degree ; and the de
gree is not so great as might at first sight be sup-
posed. The Jew believed the oracles of God, and
the truths therein contained, as far as he knew
them. So does the nominal Christian. Both hold
the truth in unrighteousness — the unrighteousness
of frank rebellion, or of Pharisaical self-righteous-
ness. Both are brought to learn God's love in re-
deeming man, to repent, to believe on the crucified
Messiah as their Saviour, and to walk in fellowship
with the Father and the Son.

The conversion of a heathen involved much more
of intellectual enlightenment, and, on the whole,
presented a greater difficulty, and a greater change ;
but we do not find that the Apostles ever point out
any difference in the operation of the Spirit in the

PERMA^TE^T BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 2 1 3

conversion of a Jewish scribe, and of a heathen
necromancer, of a Roman centurion, and of a widow
in Jerusalem. The same mighty power convinced
them all of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,
and brought them to a level by the wounds of a
smitten spirit : then — like those with various malar-
dies, who all came to Christ, and were all healed- -
came barbarian and Scythian, bond and free, Jew
and Greek, learned and unlearned.

If we take the hundred and twenty disciples of
whom the Church consisted on the Day of Pente-
cost, and then take the number of Christians before
-ihe first century was ended, we see how " mightily
grew the word of God, and prevailed." Then sup-
pose, for one moment, the possibility that, by the
same spiritual power, the Church had multiplied her
converts in equal ratio: few ages would have
elapsed before the whole earth would have been
renewed in righteousness. But the saint-making
power abated ; and crowds of Christians became
little better, though still better, than crowds of
heathen. Was this loss of efficiency owing to the
unfaithfulness of men, and, therefore, capable of
)eing recovered by a return to the original means
of importunate prayer and strong faith ? or was it
owing to a design of the Head of the Church, and
therefore irrecoverable ?

On a question so ^ital to the interests of man-

274 THE TOKGUE OF FIRE.

kind, no mind ought to float on the prevailing cur.
rent without adopting a deliberate conviction,
Was the conversion of thousands in Jerusalem, of
crowds in Ephesus, in Samaria, Antioch, Corinth,
Rome, and elsewhere, a proof, once for all, of what
God could do toward the saving of this lost world,
which He designed never to repeat, and which His
children would be presumptuous in expecting to
see again ? Were those multitudes, so speedily
gathered out of the world, to represent, in future
ages, only small companies of true believers, to
whom accessions were to be very gradual, and who
were never to gain the overwhelming majority t
If so, then the Christian dispensation wTas deliber
ately planned above to begin in sunrise, but, instead
of shining more and more to the perfect day, speed-
ily to pale into twilight; and then darken to a long,
long night, in wThich stars would thinly spangle a
wide space of gloom.

Would not many who recoil from this conclusion
stare at a man having a congregation of a thousand
people before him, any one of whom would feel
perplexed if you asked him, " Could you confi-
dently lay your hand on fifty persons in this congre-
gation who are living like heirs of heaven ?" — if he,
simply telling them their state, would go on to say,
that they might all that very morning become
children of God, and live for " the rest of their

PERMANENT BENEFITS 10 THE CHUKCH. 275

time" a new and blessed life ? Were it done with
the official formality which at once indicated that it
was just a thing proper to be believed, and even to
he said now and then, very probably it would excite
no remark ; but if it were done with the downright
air of a man who thoroughly meant what he said,
and was then and there looking for corresponding
results, would not many be startled ? But why ?
If it be not true that God has withdrawn from
Christianity the converting power of the Holy
Ghost, why ? Either affirm your principle, or
abandon the habit of thought which you have
formed on the assumption of that principle. If
you see that there is death to the Church, or death
to souls, in the principle, why not see that there is
death, too, in assuming it, and acting upon it, as
clearly announced, without affirming it ?

Some who would be gratified to see an expecta-
tion of one conversion, or of a few, would never-
theless be disturbed by the manifest expectation of
a great number. Why should this be ? If the
Minister of the Gospel is not now to go before a
multitude with a frank and earnest assurance that
every one of them who will only repent and believe
may " receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," it must
be because our dispensation has been fearfully
changed since its opening. The first multitude who
stood before a preacher of Christianity can never

276 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

be regarded as representing itself alone. When
the cry arose from it, " What must we do ?" it was
not the men then present only who inquired. It
was you, and I, and every man who ever comes to
a preacher of the Gospel to hear what he has to
say on the great subject of our salvation. The
answer which Peter rendered to that multitude was
not to them alone, but to us and to our children, to
all of every age and every nation who put the
question which they put. That answer was, " Re
pent, and be baptized, every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." He
does not promise them that they should be admitted
as members of the Church merely, accounted Chris-
tians merely, or that after death they shall inherit
eternal happiness ; but, in plain strong words, he
tolls them that they shall receive that blessing which
constitutes the substance of the Gospel : " Ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ;" and this, not
" some of you," but " every one of you," with no
condition whatever but that they " repent, and be
baptized."

Is it to be supposed that Peter would have altered
this reply, had you, and I, and our children been
there? or that, had the image of future generations
risen to his eye as standing behind those he ad-
dressed and represented by them, h^ would have

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 277

qualified his grand promise, and taken care to falter
something guarded, instead of plainly saying,
" Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ?"
Let those who fear to regard this promise as
equally applicable to us as to them, only read tl.is
words with which he follows it up : " For the
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. On the next occasion when he ad-
dresses a multitude, he holds this language : "Unto
you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent
Ilim to bless you, in turning aicay every one of yon
from his iniquities." Here the converting grace
of Christ is without hesitation proclaimed to all who
stand before him.

It is to be remarked that what he here states to
be Christ's mode of blessing men lies in conversion
itself, in the " turning away" of a man " from his
iniquities." Whatever the Gospel may do indirectly
for the enlightenment and elevation of a man, so long
as he continues the servant of sin, it has conferred
upon him no eternal advantage. " His servants ye
are to whom ye obey," is a word that must stand
forever. He that is still doing the work of Satan
is his servant, and with him must take his rewrard.
And it is also notable that he speaks of Jesus hav
ing been sent to bless them after He had been
raised ; thus announcing a mission of Christ suhae-

278 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

quent to His resurrection, yet having already taken
place in those days. This must he that presence
of Christ which He promised them when Pie wag
about to depart from them, saying, in the very ac
of leaving them, "I am with you alway, even untc
the end of the world."

6; With them," no longer in that body which con
fined Him to the very spot in which the Twelve
were, but " with them" by the power of His Spirit,
which is represented in the Apocalypse as the
" eyes of the Lamb." " And I beheld, and lo, in
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and
in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into
all the earth."* Here we have the Lamb en-
throned, yet " as slain," with the tokens of death
and. atonement upon Him ; yet, again, " having
seven horns," the signs of universal kingship, " and
seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth." Majesty, mediation, and
spiritual presence " throughout all the earth," are
here gloriously set before us ; and the Lamb, though
no longer bodily present with one group of dis-
ciples, is present with all, by His Spirit, which
is moving in the hearts of those who serve Him,
as if it were the glance of the Lord. He ascended
. * Eev v 6.

PEEMA^TENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 279

that He might be with us all and with us always,
just as a Prince, on the eve of the battle, would
retire from any one division of his army, and go
bove them, that he might be present with all;
for he would be present with every battalion
that he had under his sight. And as that Prince
would dart his own spirit by his eye into the
breast of every follower, so does our King dart
His into the breast of all who wait before His
throne.

The one blessing, then, which the exalted Medi-
ator has to confer on this world is, in " turning men
from their iniquities," in converting sinners from
the error of their ways, in bringing those who are
afar off from God nigh to Him, and making those
.who are now living in sin to be "heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ ;" restoring, in fact, the image
of God upon earth, manifesting the Divine ideal of
humanity in our " mortal bodies," rearing up com-
munities who shall be properly called, "the children
of our Father who is in heaven" — communities,
whose ruling nature shall not be that of fallen
Adam, but who shall have that mind in them which
was also in Christ, being made partakers of the
Divine nature, and, in proof thereof, loving those
that hate them, blessing those that curse them,
praying for those that despitefully use them and
pasecute them ; and thus, by returning good feel-

280 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ings for bad feelings, good words for bad words,
good deeds for bad deeds, showing themselves
the children of their Father in heaven. The
triumph and glory of Christ lies in so renewing
the face of the earth, that this image of God
shall be the prevalent characteristic of humanity
that peace and good-will shall take hold of na
tions, righteousness and truth flourish in the homes
of all.

The accomplishment, to a considerable extent, of
this great purpose formed the singular glory of the
early Church. To a community in the city of Rome
it could be said, " Ye were the servants of sin. * * *
But now, being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life." To another company
in the city of Corinth it could be said, after describ
ing the various classes of sinners who could not sec
the kingdom of God, " Such were some of you ;
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God." To some in the city of Ephesus
it could be said, *' And you hath He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins ; wherein in times
past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of tho
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: among whom also we all had our

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 281

conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ;
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ (by grace are ye saved) ; and hath raised us
up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus : that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."*
To some in the city of Colosse it could be said,
a Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light : who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son."f To some in Thessa-
lonica it could be said, " And ye became followers
of us, and of the Lord, having received the word
in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so
that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Mace-
donia and Achaia."J And when our Lord looked
down from Heaven upon the Seven Churches of
Asia, even His eyes of flame, looking upon the
Church of Sardis itself, saw there were "some
names in Sardis which had not defiled their gar*
merits."

« Eph. ii. 1-7. f Col. L 12, 13. X l Thess- *■ e> 1

282 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

To suppose that this power to regenerate man,
and thereby to ameliorate human society, has been
withdrawn from the Church by the will and ap-
pointment of her adorable Head, is to suppose, in
fact, that the one practical end of Christianity has
been voluntarily abandoned— that end which lies in
glorifying God upon the earth, and in saving the
souls of men. If Christianity can not renew men
in the image of God, she ceases to have any special
distinction above other religions, except the one of
more wisdom and more virtue. Her mission here
was to overcome Satan in the realm in which he
had hitherto triumphed, to re-establish the empire
of God over the hearts and lives of a race that had
wandered from Him, and to prepare out of the
children of that race heirs meet for a pure and an
immortal kingdom.

Not only would this practical end be abandoned,
but the standing evidence to Christianity would be
discontinued. The miracles and prophecies of the
past time are an evidence to Christianity as a sys-
tem of truth ; but if she be only a system of truth,
and not also a power unto salvation, she but adds
to the guilt of men here by increasing their light,
and to their misery hereafter by increasing their
stripes. No miracles, no prophecies, no accumula-
tion of arguments under heaven can demonstrate to

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 283

our neighbors at this moment that Christianity Is a
power which can actually make men superior to
their own circumstances aud their own sins ; which
can take men of this nineteenth century, men with
sin in their blood, sin in their bones, sin in their
habits, sin in their down-sitting and their uprising,
sin against God, sin against their neighbor, sin
against themselves, sins of self-interest and sins
against self-interest, sins for happiness, and sins that
wreck happiness — and out of these men, still living
in the very circumstances wherein their past time
has been spent, make " servants of God, free from
sin, having their fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life."

The evidence of this, the only real and effective
evidence, is living men who have been regenerated,
and whose good works plainly declare them to be
of our Father who is in Heaven. We, too, can say,
that "God has sent His Son Jesus to bless" our
neighbors, "in turning away every one of them
from his iniquities ;" but how unimpressive would
be our saying it, were there none to whom we
coald point them, and add, "These are our epistles,
known and read of all men !"

Peter, recurring again to the kingly state of the

Saviour, said, "Him hath God exalted with His

right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give

repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And
20

284 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

we are His witnesses of these things ; and 30 is al» J
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that
obey Him."* Here is the double evidence, that of
Apostles and that of the Spirit in living converts.
We of this day are also Christ's witnesses that He
is " exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repent-
ance and forgiveness of sins;" but our witness
must be corroborated by those who, having re-
ceived the Holy Ghost, live in the Spirit and walk
in the Spirit.

Peter, in speaking of the witness which the
Prophets bore to Christ, sums it up thus: "To
Him give all the Prophets witness, that through
His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive
remission of sins ." When we bear this witness,
we ought to expect the same attestation of it whicJ
Peter saw in his Gentile audience, and which he
afterward used to prove that they also had received
salvation as well as the Jews ; namely, God " put
no difference between us" (the first Jewish con-
verts) "and them, purifying their hearts by faith."
Wherever men can be pointed to, whose hearts
have been purified by faith, whose lives are a man-
ifest example of salvation from sin, there is the
standing evidence that Christianity is "the power
of God unto salvation ;" and no other description
of evidence, as we befora said, can prove this. Is
* Acts 7. 3A. 32

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHUKOH. 285

it supposable that Christ has withdrawn from His
Church or diminished that power which would
show continually that He " saves His people from
their sins ?"

The converting power is also the Churches great
attraction. It is true that some would attract men
by ceremonies, or talent, or the charms of arch-
itecture or music — attract them that they may con-
vert them ; whereas the true order is, Convert, that
you may attract. The one is the order of the char-
latan, who trusts to factitious allurements for at-
tracting the public in the hope that he may cure
some ; the other, the order of the true physician,
who trusts to the fact of his curing some as the
means of attracting others. Whenever the Church
sends into a family one new convert glowing with
love and joy, she kindles a light which will, in all
probability, give light to all that are in the house.
Whenever she is the means of making one shop-
man turn from his sins, and exhibit to his comrades
a picture of holy living, in all probability she will
6oon have others from that shop at her altars.
Whenever she brings one factory-girl to sit, like
Mary, at the feet of Jesus, very probably in a little
while other Marys will be with her.

In every situation, new converts are the most
powerful attraction that ever acts on those who are

286 THE TONGUE OF FIEE.

still in the world. There seems a peculiar spiritual
power connected with the first love, and an im~
pressiveness in the words, of new converts, enforced
bv the manifest change in them, which nothing else
can exert. That house of God which becomes noted
in a neighborhood as a place in which many sinners
have been " transformed by the renewing of their
minds," will, by a certain instinct of our redeemed
humanity, soon become a center of attraction, not
only to those who, with scarcely any light, are
groping after the truth, but even to men who are
still hardily going on in sin. The greatest fame of
Christianity is the fame of the cures she works, her
greatest glory the glory of the saints she trains, her
own unshared renown the renown of sinners renewed
in the image of God ; and wherever works of this
kind are noised abroad in any community, there the
preacher will not want hearers, there the sower will
not be without a field.

• The converting power is also the principal lever
which Christianity can use for raising the standard
of morals in nations. Instruction is the basis of aU

noral operation ; but instruction in morals, like in-
struction in science, is of little force unless backed
by experiment. Say all you can to men about the
duty of returning good for evil, they will scarcely
iiave a clear conception of it, until they see some

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 287

man deliberately benefiting one from whom he has
received deliberate injury. One tradesman con-
verted, and manfully taking ground among his com-
panions against trade tricks once used by himself,
casts greater shame upon their dishonesty than all
the instructions they ever heard from pulpits ; or,
rather, gives an edge, a power, and an embodiment
to them all. One youth whom religion strengthens
to walk purely among dissipated companions sends
lights and stings into their consciences which mere
instruction could not give, because it shows them
that purity is not, as temptation says, unattainable.
And so with all the virtues ; it is but by embodying
them in the persons of men that . they become
thoroughly understood in the public mind.

It is but too well known that there are nations
of the highest civilization, in which all that need be
said about truthfulness has been said for ages, till
the word " truth" is on the lips of every one ; yet
it is next to impossible to find one being who has
any thing like a just conception of what manly,
consistent, continual truth-telling is.

Just in proportion as the number of converted
men is great or small, will be the amount of con-
science in the community generally. Viewed in
this light, each conversion facilitates future con-
versions. Each new convert adds somewhat to the
moral influence existing among men, and each ad

28S THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ditional thousand greatly improves the public con-
science, and weakens the ties which bind men to
sin. Where no one is godly, moderately correct
persons are almost ashamed of their lack of bad-
ness; where a tenth of the adults are godly, evea
ordinary sinners are ashamed of their lack of good-
ness ; and where a fifth, or a third of the adults are
godly, the hinderances to the conversion of the rest
are as nothing, compared with those that exist
where the great masses are still living in their sins.

The converting power is also the only means
whereby Christianity raises up agents for her oion
propagation. That which is wanted in an agent,
above all, is zeal — zeal for God, burning desire to
save sinners. This zeal is never a matter of mere
conviction, but always a matter of nature. It is
" Christ in you." It is " the love of Christ con-
straining you." It is the Divine nature, which de-
lights to communicate, to bestow, to purify, to save,
breathed into the soul of man, and impelling it in
the same course wherein Christ Himself moved
Agents with this nature we can have only by suc-
cessive outpourings of the Spirit of God, by con-
stant accessions of new converts.

When they who have been great sinners are
themselves converted to God, having been forgiven
much, they love much, and frecuently become

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 289

mighty instruments of winning others to Christ.
For the high work of the ministry, either we must
content ourselves to make ministers by a factitious
process, or we must look to see them springing up
from amid multitudes of new converts, who in
youth turn to the Lord, and devote themselves to
do His will. When conversions are not few, but
many — when " numbers turn to the Lord" — when
the inhabitants of one town say to those of another,
" Come, let us go speedily to seek the Lord, and to
pray before the Lord of hosts" — when there are
many repenting, and many rejoicing, saying, " We
have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins" — then will assuredly appear some with plain
marks that the spirit of the prophets is in them, and
that they are called to spread, far and wide, the
glorious salvation of which they themselves partake,

Nothing so re-animates the zeal of old Christians
as witnessing the joy and simplicity, the gratitude
and fervor, of those who have been lately born of
God. While the old disciple is to the young one
an example of moderation and strength, the young
is to the old an example of fervor ; the one shed-
ding upon the other a steadying influence, while he
receives in return a cheering and an impelling one.

It is also wonderful how much the occurrence of
conversions heightens the efficiency of men already
employed in the ministry, or in other departments

290 THE TONGUE OF EIRE.

of the work of God. The preacher preaches witt
new heart, the exhorter exhorts with revived feel*
ing, he that prays has double faith and fervor ;
and the joy of conquest breathes new vigor into all
the Lord's host.

While the importance^ and in fact the necessity,
of the converting power of the Spirit may be ad-
mitted in the abstract, all its practical value may be
set aside by cherishing dislike to the idea of sudden
conversions, or numerous conversions. It is deemed
sober to expect conversions some time, but not so
to expect them now ; and as the " row" perpetuates
itself on, and on, and on through the lifetime of a
generation, the time to look for their conversion
never comes, and the next generation succeed to
the same chill law of unbelief; each one living in
the doomed " now" when the converting power i$
not to be looked for without fanaticism.

The preference so carefully and even ostenta
tiously displayed by many good men for what are
called gradual conversions over sudden ones, may
have some foundation — but not in Scripture. All
the conversions we find mentioned in the New Tes-
tament are sudden. That of Lydia is the only one
that is ever cited as being gradual, and yet it took
place under one sermon. The expression, "The
Lord opened her heart," can not imply, at the very
most, more than that the action upon her heart was

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 291

a gentle one ; the door was opened, not burst in ;
but it did not take three months to open it — it was
done in a day. The sudden conversion is an opera-
tion manifestly Divine. It brings with it a token
of something supernatural ; and when the after-life
attests its genuineness, there is in the very fact of
its suddenness a perpetual memento of " the mighty
power of God." The natural aversion of the heart
to every thing which forces upon it the conscious-
ness of a spiritual and supernatural power moving
in this present life, sufficiently accountsfor the tend-
ency we all feel to prefer some mode of operation
which would appear less supernatural than the sud-
den, not to say miraculous, transformations from
sin to godliness, which form the common-place
chronicles of the early Church.

As to the question, whether those who are sud-
denly converted are or are not as stable as those
upon whom the work is more gradual, few are in a
good position to judge ; for every one who is sud-
denly converted is sure to have many eyes upon
him, and if he draw back, the notice of all these is
excited; whereas many who gradually take up a
religious profession gradually drop it again, and
scarcely any notice is taken. But, be the question
of stability settled as it may, it is certain that the
scriptural examples of conversion are sudden, and
equally certain that, if we are to look only for

292 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

gradual conversions, we must deliberately make' tip
our minds to see millions upon millions of our
countrymen die impenitent, who, if sudden con
versions are multiplied, may yet be brought to God
before they end their days. The jailor was found
at the extremity of sinfulness, just in the act of
suicide ; yet that very night salvation was preached
to him, embraced by him, and filled his heart with
holy joy.

Some would not so much object to sudden con-
versions, if many of them did not take place at a
time. But there is something unaccountable in the
feeling with which even godly men look upon any
movement in which it would seem, that a large
number of sinners have been simultaneously turned
to God. First, .they can hardly believe that the
work is real, they begin to prophesy that it will
not be lasting. Then, if they find that it has lasted,
they still incline to think that they had better not
look for any thing so extraordinary among their
own neighbors, but go on steadily, as they say,
gaining by degrees.

One simple objection to this theory of "going on
steadily" (that is, slowly) is, that it coolly consigns
whole generations to hell, and leaves us with the
dreadful feeling, that the best progress of the work
of God is a progress which leaves the great majority

PERJtfANEOT BENEFITS TO THE CHURCH. 293

of those now alive hopelessly in their sins. Another
objection to this "going on steadily" is, that it is
not Pentecostal; it is not primitive ; it is not after
the example of " the mighty power of God." In
the early Church conversions were by the hundred
and the thousand ; the word spread, not with the
moderation deal* to small and proper men, who are
always afraid of being charged with extravagance,
but with the sweep and power of a Divine movement,
the agents in which were borne onward as on the
wings of the wind, willing to be a laughing-stock to
men, willing to hear an outcry from the world which
they were turning upside down.

When conversions are very numerous, in propor-
tion to the human instruments, the agency of God
is much more strikingly manifested than when they
are few. Although the man who, by his own ex-
perience, knows what it is to pass from darkness to
light, will see an evidence of the power of the Holy
Ghost in any and every true conversion ; those who
have no such experience, easily avoid concluding
that a supernatural power is in action, so long as
they can trace an imagined proportion between the
agency and the results. If a few people are turned
from their sins by many preachers, it seems no more
than natural ; if a few holy men are found in a
multitude, it is only another proof, they think, of
the fact that there will always be a certain nurabei

294 TILE TONGUE OF FIRE.

of good people among the wicked. But if a lar^o
number of thoughtless youths, or confirmed sinners,
become devoted to God through the instrumentality
of some one preacher, and if this extend to neigh
borhood after neighborhood, a feeling falls upon
spectators that it is not to be accounted for by reas-
oning about proportion, but by the operation of a
superior power.

Let but the results of preaching as to the number
ind suddenness of the conversions pass a certain
point — let the number be thousands, and the time
one day — and the idea of attributing this to the
power of some men would not enter the mind.
Who ever thought, on reading that three thousand
Jews were converted on the day of Pentecost, and
lived holy lives afterward, of exclaiming, " What a
preacher Peter was !" The magnitude of the effect
at once suggests a superhuman cause. Had the
result been small, the man would have been glori-
fied ; but when it took such proportions, he was
thrown into the shade, and " the mighty power of
God" alone occupies the mind. When a flash of
light falls on our path in the street in the evening,
we should at once think of a lamp, because the sur-
face illuminated in itself indicates some such origin.
But if we see a light fall upon a hill, and sweep over
successive hills until a whole country-side is bright-
ened, we think of the sun.

PERMANENT BENEFITS TO TilL CHURCH. 295

Too many conversions now take place, too many
really converted men are to be found, to permit any
one to believe that the converting power of the
Spirit has been wholly withdrawn from the Church.
His presence in the midst of us is attested by many
witnesses ; but the practical question for us is, Is it
contrary to the design of God that true believers
now should multiply themselves as rapidly, in pro-
portion, as they did after the day of Pentecost ?
If it be, then, no matter what means may be
used, that result can not be obtained ; but, if it
be not, then we are bound to hope that, the same
means being used — the same prayer, faith, and
zeal being put forth on the part of the Church
— the same blessing of the Holy Spirit will be
vouchsafed.

On the whole question as to what permanent
benefits remain to the Church from the dispensa-
tion of the Spirit, we contend that every thing
substantial implied in the gift of the Holy Ghost
remains unimpaired. Whatever is necessary to the
holiness of the individual, to the spiritual life and
ministering gifts of the Church, or to the conversion
of the world, is as much the heritage of the people
of God in the latest days as in the first. We do
not see that the miraculous effects which followed
the Pentecost are promised to all ages and all p^o-

296 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

pie, and therefore we do not look for them to re-
appear ; but we feel satisfied that he who does ex-
pect the gift of healing, and the gift of tongues, or
any other miraculous manifestation of the Holy
Spirit, in addition to those substantial blessings of
which these were, as we have said, the ushers and
the heralds, has ten times more scriptural ground
on which to base his expectation, than have they
for their unbelief who do not expect supernatural
sanctifying strength for the believer, supernatural
aid in preaching, exhortation, and prayer, for
Pastors and gifted members, and supernatural con-
verting power upon the minds of those who are yet
of the world,

CHAPTER YI.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

At one lime we meant to dwell at considerable
length upon practical lessons connected with our
subject ; but this book is already larger than we
wished it to be, and we will therefore touch only-
three topics. We may learn a lesson on the source
of power ; one on the way to obtain powep ;
and one on the scale on which our expectations
of success should be framed.

In the application of any instrument, no error
can be more fatal than one that affects the source
of power. To recur to an illustration before used,
any reasoning upon explosive weapons which as-
sumed elasticity to be the source of power, must
lead completely astray. If this is to be noted in
all things, it is especially to be noted in what affects
the regeneration of the world. In merely natural
processes, persons proposing to affect the sentiments
of mankind, must depend largely on their influence,

208 THE TCLNGUE OF FIRE.

their wealth, and their facilities. Christians fre-
quently permit themselves to fall into a state of
mind in which the want of all or any of these is
taken to be fatal to their prospects of success, and
the acquisition of them to be the first step toward
making any impression. But wealth, influence, and
facilities, however great, never yet secured results
in the spiritual conversion of men ; while the most
notable triumphs of Christianity have often been
gained in the total absence of them all.

Others, or the same men at different times, would
rather allow their hopes to rest on order, talent, or
truth. But neither are these the source of power.
Order is as necessary in Christianity as are bones,
ligaments, and skin in a man ; talent is as necessary
as brain, and truth as blood. But you may have
all these, and have a paralytic ; ay, have them all,
and have but a corpse. You must have both the
breathing spirit and that indescribable something
that we call " power." Indeed, the order of the
Christian Church ought to be such, her outward
framework so constructed, that she shall not be as
a building, which, though it looks more cheerful
when there is life within, yet will stand when there
is none ; but rather as a body, whi ih falls the mo-
ment the spirit forsakes it, and tends to decomposi-
tion. Wo Church ought to be otherwise construct-
ed, than in entire dependence on the presence of

PRACTICAL LESSORS. 2P9

the living Spirit in all her ministerial arrangements.
Her frame ought to answer to no definition that
would suit an inorganic body ; but to answer ex-
actly to the celebrated definition of an organic one;
namely, " that wherein every part is mutually means
and end." The pervading presence of the Spirit
should be assumed, so that, if it be absent, the pains
of death shall instantly take hold upon her, and the
cry be extorted, " Lord, save, or I perish !"

We must again recall to mind that most wonder-
ful silence of ten days — that long, long pause of the
commissioned Church in sight of the perishing
world. Never should the solemnity of that silence
pass from the thoughts of any of God's people. It
stands in the very fore-front of our history — the
Lord's most memorable and affecting protest before-
hand— that no authority under heaven, that no
training, that no ordination could qualify men to
propagate the Gospel, without the baptism of the
Holy Ghost. Each successive day of those solemn
and silent ten, the perishing world might have
knocked at the door of the Church, and asked,
' fi What waitest thou for, O bride of the ascended
Bridegroom? Why dost thou not say, 'Come?'
Why leavest thou us to slumber on uncalled, un-
warned, unblessed, whilst thou, with thy good tid-
ings, art tarrying inactive there ? What waitest

thou for ?" and every moment the answer would
21

300 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

have been, " We are waiting to be ' endued with
power from on high;' we are waiting to be bap
tized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' "

This is the one and the only source of our power
Without this, our wealth, influence, facilities, are
ships of war and ammunition without guns or men
our order, talent, truth, are men and guns, without
fire. We want in this age, above all wants, fire,
God's holy fire, burning in the hearts of men, stir-
ring their brains, impelling their emotions, thrilling
in their tongues, glowing in their countenances,
vibrating in their actions, expanding their intellec*
tual powers more than can ever be done by the
heats of genius, of argument, or of party ; and fusing
all their knowledge, logic, and rhetoric into a burn-
ing stream. Every accessory, every instrument of
usefulness, the Church has now in such a degree and
of such excellence as was never known in any other
age; and we want but a supreme and glorious bap-
tism of fire to exhibit to the world such a spectacle
as would raise ten thousand hallelujahs to the glory
of our King.

Let but this baptism descend, and thousands of
us who, up to this day, have been but common-
place or weak ministers, such as might easily pass
from the memory of mankind, would then become
mighty. Men would wonder at us, as if we had
been made anew; and we should wonder, not at

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 301

ourselves, l>ut at the grace of God which could
thus transform us.

Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a
granite fort, and they told us that they intended to
batter it down: we might ask them, "How?"
They point to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no
power in that ; it is heavy, but not more than half
a hundred, or perhaps a hundred, weight : if all the
men in the army hurled it against the fort, they
would make no impression. They say, " No ; but
look at the cannon." Well, there is no power in
that. A child may ride upon it, a bird may perch
in its mouth; it is a machine, and nothing more.
" But look at the powder." Well, there is no
power in that ; a child may spill it, a sparrow may
peck it. Yet this powerless powder, and powerless
ball, are put into the powerless cannon ; — one spark
of fire enters it ; and then, in the twinkling of an
eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that
ball a thunderbolt, which smites as if it had been
sent from heaven. So is it with our Church ma-
chinery at this day : we have all the instruments
^necessary for pulling down strongholds, and O for
the baptism of fire !

As to the watt m WHICH Tills Powek may be
obtained, here we have only to recall the lesson of
the Ten Days — " They continued with one accord

302 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

in prayer and supplication." Prayer earnest, prayer
united, and prayer persevering, these are the con-
ditions ; and, these being fulfilled, we shall assuredly
be " endued with power from on high." We
should never expect that the power will fall upon
us just because we happen once to awake and ask ft r
it. Nor have any community of Christians a right
to look for a great manifestation of the Spirit, if
they are not all ready to join in supplication, and,
" with one accord," to wait and pray as if it were
the concern of each one. The murmur er who al-
ways accounts for barrenness in the Church by the
faults of others, may be assured that his readiest
way to spiritual power, if that be his real object,
lies in uniting all, as one heart, to pray without
ceasing.

Above all, we are not to expect it without perse-
vering prayer. Prayer which takes the fact that
past prayers have not yet been answered, as a rea-
son for languor, has already ceased to be the j)rayer
of faith. To the latter, the fact that prayers remain
unanswered, is only evidence that the moment of the
answer is so much nearer. From first to last, tin
lessons and example of our Lord all tell us that
prayer which can not persevere, and urge its plea
importunately, and renew, and renew itself again,
and gather strength from every past petition, is not
the prayer that will prevail.

PRACTICAL LESSONS. SOS

When John in the Apocalypse saw the Lamb on
the throne, before that thro?ie were the seven lamps
of fire burning, "which are the seven Spirits of God
gent forth into all the earth;" and it is only by
waiting before that throne of grace that we become
imbued with the holy fire ; but he who waits there
long and believingly will imbibe that fire, and come
forth from his communion with God, bearing tokens
of where he has been. For the individual believer,
and, above all, for every laborer in the Lord's vine-
yard, the only way to gain spiritual power is by se-
cret waiting at the throne of God for the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. Every moment spent in real
prayer is a moment spent in refreshing the fire of
God within the soul. We said before, that this fire
can not be simulated ; nothing else will produce its
effects. No more can the means of obtaining it be
feigned. Nothing but the Lord's own appointed
means, nothing but u waiting at the throne," noth-
ing but keeping the heart under " the eyes of the
Lamb," to be again, and again, and again pene-
trated by His Spirit, can put the soul into that con-
dition in which it is a meet instrument to impart
the light and power of God to other men.

When a lecturer on electricity wants to show an
example of a human body surcharged with his fire,
he places a person on a stool with glass legs. Tt e
glass serves to isolate him from the earth, because it

304 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

will not conduct the fire — the electric fluid : were it
not for this, however much might be poured into
his frame, it would be carried away by the earth ;
but, when thus isolated from it, he retains all that
enters him. You see no fire, you hear no fire ; but
you are told that it is pouring into him. Presently
you are challenged to the proof — asked to come
near, and hold your hand close to his person ; when
you do so, a spark of fire shoots out toward you.
If thou, then, wouldst have thy soul surcharged
with the fire of God, so that those who come nigh
to thee shall feel some mysterious influence pro-
ceeding out from thee, thou must draw nigh to the
source of that fire, to the throne of God and of the
Lamb, and shut thyself out from the world — that
cold world, which so swiftly steals our fire away.
Enter into thy closet, and shut to thy door, and
there, isolated, " before the throne," await the bap-
tism; then the fire shall fill thee, and when thou
comest forth, holy power will attend thee, and thou
ehalt labor, not in thine own strength, but " with
demonstration of the Spirit, and with power."

As this is the only way for an individual to ob-
tain spiritual power, so is it the only way for
Churches. Prayer, prayer, all prayer — mighty, im-
portunate, repeated, united prayer; the rich and
the poor, the learned and the unlearned, the fathers
and the children, the pastors and the people, the

PRACTICAL JLESSONS. 305

gifted and the simple, all uniting to cry to God
above, that He would come and affect them as in
the days of the right hand of the Most High, and
imbue them with the Spirit of Christ, and warm
them, and kindle them, and make them as a flame
of fire, and lay His right hand mightily on the sin-
ners that surround them, and turn them in truth to
Him. Such united and repeated supplications will
assuredly accomplish their end, and " the power of
God" descending will make every such company as
a band of giants refreshed with new wine.

If the source of our power, and the way to ob-
tain it, be so plain, how can it be that the " tongue
of fire" is so rare ? What are the hinderances ?
Is it because, as many would seem to think, nothing
is so difficult to obtain as the grace of the Holy
Spirit ? We often hear it said, All effort must be
unsuccessful without the blessing of God, without
the accompanying power of the Spirit ; and the
tone used indicates that it is therefore proper not to
look for any great results, as if the accompanying
power of the Spirit was the only thing not to be
counted upon. The recognition of our impotency
without the Spirit, and of the absolute necessity of
His presence and His power, is as needful as the
recognition of the fact that, without sunshine and
rain, all labor and all skill would fail to preserve the

300 THE 10NGUE OF FIKE.

human race for one season. But the sunshine and
the rain are precisely the things which cost nothing,
and on which we may constantly depend. So it is
with the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Freer than the air we breathe, freer than the rich
sunbeams, freer than any of God's other gifts, be-
cause it is the one which has cost Him most, and
which blesses His children most, that gift is ever at
hand ; and when we have done what the Lord lays
upon us to do, it is dishonoring to Him to cherish a
secret feeling as if He, being good, not evil, was
backward to pour out His Spirit, and to do good to
His children.

This feeling of unbelief, wherever cherished, must,
on the principles of the Gospel, be fatal to all power.
He alone who magnifies the freeness, the fullness,
and the present efficacy of the Lord's grace, can by
the Holy Ghost accomplish wonder. Trust, firm
trust, straightforward, child-like trust, is the ever-
lasting condition of all co-operation with God. He
will not use, He will not bless, He will not inhabit
the heart that, at the moment when it offers Him a
request, says, " I doubt Thee."

In this age of faith in the natiral, and disinclin-
ation to the supernatural, we want especially to
meet the whole world with this crecta, " I believe in
the Holy Ghost." I expect to see saints as lovely
as any that are written of in the Scriptures — be-

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 307

cause I believe in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see
preachers as powerful to set forth Christ evidently
crucified before the eyes of men, as powerful to
pierce the conscience, to persuade, to convince, to
convert, as any that ever shook the multitudes of
Jerusalem, or Corinth, or Rome — because I believe
in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see Churches the
members of which shall be severally endued with
spiritual gifts, and every one moving in spiritual
activity, animating and edifying one another, com-
mending themselves to the conscience of the world
by their good w7orks, commending their Saviour to
it by a heart-engaging testimony — because I believe
all in the Holy Ghost. I expect to see villages where
the respectable people are now opposed to religion,
the proprietor ungodly, the nominal pastor worldly,
all that take a lead set against riving Christianity
— to see such villages summoned, disturbed, divided,
and then re-united, by the subduing of the whole
population to Christ — because I believe in the Holy
Ghost. I expect to see cities swept from end to
end, their manners elevated, their commerce puri-
fied, their politics Christianized, their criminal pop-
ulation reformed, their poor made to feel that they
dwell among brethren — righteousness in the streets,
peace in the homes, an altar at eve*y fireside — be-
cause I believe in the Holy Ghost. I expect the
world to be overflowed with the knowledge of

3 OS THE TOGGLE OF FIRE.

God ; the day to come when no man shall need tc
gay to his neighbor, " Know thou the Lord ;" but
when all shall know Him, " from the least unto the
greatest ;" east and west, north and south, uniting
to praise the name of the one God, and the one
Mediator: — because I believe in the Holy Ghost.

Unbelief and neglect of prayer generally go to-
gether as preventives of spiritual power. Let all
of us who are painfully conscious that the results
just indicated, will never be attained by the instru-
mentality of men, in the condition in which we are,
simply ask ourselves, How long, how often, how im-
portunately have we waited at the throne of the
Saviour for the outpouring of the Spirit ? Let our
closets answer. " The eyes of the Lamb," that are
looking through us now, have noted. O ! is it any
wonder that ofttimes we have been powerless, and
ofttimes have had but " a little strength ?"

Want of true faith and neglect of prayer are sure
to make place for faith in the instrument, instead
of in the power. When we are not living near the
throne, our minds become occupied with questions
of order, of talent, or of truth; or, if we sink into
yet a lower state, with questions of facility, or influ-
ence, or wealth. This Church reform will be follow-
ed by great good ; the clear development of such or
guch a doctrine would bring us revival ; more luster
or strength of talent in the ministry would insure

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 309

progiess. We only wait the removal of such anc
such hinderances to open this door ; for the supply
of pecuniary means, and we shall see good done
there ; or for the accession to the Church of some
person of influence, and God's work will prosper
yonder. Faith is sadly wasted when bestowed on
such things. Give them their right value — never
underrate them — place them where God has placed
them ; but the fact that you trust in them showtf
that your heart is wrong. Wait not for these — for
the power is not in them — but for the baptism of fire.

Among the hinderances which will preverio any
one from having the " tongue of fire," none acts
> more directly than any misuse of the " tongue" it-
self. If the door of the lips be not guarded, if un-
charitable or idle speech be indulged, if political or
party discussion be permitted to excite heats, if
foolish "talking or jesting" be a chosen method ot
display, it is not to be supposed that the same
tongue will be the medium wherein the sacred fire
of the Spirit will delight to dwell. Who has ever
worn at the same time the reputation of a trifler and
of a man powerful to search consciences ?

Another fatal hinderance is any kind of sensual in-
dulgence. Whatever gives the least ascendancy to
the body over the spirit musfc gradually subdue, and

310 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ultimately extinguish the fire in the heart. This ap-
plies to all sloth, to every luxurious habit, every
artificial appetite, and all the pleasures of the table.
L is not a little remarkable that while, at the Day
of Pentecost, the people, on seeing the excitement
and animation of the Christians, said, " They are
filled with new wane," Paul himself says to us, " Be
not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled
with the Spirit." In both these cases there is a
suggestion, however indirect, yet unquestionably a
suggestion of some analogy between the condition
of beino- " drunk wTith wine" and that of bein^
" filled with the Spirit."

Nor do wre need to seek far for the grounds of
that analogy. To men of the world wine is a re-
sort when they want something above their natural
strength of mind or body, and in it they seek three
things — strength, cheering, and mental elevation.
Under its influence they will do more work than
they could otherwise, they will cast off their cares,
and their mental powers will reach a state which
they themselves call " inspiration." That worldly
orators, even of the highest reputation, often seek
in wine such animation of their powers as is neces-
sary to great success, is only too well known. The
physical tendency to seek elevation in such a source
can not be even slightly yielded to, without fatally
affecting the " t)ngue of fire."

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 311

Every Christian who wishes to retain the life of
God in his soul, must hold all the enjoyments of the
table under a strict law of regard to health and to
emperance. For strength, for cheering, and for
mental elevation, such as an extraordinary affliction
or public effort may demand, he must look alone to
power from on high, to the strength, and comfort,
and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The bare idea
of seeking any of these in wine implies a heart al-
ready far fallen into the bondage of the flesh,
Even without going so far, one may easily pass the
bounds of moderation, and drink not for health,
but for pleasure. If the man who drinks to intoxi-
cation is miserable and pitiable, he who has learned
the bad secret of " how far he can go,5' and who
even acts upon it, although he may never be drunk,
is daily intemperate. In one aspect, his social influ-
ence is the most dangerous of all ; for, while one
who totally abstains, and one wTho drinks under a
rigid rule of regard for health and moderation, may
each contend that they are setting the wisest ex-
ample that can be set, and while the drunkard may
truly say that his very excess is a warning to all
about him, he who habitually shows that he drinks
as much as is safe, is a lure and an enticement to
push indulgence as far as It can be done vithcut
wreck of character.

312 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

Another fatal hinderance is what may be called
" aiming at literary effect." When preaching,
praying, or any other religious exercise of the
tongue, is ruled by the idea of composition, it loses
the character of a Divine gift. Under that idea,
utterance especially is by the aid of the Holy Spirit.
With those who look at Christian preaching as an
exercise of natural talent, we enter into no discus-
sion. We speak only to those who are seeking the
" tongue of fire," who believe that real Christian
preaching is effected only by the help of God. To
them, and to ourselves, we say, that nothing will
more surely steal away the fire from our sentences
than anxiety to deliver them just as they were pre-
composed, or to pre-compose them with studious re-
gard to literary grace. Study of style, of words, of
the force, forms, and laws of language, we of course
recommend. Efforts on the part of every one to
gain the best style of which his nature admits — the
tersest, strongest, clearest, briefest — we equally
recommend. Seeking, like Bunyan, for "picked
and packed words," is the instinct of a teacher
Even the study of the art of speaking, against
which the vulgar prejudice is so strong, we would,
with Wesley and Whitfield, encourage. Mouth
ing elocutionists may have brought it into dis
repute, but that is no reason why hundreds of us
should be maimed in health before mid-life by pub.

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 313

lie speaking, when we might have done as much
work, and done it better, without the least injury,
had we availed ourselves of the science of those
who have philosophically studied and taught upon
the voice.*

While, however, we contend that it is the duty
of all who take any part in teaching, to labor to
the uttermost for every qualification helpful to their
work, two things are to be forever and guardedly
shut out. The one is, aiming at giving intellectual
pleasure, instead of producing religious impression ;
the other, being careful about words in the pulpit,
so as to interfere with dependence upon God for
utterance. In the study, attention to style ought
to be with a view, not to beauty, but to power.
In the pulpit, all thought of style is thought
wasted, and even worse. The gift of prophesying

* It is often assumed, that speaking is a natural exercise,
and therefore, needs no instruction. The word "speaking'J
covers a fallacy. Conversation in a moderate tone, and at short
intervals, is a natural exercise of the voice ; public speaking,
in an elevated tone, and for an hour together, is an artificial
one. Except in very rare cases of persons singularly favored
by nature, this artificial exercise is never performed with tho
ease of the natural one ; and how often it impairs, and even
destroys health, is too notorious to need any mention. Such
writers as Mr. Cull, and Dr. Rush, show that under proper
training public speaking may become as easy and as healthy
for persons of sound organs as singing is ; and to the neglect
of this we owe the loss, in their prime, of many of the best and
ablest preachers that ever lived.

314 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

in its very ideal excludes relying for utterance*
upon a manuscript or upon memory. It is the
delivery of truth by the help of God. The feeling
of every man standing up in the Lord's name ought
to be, " I am not here to acquit myself well, nor
to deliver a good discourse ; but after having
made my best efforts to study and to digest the
truth, I am here to say just what God may enable
me to say, to be enlarged or to be straitened, ac-
cording as He may be pleased to give me utterance
or not."

With this feeling of the preacher all appearances
ought to correspond. It ought to be manifest that,
Avhile he has done what in him lies to be thoroughly
furnished, he is trusting for utterance to help from
above, and not insuring it by natural means — either
a manuscript or memory. We put these two to-
gether, because we do not see that any distinction
really exists between them. The plea that the
manuscript is more honest than memoriter preach-
ing, has some force, but certainly not much ; for he
that reads from his memory is, to the feeling and
instinct of his hearers, as much reading as he who
reads from his manuscript. In neither case are the
thoughts and feelings gushing straight from the
mind, and clothing themselves as they come. The
mind is taking up words from paper or from mem-
ory, and doing its best to animate them with feel

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 315

mg. Even intellectually, the operation is essen-
tially different from speaking, and the difference is
felt by all. For literary purposes, for intellectual
gratification, both have a decided advantage over
speaking ; but for the purposes of pleading, en-
treating, winning, and creating a sense of fellow-
ship, for impelling and arousing, for doing good —
speaking is the natural, this is the Creator's, instru
raent.

We never say, nor think of saying, that God will
not bless sermons read, either from the manuscript
or from the memory ; for we are sure that both
these modes are resorted to by holy and earnest
servants of His, who seek His blessing, and obtain
it to the saving of many souls. All we say of read-
ing, either from the manuscript or the memory, is,
that it is not scriptural preaching. It is not minis-
tering after the mode of Pentecostal Christianity ;
it is a departure from scriptural precedent, an adop-
tion of a lower order of public ministration, and a
solemn declaration that security of utterance gained
by natural supports, is preferred over a liability to
be humiliated by trusting to the help of the Lord.
It has its clear advantages, and its clear losses. It
secures a gain of elegance, at the cost of ease — of
finish, at the cost of freedom — of precision, at that
of power — and of literary pleasure, at that of relig-
ious impressivene.ss.
22

316 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

A literary ideal of preaching is vicious. Half
educated people pride themselves on admiring what
they consider intellectual, or "splendid." To men
of real mind, and real education, aiming at literary
effect is as distasteful, on the one hand, as are traces
of carelessness, looseness, or vulgarity, on the other.
Men of great talent or refinement, when speaking
great truths, under holy inspiration, must be elo-
quent, or pleasing. But an " intellectual treat" is
far from being the ideal of preaching. We have
heard efforts of this kind greatly praised, even by
aged and venerable ministers, which, when we look
back upon them, after years have elapsed, we feel
ought not to have been called sermons at all. They
were discourses which showed how a certain subject
could be treated ; but which were never meant to
do any work. An acute and profound philosopher,
looking upon the pulpit from the Chair of the His-
torical Professor, treats this point in the following
remarkable words :

"Compare, I pray you, gentlemen, the sacred
eloquence of the sixth century with modern pulpit
eloquence, even in its most palmy days in the
seventeenth century. I said just now, that in the
seventh and eighth centuries the character of liter-
ature had been that it ceased to be a literature — -
that it had become in fact a power, that in writing
and speaking men concerned themselves only with

PRACTICAL LESSORS. 31 7

positive and immediate results, that they sought
neither science nor intellectual pleasure, and that on
this account the age had produced nothing but ser-
mons or similar works. This fact, which shows
itself in literature in general, is imprinted upon the
sermons themselves. Those of modern times have
a character evidently more literary than practical.
The orator aspires much more after beauty of lan-
guage, after the intellectual satisfaction of his aud-
itory than to act upon the deeps of their souls, to
produce real effects, notable reforms, efficacious
conversions. Nothing of this sort — nothing of the
literary character in the sermons of which I have
just been speaking to you; not one thought of ex-
pressing themselves nicely, of combining images
and ideas with art. The orator goes to the point ;
' he wants to do a work ; he turns, and turns again in
the same circle ; he has no fear of repetition, of
familiarity, not even of vulgarity. He speaks
briefly, but recommences every morning. This is

NOT SACKED ELOQUENCE ; IT IS RELIGIOUS POWER.'5*

Whenever we are tempted to think that fruitful-
ness is only to be looked for in connection with
superior attainments, the image of Peter preaching
in Jerusalem, and of that vast multitude in tears

* Guizot's " Histoire de la Civilisation? vol. ii.; p. 24. SixtJ?
Paris Edition

318 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

before him, should rise into our view. With trbtf
reverence, not unmixed with sorrow, do we often
look back on preachers of days now gone, perhaps
on some whom our own ears have blessed when we
heard them ; but more on those of whose mighty
voices we have caught faint echoes, sounding in the
bosoms of hoary men who heard them in their
youth, and have never ceased to hear them, though
their tongues have long been silent ! When noting
our own poor efforts ; when seeing how tamely the
precepts of Sinai or the songs of Bethlehem have
fallen upon men from our lips ; seeing that, after our
closest thinking, we have seemed as those who beat
the air ; that, after seeking converts, we have only
gained credit ; that, when looking for multitudes to
be seized with the thought, "What must I do to
be saved ?" we have only sent them away to dis-
cuss our faults or our merits, with perchance here
and there a heart touched and contrite; — when
years have thus passed away, and no stronghold of
sin brought down, no province completely con
quered from the Prince of darkness, no great
awakening to shew that there was a power and a
God in the midst of the Church ; — when we have
seen all this, and much more alike thereto, has not
our disposition often been to open a calculation a9
to our own abilities and the difficulties before us,
concluding, on the whole, that such as we need not

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 3i9

expect to do things which only the mighty could
do? How could lips like ours move mankind?
True, Apostles and Prophets moved them. True,
Whitfield and Wesley, and hundreds of their co-
adjutors, near to our days, and in our own country,
moved them. But then they were the wonders of
their age, the seraphim of earth. But what made
them seraphim ? They were once no mightier than
others as to converting souls. TTnbaptized with fire
or but slightly touched, their tongues might have
charmed, fascinated, set the world discussing their
gifts and extolling their abilities ; but they would

♦ never have shot fires into the souls of men, burned
by which the stolid would roar, and the stoical melt,
the sedate smite upon his breast, and the corrupt
cleanse himself "from all filthiness of the flesh and
of the spirit." Perhaps without the baptism of fire

, they would never have gained even the airy fame
of orators. Their very eloquence may have come
chiefly from the Spirit of God. At all events, it
was that fire which raised the orator into the Apos-
tle, and made their words sound as if Christ's first
messengers were risen from the dead.

The spectacle of Peter preaching at Jerusalem
answers ten thousand arguments of unbelief. Who
is that Galilean peasant, and who are that group
beside him ? They are men of like passions with
ourselves. In nature, in gifts, in early opportuni

320 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

ties, they can not be ranked above the average of
mankind. Even though they have been favored
with the personal teaching and society of Christ for
three whole years, they had not, up to this period,
shown any extraordinary superiority of character.
They have not been even without faults ; they have
had their disputes among themselves, their unbelief,
their faint-heartedness, their strifes about the things
of the world, their "false brethren;" yet are they
endued with a power of speech which passes all
previously conceived reach of eloquence.

Is it rational, when looking up to the Spirit which
wrought this in them, to doubt whether or not it is
within His power to baptize His servants now living
with such a baptism as would change the ordinary
into the extraordinary, the feeble into the mighty ?
Whether is it easier for Him to say, " Speak with
many tongues," or to say, " I will give thee a mouth
and wisdom which all thine adversaries shall not be
able to gainsay or to resist ?" The former He has
said, and common men at once received the power ;
the latter He has said, and the same common men
received the power. The former power we do net
seek ; but all of us who have any heart for our Mas-
ter's service, any real intention to bear a part in the
battle for the rescue of mankind, do desire in our
very hearts, yea, long with mournful longing for a
tongue of fire to tell of the love of the Saviour, and

PRACTICAL LESSORS. 321

of the woe of sin, in such tones that the dead ear
shall tingle. Is He not able to give the gift now as
He gave it then ? Is the distrust of His power in
this respect, which we find so common ; this count-
ing on our own impotence as a life-long companion ;
this speaking of what we ought to expect, as if our
power must halt where our natural abilities halt ;
this thinking it really humble to expect little or no
fruit ; this thinking it meek to be happy without
fruit ; — is all this a fit answer to the baptism and
a fit memorial of the tongues of fire ? Do we not
there see the Spirit answering forever all doubts as
to what ordinary men can be made, and proclaiming
to all who would bear a message from God, that if
they will only wait until they are "endued wTith
power from on high," the effect which of all others
will show the working of that power within them
will be this — that they shall be raised above them
selves, and made to speak with a mouth and wis-
dom which, all who know them will know, were
not within their natural enowments or attain
ments ?

As TO THE SCALE OX WHICH OUR EXPECTATIONS

should be framed. In out age invention by aid
of natural science often seems to leap almost within
the bounds of the supernatural. The impossibilities
rf our fathers are disappearing, one becoming a

322 THE TOSTGUE OF FIRE.

traffic and another a pastime. This has produced a
state of mind in which nothing seems impossible to
natural science. Concurrently with this has arisen
a tendency to bring spiritual progress and action
within natural bounds. We are proud of our
knowledge of the laws of the natural kingdom, and
impatient of any phenomena which can not be
judged by them. Yet we do not object to judging
the vegetable kingdom by laws totally different
from those which we apply to the mineral, and the
.animal by laws totally different from what we apply
to the vegetable, and the pTYfriyp fln'rl-* Vy laws
different from those we apply to any of those thre<
kingdoms. To shrink from the marvels of vegetable
life because they are unaccountable on chemical
principles, or from those of instinct because they are
unfathomable mysteries on botanical principles, or
from those of intellect because they are inexplicable
by the laws of natural history, or from the mysteries
of light because they can not be metaphysically an-
alyzed and conditioned, would not be more unrea-
sonable than to shrink from marvels in the spiritual
kingdom, because they can not be judged by the
laws of the natural. The supernatural has its own
laws, and there is a, supernatural.

* Water, air, light, electricity, etc., which can not be conve-
niently classed under any of the three divisions — vegetable, min
eral, and animal — usually taken to comprise all natural objects.

PHACTICAL LESSONS. 323

jfostead of seeking to keep down spiritual move*
ments to the level of natural explanation, in an age
when natural marvels reach almost to miracles, we
ought rather to be impelled to pray that they may
put on a more striking character of supernatural
manifestation. To-day more by far is necessary to
carry into the mind of the multitude a clear convic-
tion, " It is the hand of God," than was necessary
in other ages. When men saw few wonders from
natural science, they readily ascribed each wonder
to Divine agency ; but now that they are accus-
tomed to see them daily, moral wonders must swell
beyond all pretext of natural explanation, before
they are felt to be from God. Is our footing firm ?
Do we stand, or do we tremble ? Is Christianity to
seat herself in the circle of natural agency, or to
arise from the dust, and prove that there is a God
in Israel ? Are we to shrink from things extraor
dinary ? Are we to be afraid of any thing that
would make skeptical or prayerless men mock?
Are we to desire that the Spirit shall use us and
work in us just to such a degree as will never bring
a sneer upon us — to pray, as a continental writer
represents some as meaning, " Give us of the Holy
Spirit ; but not too much ; lest the people should
gay that we are full of new wine ?"*

To Christianity this is pre-eminently the age of
* Pasteur Augustin Bost.

3J4 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

opportunity. Never before did the world offer to
her any thing like the same open field as at this
moment. Even a single century from the present
time, how much more limited was her access to the
minds of men ! Within our own favored country a
zealous preacher would then have been driven away
from many a sphere, where now he would be hailed.
On the continent of Europe, the whole of France
has been opened to the preaching of the word,
though under some restraints. In Belgium, Sar-
dinia, and other fields, it may now be said, that the
word of God is not bound. A century ago the
Chinese empire, the Mahommedan world, and Af-
rica, containing between them such a preponderat-
ing majority of the human race, were all closed
against the Gospel of Christ. China is open at sev-
eral points. The wrhole empire of the Mogul is one
field where opportunity and protection invite the
evangelist. Turkey itself has been added to the
spheres wherein he may labor. Around the wild
shores of Africa, and far into her western, eastern,
and southern interior, outposts of Christianity have
been established. Wide realms beyond invite her
onward. In the South Seas, several regions which
a hundred years ago had not been made known by
the voyages of Cook, are now regularly occupied.
Could the Churches of England and America send
forth to-mori ow a hundred thousand preachers of

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 326

the Gospel, each one of them might find a sphere,
already opened by the strong hand of Providence,
where a century ago none of them could have come
without danger.

The age, if not so remarkable for agency as for
opportunity, is yet very remarkable in this respect,
when compared with any that has preceded it.
While, on the one hand, we may well humble our-
selves that, after so long a lapse of time, Christian
men are so few, and Christian operations so feeble,
yet, measuring our own day with that of the gener-
ation that went before us, we may devoutly magnify
our God. Any one of the three great divisions of
Christians in England — the Established Church, the
Methodists, or the Dissenters — can this day furnish
a number of faithful ministers teaching the truth in
the fear of God, and wishful to be the instruments
in saving souls, supported by a number of spirit-
ually-minded laymen ready for every good work,
such that, could they have been presented to John
Wesley as the entire force of godly men in the coun-
try, would have made him feel as if the army for the
whole world's conquest was already raised. Scot-
land alone could now produce a host of loyal sol-
diers ready and able to wage the Redeemer's war,
such as in his day would have appeared to him al-
most sufficient to conclude the conquest. Irelandl
too, would offer in this respect an amazing advance

326 THE TONGUE OF FIKE.

In France, where, at the conclusion of the great
Peace, scarcely any earnest preachers could be
found, they may now be counted by hundreds ; and
in Germany, notwithstanding all its mists and its
blights, not a few are growing up in vigor.

Whether for the direct labors of the pulpit, for
united movements of enlightenment, or the minis-
tering of gentle relief to the wants of human so-
ciety, never, never did the sun shine upon so much
agency, so much organization, so much liberty, so
much earnest effort. Could we indulge ourselves
by forming our own world, and only think of al!
the good men, good societies, and good works, or
which the eye may rest, we might rejoice with un-
broken joy, proclaim the full advent of the king
dom of God, and feel ourselves launched on a be-
nign and brotherly age. But alas ! alas ! the vast
world rolls on, a turbid and a freezing streari.
When we look first at our own little land, then at
the broad earth, we find, for one who fears God and
works righteousness, there are thousands who for-
get God and work wickedness. Christian agency is
not, therefore, as some amiable theorists would seem
to think, chiefly for training those who are born
Christians, or made Christians in baptism, and who
need nothing more than Church ordinances, and an
open heaven when they die. It is an agency raised
up to carry out the great work of conversion which

PRACTICAL LESSORS. 327

the Lord has begun within the lands of Christen-
dom, and then bear onward the banner until every
nation under heaven bows under it.

It is also an age of progress, as much as of op-
portunity or of agency. What an advance haa
Christianity made, as to the impress upon our na-
tional manners, within the last century ! On our
highest classes and on our lowest, on those who
love God and those who love Him not, she has im-
posed many restraints. The vices which remain are
every day made more hideous to the public eye.
How different the amount of piety in officers and
men developed by the horrors of the late war, from
what was ever known in an English army before !
How different the spiritual condition of many of our
rural and manufacturing districts from what they
were a century ago ! What a change in the moral*"
of the Court, in the temperance of private enter-
tainments ! How much more promising the aspect
of Ireland ! How much more animated the religion
of Scotland ! What an incalculable advance in
America! And within that time the West Indies,
Australia, New Zealand, the Society Islands, the
Sandwich Islands, the Friendly Islands, the Navi-
gator's Islands, a considerable part of Feejee, and
tracts of Southern and Western Africa, may be
written down as provinces added to Christendom.
Though in some of these places much ungodliness

328 THE TONGUE OP HUE.

remains, yet in most of them a far more promising
state of things exists than was known in any coun-
try between the first days of Christianity, and the
last century.

In other countries, beginnings have been made
and first-fruits gathered; as, for instance, in India
China, and Northern Africa. At the same time,
every system of religion not calling itself Chris-
tian has decayed. Mohammedanism, Brahmanism,
Buddhism, and Paganism, have lost territory, adher-
ents, and power. Altogether it maybe questioned,
whether even the progress of the first century has
not been equaled, as to positive amount, by that of
the last. But, when we look at the agents, means,
and facilities enjoyed during the last century com-
pared with the first, and at the rapidity with which
believers have multiplied themselves in both pe-
riods, we at once feel that, as to propagating
power, in the face of adverse circumstances and
small resources, there is no comparison between
them.

It is, on the one hand, as wrong and as danger
ous to overlook the success which God has given to
His word in the last age, or the unparalleled open
ings which promise to the Church future conquest,
as it is, on the other, to repose on our present pos-
sessions, as if the conquest was achieved. What
has been done is enough to excite our liveliest

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 329

gratitude ; but if we dwell on it alone, we become
enervated and careless. What remains to be done
is enough to excite our deepest solicitude; but if
we look at it alone, we become dispirited and
powerless. Even in England every thing is stained ;
our commerce corrupt; our politics earthy; our
social manners chiefly formed after the will of " the
god of this world ;" our streets crying shame upon
us ; our hamlets, many of them, dark, ignorant, and
immoral ; our towns debauched and drunken.

Amid this much good exists, in which we do re-
loice, yea, and will rejoice ; but O ! the evil, the
evil is, day by day, breaking thousands of hearts,
ruining thousands of characters, and destroying
thousands of souls ! Looking abroad beyond the
one little sphere of Britain and America, which we
proud boasters of the two nations are prone to look
upon as being nearly the whole world — though we
are not one-twentieth of the human race — how
dreary and how lonely does the soul of the Chris-
tian feel, as it floats, in imagination, over the rest
of the earth ! That Europe, so learned, so splendid,
so brave — what misery is by its fireside ! what stains
upon its conscience ! what superstition, stoicism, or
despair around its death-beds ! And yonder bright
old Asia, where the " tongue of fire" first spoke —
how rare and how few are the scenes of moral
beauty which there meet the eye ! Instead of the

330 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

family, the seraglio; instead of religion, superst*
tion ; instead of peace, oppression ; instead of enter-
prise, war ; instead of morals, ceremonies ; instead
of a God, idols ; instead of refinement and growth,
corruption and collapse: here, there, thinly sown
and scarcely within sight one of the other, a school,
a book, a man of God — one star in a sky of dark-
ness. And poor Africa ! what is to become of the
present generation of her sons ? Thinly around her
coasts are beginnings of good things ; but O ! the
blood and darkness, and woe, the base superstition,
and the miserable cruelties, under which the major-
ity of her youth are now trained, amid which her
old men are going down to the grave !

All this existed a century ago, but was not then
known as we know it now. The world is not yet
explored by the Church, much less occupied ; but
the exploration at least is carried so far, that we
know its plagues as our fathers knew them not ;
and if our hearts were rightly affected, we should
weep over them as they never wept ; for, al-
though the spread of Christianity has greatly
multiplied the number of Christians, the increase
of population has been such, that more men are
sinning and suffering now, than were a hundred
years ago.

Taking the forces of the Church, comparing
them with the length and breadth of the world,

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 331

and then asking, " Are these ever to be the mean*
of converting all ?" we feel that only the promise
of God could inspire such a hope. But that pro-
mise is so confirmed, illustrated, and exalted by tre
success of the past century, that when we look
back to the few faithful men in this country and in
America, men in different circumstances and of dif-
ferent views, who then began in earnest to call the
Churches to their work, and see how far their
labors and those of their spiritual sons have ad-
vanced the kingdom of Christ beyond where it
stood then, we are led to say, " Suppose that all
the good men, now loving God and desiring His
glory, were but to be multiplied in equal ratio
during the next century, as those few have been
during the last century ; what an amazing stride
would be made toward the conversion of the whole
world !»

Is this too much to expect ? Are we to con-
clude, that the force of the animating Spirit is
spent, and that an age of feebleness must succeed
to one of power ? To do so is fearfully to disbe
lieve at once the goodness and the faithfulness ot
our God. Some say that, because populations bav«
become familiarized with the truths of the Gospel,
we are not to expect the same converting effects as
when those truths were new. If this be so, we
had better make way for a generation of rationalists
23

332 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

and formalists, to prepare the ground again for
spiritual cultivation ! Some say that, because the
age is so educated, intellectual, scientific, and in-
quisitive, men are not so susceptible of the influence
of Christianity. Then shall we wait for an age less
enlightened and less educated ? Some say that the
age is so unduly active, forcing enterprise and com-
merce to the point of absorbing every man, till
religion is pushed aside. Must we then wait for a
duller and more lethargic time ? Some say that
the Lord does not give us great success lest we
should be uplifted. Is it His way to promote humil-
ity by giving small results to great agencies, or by
giving great results to small ones ? And would
not results after the Pentecostal scale make any of
our agencies seem small ? These are miserable
withs wherewith to bind the giant Church of God.
Away with them every one ! After going round
all the reasons which one hears ordinarily assigned
for the greater direct success of Preachers in the
last century than now, our mind finds rest only in
that one reason, wThich carries a world of rebuke
and of humiliation to ourselves : they produced
greater effects, simply because of the greater power
of God within them.

Every ray of Gospel truth that exists in any man
is on our side. All intelligence, all intellectual
activity, all vigor of character, are more for us than

PKAOTIOAJ, LESSONS. 333

their opposites would be. In fact, they are very
much the fruit, the indirect and secondary fruit, of
the past triumphs of religion ; for it is impossible
that true godliness shall spread among any people,
without stimulating their intellectual and social
energies. It is hard to imagine a satire on the
Gospel more bitter than that it should be powerful
when new to men, and impotent when familiar ;
that it should be good for the half barbarous, but
not for those whom itself had refined ; capable of
captivating the inert, but incapable of commanding
the masculine and the energetic. We expect ages
not less instructed in Christian doctrine, bat far
more instructed ; not intellectually duller, but more
active ; not darker as to science and literature, but
inconceivably brighter ; not slower as to invention,
enterprise, and progress, but more vigorous by far.
And am I to return to " the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God," whereto I feel that I and mine, my
kindred, my country, the race from which I have
sprung, the lands in which I have traveled, are all
indebted for their purest and brightest things — and
say to it, " When these bright ages come, thou
ghalt lag behind, perhaps recollected as one of the
infantine instructors of the world, but distanced by
the progress of man ?" Let those who assign
reasons for our want of fruitfulhess which fairly
sow the seeds of rationalism, prepare to render an

334 THE TONGUE OF FTRE.

account when the fruit of their sowing comes to be
reaped.

There is a natural tendency in any movement to
lose intensity as it gains surface. When godliness
becomes the habit of large numbers, it is not ac-
cording to the laws of human nature that it should
retain, in every individual, all the fervor which it
must maintain, in order to exist at all, when it is
the peculiarity of an extremely few. But if this
fact is to be recognized, it must be remembered
that the disadvantage wThich it presents is easily
overcome by the power of grace ; and, indeed, a
natural counterpoise to this subduing tendency, in
practical religion, is offered in an equally natural ac-
cumulative tendency. That decrease of distinction
between the Church and the world which is so often
noticed, does not wholly arise from the Church be-
coming less Christian, but partly also from the
world becoming less wicked. The testimony of a
large number of decided men gradually and silently
imposes on the world a respect for Christian princi-
ples, till the world tacitly accepts many of its moral
aws and social standards at the hands of the Church.
Every concession of this kind is an advantage to
those Christians who mean to conquer all; while
it is a seduction to those who repose in the idea of
converting a small section of the people, leaving the
rest to live in sin.

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 335

Put the ungodly in a minority, then vice becomes
a social as well as a spiritual blemish, and religion
an outward as well as an inward comfort. As the
multitude of Christians goes on increasing, there ia
accumulative power of example, accumulative power
of teaching, accumulative power of prayers, accu-
mulative power of Christian training in families, ac-
cumulative power of purity in habits, all tending in
the one direction — to bring the public sentiment
under the dominion of Christ. Towns and villages
exist in this country where, within the memory of.
living men, very few godly persons were to be
found; but now one-tenth, one-seventh, and even
one-fifth in some cases, of their adult population,
are professing to follow Christ, and living more or
less worthily of that profession. Can any man help
feeling that the unconverted people in such a town
are much more likely to be converted than those
living where the proportion of the godly is not
more than one in a hundred, or one in a thousand ?
Who could not feel— who would not practically ac-
knowledge the feeling — of the accumulative power
of Christian progress, if he had to decide in which
of two towns his unconverted son should settle for
life — one with a believer to every thousand of the
population, or one with a believer to every ten ?
He would instantly say, " In the latter place the
prospects of my son's conversion are vastly greatei

336 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

than in the other." What we should feel in an in*
dividual case, we ought to feel on the great scale —
to gather strength and hope, not feebleness, from
past successes, and to become especially impatient
of the continuance of sinners in those fields where
notable triumphs of grace have already been achieved.
What the Canaanites were to the Israelites of old,
the unconverted dwelling in our towns and villages
are to us at this day. They confuse and weaken us,
they allure, they in snare us, they lead our children
astray, they rob us of the fruit of our schools, they
damp the zeal of our young converts, they entice
families into worldly practices, they tempt our
tradesmen, they infect our churches; and never,
until they are totally extirpated, can peace and
righteousness flourish in our coasts. Impatient of
their obstinacy everywhere, we ought to be espe
cially so where victories, won by those who have
preceded us, leave us comparatively little to do: for
the up-hill fight has been fought, the vantage-
ground gained, and now for the power to complete
the triumph! The entire converson of England
and America, within the next fifty years, would not
be so great a work for the Christians now existing,
as the progress made within the last hundred years
has been for the Christians then existing. Is it
rational to believe that God will less bless His serv-
ants in this nineteenth century that in the one that

PEACTICAL LESSORS. 337

J3 gone, if they be equally faithful ? or that He will
shower on this generation of ours less marked bene-
dictions than He did on the one to whom we are
ndebted for so much ?

The single consideration of past progress suffices
to prove that, on the ground of experience, we are
not warranted to conclude that the conversion of
the whole world is impossible. Much as may be
argued from the slowness of the past progress of
Christianity, the last century has so changed the as-
pect of affairs as now to cast the weight of the argu-
ment from experience decisively into the scale of
hope. Many, however, wTill continue to look upon
any consistent expectation of the general conversion
of men as illusory; the objections of some resting
on their views of the constancy of human nature,
certain, they think, hereafter as heretofore, to pre-
sent great numbers of unconquerable opponents to
holiness ; while others take higher ground, and be-
lieve that the general conversion of our race is con
traiy to the purpose of God.

When the question, " Is the conversion of the
whole world possible ?" is fairly put, the plain an-
swer to it is obviously this : " It is possible, unless
it be contrary to the will of God." If He has or-
dalned that it is not to be, an infinite obstacle op
poses it ; if He has not so ordained, the obstacles

338 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

which oppose it are finite, and therefore conquer
able. Christians can overcome all things but a de*
cree of God.

Has He, then, given us any declaration that He
does not intend to renew the earth, as a whole, in
righteousness ? We do not mean to hold any con-
troversy with those who have deliberately adopted
the view, that the Christian dispensation is a kind
of interlude between the Lord's lifetime upon
earth, and a future earthly reign, meanwhile, bear-
ing witness in His name ; a witness, for the conver-
sion of a few, and the condemnation of the many.
We leave them with the praise of being perfectly
consistent, in expecting small results from the
preaching of the Gospel ; and with the responsibil-
ity of looking on that Gospel in a light which war-
rants little faith.

We deal with those who regard the Gospel as
bond fide " good news" for every creature — " good
news" which those who heard it before me were
bound to tell to me — " good news" which I am
bound to tell to every creature living, according to
the extent of my opportunities — " good news"
to the effect that " the grace of God, which bring,
eth salvation to all men, hath appeared" — news
which could not be told to me as good, if it left
any doubt whether it was or was not for me —
" good news" to every creature, " a Gospel for thee."

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 339

We take the first two aim oun cements by a
preacher under the Christian dispensation, to audi-
ences of sinners, as intended for our instruction and
jmitation : " Repent, and be baptized every one
of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remis-
sion of sins ;" " God, having raised up His Son
Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away
every one of you from his iniquities." Declara-
tions less direct, personal, or comprehensive than
these, we have no manner of authority to deliver.
We are to " command all men everywhere to re-
pent," to call upon every one of them to believe, to
assure every one of them that Christ is "sent to bles?
him in turning him away from his iniquities."

Nor are we to make such proclamations under the
feeling that, although it is our duty to do it, there
is no intention on the part of God to second our
testimony and give it effect. Hope in the result
sustained the Apostle in his work, according to his
own avowal ; for. he says, " Therefore we both
labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the
living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially
of those that believe." This trust in the God and
Saviour of all was enough to animate any man in
labor and under reproach ; and such a trust we
should never cast away.

The question, whether or not the conversions of
the first ages ought to be looked back to by us,* as a

340 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

standard at which to aim, is settled by one of the
passages already quoted. After joyfully describing
the conversion of the Church in Ephesus, where
" the word of the Lord" so " mightily grew and
prevailed," St. Paul says, that God has done this,

u THAT IX THE AGES TO COME He MIGHT SHOW THE

Exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness
toward as through Christ Jesus." We are living in
what were, then, " the ages to come." On us the
light of those " exceeding riches of grace" is shin-
ing— shining for our encouragement — shining that
we may believe that in heathen cities, where great
Dianas are adored, we also shall see " the word of
God mightily grow and prevail," heathen rites aban-
doned, bad books consumed, and the craft of idol-
makers destroyed.

While this collective number of conversions is
given to us as an encouragement, the most remark-
able of all individual conversions is placed before us
in the same light. " Howbeit," says St. Paul, " for
this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all long-sufferin g,for a pat-
tern to them which should hereafter believe on Him
to life everlasting?'' Thus we are deliberately fore-
warned to take the most singular conversion that
ever occurred in the early Church, not as a dis-
couragement because of its speciality, but as an in-
tentional manifestation of the wonderful grace oi

PKACT1CAI LESSORS. 341

the Keaeemer, by which every shmei in all ages
who would fain " find mercy," may encourage him
self. The persecutor Paul, converted and forgiven
is for a pattern to individual believers in " the ages
to come." The great multitude of "children of
wrath" in Ephesus who were made to " sit in heav-
enly places in Christ Jesus," are also to us, of " the
ages to come," a pattern of the " exceeding riches
of grace." Whether our faith be tried in respect to
the possibility of the conversion of an individual as
unlikely as Saul, or of a number as great as the
Church of Ephesus, in either case we should believe
that the ancient grace is free and mighty this day.
Thus trusting in " God, who is the Saviour of all
men," we shall both cheerfully " labor and suffer re-
proach."

The same relation which we have shown to exist
between hope and labor, is also pointed out to us,
as existing between hope and prayer. " I exhort,
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all
men." Here no one doubts that w^e are literally
commanded to pray for every human being ; but if
we did not carefully attend to the context, we
might run away with a vague idea, that we wera
only to pray as an expression of good-will, and that
for temporal and national blessings, especially as
allusion is made to "kings, and all that are in

342 THE TONOUE OF FIRE.

authority ;" — that, in fact, the " prayers, and suppli-
cations, and intercessions, and giving of thanks, for
all men," do not mean that we are to pray, suppli-
cate, and intercede, that all men may be saved and
come to the knowledge of the truth ; for that
would only be asking what God wills should never
be, and therefore what could not be acceptable to
Him. But, as if expressly to anticipate this unbe-
lief, the Apostle adds, " For this is good and ac-
ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour ; who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowl-
edge of the truth. For there is one God, and one
Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ
Jesus ; who gave Himself a ransom for all, a testi
mony* in due time."

Here our encouragement in prayer, supplication,
and intercession for all men, is grounded first on the
clear declaration that such prayer is " good and ac-
ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour ;" — " our
Saviour" giving intensity to the expression, as if re-
minding us that He who has saved us, must be one
to whom it is good and acceptable, that we should
seek the salvation of all. It is further grounded on
the express declaration of His will regarding others^
that He " will have them to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth." Here is not

* "We give the marginal reading, which is a literal transla*
tion ; the other is, " to be testified in due time."

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 343

only the assurance that we are right in praying that
they may be saved, but right in praying that the
truth may be brought to all, and that they may be
Baved thro ugh its instrumentality ; praying, in fact
for the universal diffusion of Christ's Gospel, and
the universal salvation of men in consequence. It
is further supported on the ground of the unity of
God, the unity of the Mediator between God and
men, and the unity of man as regarded by His me-
diating atonement : " One God, and one Mediator be-
tween God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave
Himself a ransom for all, a testimony in due time."
We have, then, the clear example of the first
preachers, the express declaration that the early
conversions were as a pattern for the ages to come,
the statement that trust in God as the Saviour of all
men was the animating strength under apostolic toil
and shame, the command to pray for all, and the
most formally stated warrant for such prayers bold-
ly to lay hold upon the promises of God.

Many who will admit that the scriptural argu-
ment points in this direction, yet, looking at human
nature, the present condition of mankind, the pro*
portion of Christian agency to population, and the
past career of man, will, on the whole, conclude
that the conversion of the world is not to be ex-
Dected. They will also ask us how w^ can recon-

344 TUE TONGUE OF FIRE

cile such an expectation with the free agency oi
man. We will no further answer them than by re-
calling the fact, that every additional conversion to
some extent, however slight, changes the condition
of society, and, in so doing, affects the motives
which act upon the unconverted, throwing a great-
er weight upon the side of goodness. A few more
decided advances on the part of the Church, in
some countries of Christendom, would cast a pre-
ponderating weight of social motives on the side
of godliness, leaving little to be contended against
but the natural depravity of man's heart, which,
even in the purest condition of society, would be
enough to demand the most zealous care for the
conversion of each human being.

This bears first on the general question of nat-
ural motives, next on the particular one as to rec-
onciling faith, for the general regeneration of men,
with their free agency. We readily admit that,
logically, we can not reconcile them, and certainly
we are not anxious to attempt it. All the diffi-
culties which meet us in soberly expecting the con-
version of the entire world, equally meet us in so*
berly expecting the conversion of an entire family
Every question of free agency, motives, human na-
ture, past experience, which enters into the one,
enters into the other, though on a smaller scale.
But it is only the scale that differs, the elements are

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 345

the same. Yet who that has felt the faith and love
of Christ within him, and has kindred dear to his
own heart, has not again and again pleaded that
they might all appear, "no wanderer lost, a family
iii heaven ?" Who does^ot feel that to exercise
faith that such a prayer shall bo answered, is good
and wise, and acceptable to God ? In fact, all the
difficulty exists as to faith for the conversion of any
one individual.

The difference between preaching the Gospel
with a full expectation of doing no more than sav-
ing small companies of saints from amid multitudes
of sinners, on whose shipwreck no influence is to be
exercised beyond holding them a light to sink by,
and of looking upon eve. y converted man as one
rescued from a common d anger, who is immediately
to join in rescuing the re^t — is such, that in the one
case, when a little is accomplished, it is looked upon
as what the Gospel was sent to do ; while, in the
other case, every little is taken as but an earnest of
the great, and the great as an earnest of the uni-
versal. While we aim at few, we shall win but
few ; for, that our successes shall take their proper
tions from our faith, is the universal law of the
service of Christ.

Should we be wrong in our views — should it be
contrary to the design of our Lord to concert alJ

346 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

our race by the preaching of His word, and the out-
pouring of His Spirit — should it be His purpose to
leave the earth much as it is until He concludes its
mournful story in thunder-claps of judgment —
should that consummation be nigh, and. the last
trumpet be already beginning to fill with the breath
of the archangel, yet surely, if we, under the illusion
of our belief, are found panting, praying, laboring,
if by any means we might save some, that blast
might cause us a pang for the multitudes whom it
found unwarned ; but no pang because we had been
busy in warning, exhorting, entreating ; no pang
because we had done so in faith, that our Lord
willed all men to come to the knowledge of the
truth.

Suppose, on the other hand, that there is even a
possibility of our being right, that the grace of God
which has appeared to us really is " good tidings"
for every creature ; that the truth so precious to
our nation and to our own souls is not decreed
away from any part of the human family by the
great Saviour above us ; that He does mean that
literally every creature should hear it from the lips
of His servants, that literally the whole earth
should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
that literally " the ages to come" should take the
early conversions as the type of their expectations,
and should embrace all men in their supplications

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 347

and their labors; should all this be true, and we
spend our strength in observing the clouds, and the
judgments, and the trumpets, telling those who are
calling the nations that they may call, but they will
accomplish little thereby — as far as in us lies steal-
ing the nerve from their arm and the fire from
their voice ; should we in the midst of this die, and
find " ages to come" yet advancing, then, perhaps,
we might feel as if the Scripture had been neglect-
ed by us, which says, " He that observeth the wind
shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds
shall not reap." Futurity, judgments, and provi-
dential designs, lie within the unshared province of
God ; and none need make it his chief concern to
settle or to ascertain them. A world of sinning and
suffering men, each one of them my own brother,
calls on me for work, work, work. I may trust the
future, and the time of restoring Israel, to better
hands than mine.

In hope, or without hope, let us be up and doing.
Encouragements are on every hand, and so are
menaces. The enlightened, the true, the zealous,
are many ; the wicked and the slothful are fearfully
more. The number of the former has been grow-
ing by conversions, the number of the latter grow-
ing faster by the natural increase of population.
The appliances for Christian propagation are vast ;

the faith of many in their efficacy feeble. The
24

348 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

doctrines of Christianity are known and prized by
multitudes who never knew them before ; but, on
the other hand, there are few of the Churches, in
the very heart of which those doctrines are not be-
trayed. One would rob us of the incarnation of
God, another of the Spirit of God, another of aa
atonement, another of providence, another of
prayer ; some of regenerating grace, some of min-
isterial unction, some of primitive fervor, some of
a Lord's day ; some would launch us on a sea of
thought without an inspired guide ; others on a
moral universe without punishment for wrong ;
thus nearly every truth that distinguishes the sys-
tem of Christianity from earthly inventions, is at-
tacked by mining or by battery. We are not sure
but truth is sometimes spoken when little good
ensues ; we are sure that error is never issued into
the world without doing harm ; and there are-
strong men now doing work over which, unless
others, made stronger by the might of God, undo
it, generations to come will have reason to weep.
For all who can not bear to see the Cross betrayed,
the Holy Ghost grieved, the oracles of God de-
graded, the work of the Spirit in the human soul
reduced to a process of motives and emotions, and
every Divine tie that connects us, as a redeemed
race, with a redeeming Father, skillfully cut asunder ;
— for those who are not prepared to see the

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 349

Churches of England and America pass through
blights such as have befallen the Churches of Swit-
zerland, Germany, and other Protestant regions of
the Continent, this is a moment when the air seems
full of trumpet-notes, when every step taken on
doctrinal ground raises the echo of warning. And,
alas ! many wTho dogmatically repel error evaporate
in intellectualism ; others decay, under a silvered
mildew of respectability ; and others, professing to
seek the old Christianity, content themselves with
garnishing the sepulcher in which the Middle Ages
buried her, instead of seeking that her first preach-
ers, in the persons of other men, but in the " spirit
and power" of Peters and Pauls, should be raised
up once more !

We will bless every laborer for any service done
toward the maintenance and advance of the truth,
for every good word spoken, every sound argument
uttered from the pulpit, every page of evangelical
truth written, and every rebuke administered in
any way to those who would falsify our faith ; but,
et them be assured that more than all other
services, turning many away from iniquity will
counterwork and confound attempts to reduce
Christianity from a Divine to a human system.
This is the practical answer to difficulties and
objections. Let us only have multitudes of new
born Christians, fervent in faith and hope, full of

350 THE TONGUE OF MKE.

love and of good works, and rationa lists may ac«
count for the phenomenon as they will ; but the
common conscience of mankind will feel that
God is in it. " Beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, they could say nothing
against it."

The one reason for being zealous for Christian
doctrine which so far surpasses all others that beside
it they become as nothing, is that given by St.
Paul to Timothy: "Take heed unto thyself, and
unto the doctrine ; continue in them : for in doing
this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that
hear thee." What a motive ! Saving, first, our-
selves— then, those that hear us : the sublime can
go no further ! Here we have set before our hearts,
soliciting us onward, motives which we acknowledge
have already moved the very heart of the Godhead.
To save ! as an instrument, it is true ; but O, how
infinitely glorious, even as an instrument, to save !
and that, not only ourselves, but others ! While,
on the one hand, guarding " the doctrine" is the
only means of retaining saving power in the Church ;
on the other, no guard upon the doctrine will ever
be effectual unless we can raise up a succession of
saved men.

Creeds, Catechisms, Confessions, are not to be
treated as is now the fashion in many quarters to
treat them ; but, when kept in their proper place,

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 351

as human and fallible, and strong only when they
accord with God's holy oracles, have a high utility
But the idea of relying upon these for conserving
the truth in any Church, is as well-founded as would
be the idea of relying on a good military code for
defending a nation. An army of cowards would
interpret any code down to their own level, and
Churches and unconverted men will equally lower
any confession of faith. For rescuing souls, for
rebuking blasphemy, for building up God's holy
Church, for glorifying the Saviour's name on earth,
for our own joy and crown of rejoicing, for the
bliss of covering a multitude of sins, for the eternal
delight of having saved a soul from death, let us
aim at one work — bringing sinners from dark-
ness to light. Of all the records of praise which
our merciful Lord will give His servants, wTho
would not most covet that his record should be ? —
■ ■ The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity
was not found in his lips. He walked with Me in
peace and equity, and did turn many away from
iniquity !"

Ye that are lights and fathers in the ministry,
whose very name is a power, whose tone decides
that of many young evangelists, whose standard of
faith and success regulates the practical expectations
of many humble Christians — O, show us the wray
to victory, lead us to downright conquests ovej

352 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

this cold and sinful world ! What if, ere ye go
hence, ye should leave to your successors a glorious
tradition of multitudes broken under the power of
the word, of notorious sinners suddenly transformed
into bright examples of grace, of throngs of in
quirers asking the way to heaven with tears, of
Churches once dying easily, roused, through your
instrumentality, to apostolic zeal ? If ye but leave
behind you such traditions to be told, and told
again, to children, and to children's children, your
" tongue of fire" will be multiplying itself in the
homesteads of your people, when your voice has
long been silent ; and the fruit of your labor will go
on propagating itself, until the trump of the arch-
angel sounds.

Ye who are but entering on the work of the
ministry, or are as yet young in its ranks, choose,
among all those who have gone before you, whose
fame you would prefer. Take the host of those
who have trifled with the Cross, with inspiration,
with the fall and the redemption of man, with the
work of the Spirit, or any of the other vital doc-
trines of our religion ; and if you find among them
one man whose name, after ages, is dear to a nation,
sacred in the homesteads of thousands to whose
ancestors he was a blessing — then follow him. If
you find among those who gave themselves to
intellectual pleasures, and were above the plain

PRACTICAL LESSONS. 353

rough work of revivals and awakenings, one who
has left a memory which is to this day blessed, rais-
ing up even now spiritual children to perpetuate
his fruits to other generations — you may follow
him. But surely you would never think of follow-
ing in the track of those whose labors have been
succeeded by a blight, or whose names, if remem-
bered at all, are remembered, not as a blessing to
the world, but simply as an example of talent ?
Surely you would wish rather to be one of those
whom grandsires shall speak of, to their grand-
children, as having been the means of saving such
a man, of kindling such a revival, of introducing a
new religious era into the history of such a village,
or of first carrying the Gospel to some people to
whom Christ was a stranger ? You will find that
all those upon whose memories the blessings of liv-
ing men rest, were those who most gave themselves
to accomplish the salvation of sinners, wTho gloried
in the Cross, who trusted in the Holy Ghost, and
who, whether their tongue was that of a Boanerges,
or that of a Barnabas, ever took care, by solitary
waiting before the Redeemer's throne, to have it so
imbued with the Holy Ghost, that it was, at least, a
" tongue of fire."

"We do not feel that we have said what we had
to say. In looking over this little book, we can

354 THE TONGUE OF FIRE.

hardly believe that it is all that the feelings
and thoughts with which we began it have pro-
duced. But, such as it is, let it go out to the world,
to be rebuked where it errs, to be unheeded where
it is feeble, to be blessed where it is true and
strong.

And now, adorable Spirit, proceeding from
the Father and the Son, descend upon all the
Churches, renew the Pentecost in this our age,
and baptize Thy people generally — O, baptize them
yet again with tongues of fire ! Crown this nine-
teenth century with a revival of " pure and undo
filed religion" greater than that of the last century,
greater than that of the first, greater than any
" demonstration of the Spirit" ever yet vouchsafed
to men !

THE END.

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VOL. I.

BRUNO ; or7 Lessons of Fidelity, Patience, and Self-De-

nial Taught by a Dog.
WILLIE AND THE MORTGAGE : showing How

Much may be Accomplished by a Boy.
THE STRAIT GATE; or, The Rule of Exclusion from

Heaven.

VOL. II.
THE LITTLE LOUVRE ; or, The Boys' and Girls'

P ic ture-G allery .
PRANK ; or, The Philosophy of Tricks and Mischief.
EMMA ; or, The Three Misfortunes of a Belle.

VOL. III.

VIRGINIA ; or, A Little Light on a Very Dark Saying.

TIMBOO AND JOLIBA ; or, The Art cf Being Useful.

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VOL. V.
THE STORY OF ANCIENT HISTORY, from the

Earliest Periods to the Fall of the Roman Empire.
THE STORY OF ENGLISH HISTORY, from the

Earliest Periods to the American Revolution.
THE STORY OF AMERICAN HISTORY, from

the Earliest Settlement of the Country to the Establish*

ment of the Federal Constitution.

Books by the Abbotts.

VOL. VI.
JOHN TRUE ; or, The Christian Experience of an Hon-
est Boy.
ELFRED ; or, The Blind Boy and his Pictures.
THE MUSEUM ; or, Curiosities Explained.

VOL. VII.
THE ENGINEER ; or, How to Travel in the Woods.
RAMBLES AMONG THE ALPS.
THE THREE GOLD DOLLARS ; or, An Account of
the Adventures of Eobin Green.

VOL. VIII.
THE GIBRALTAR GALLERY: being an Account

of various Things both Curious and Useful.
THE ALCOVE : containing some Farther Account of

Timboo, Mark, and Fanny.
DIALOGUES for the Amusement and Instruction of

Young Persons.

VOL. IX.
THE GREAT ELM ; or, Robin Green and Josiah Lane

at School.
AUNT MARGARET ; or, How John True kept his

Resolutions.
VERNON ; or, Conversations about Old Times in Englind.

VOL. X.
CARL AND JOCKO; or, The Adventures of the Little

Italian Boy and his Monkey.
LAPSTONE ; or, The Sailor turned Shoemaker.
ORKNEY, THE PEACEMAKER; or, The Various

Ways of Settling Disputes.

VOL. XI.
JUDGE JUSTIN; or, The Little Court of Morningdate.
MINIGO ; or, The Fairy of Cairnstone Abbey.
JASPER ; or, The Spoiled Child Recovered.

VOL. XII.

CONGO ; or, Jasper's Experience in Command.
VIOLA and her Little Brother Arno.
LITTLE PAUL ;* or, How to be Patient in Sickness and
Pain.

Some of the Story Books are written particularly for girls, and
some for Boys, and the different Volumes are adapted to various
ages, so that the work forms a Complete Library of Story Boohs for
all the Children of the Family and the Sunday-School.

Boohs by the Abbotts.

ABBOTTS' ILLUSTRATED HISTORIES.

Biographical Histories. By Jacob Abbott and John S.
C.Abbott. The Volumes of this Series are printed and
bound uniformly, and are embellished with numerous Engrav-
ings. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00 per volume. Price of the set (32'
vols.), $32 00.

A series of volumes containing severally full accounts of the lives,
characters, and exploits of the most distinguished sovereigns, po-
tentates, and rulers that have been chiefly renowned among man-
kind, in the various ages of the world, from the earliest periods to
the present day.

The successive volumes of the series, though they each contain
the life of a single individual, and constitute thus a distinct and in-
dependent work, follow each other in the main, in regular historical
order, and each one continues the general narrative of history down
to the period at which the next volume takes up the story ; so that
the whole series presents to the reader a connected narrative of the
line of general history from the present age back to the remotest
times.

The narratives are intended to be succinct and comprehensive, and
are written in a very plain and simple style. They are, however, not
juvenile in their character, nor intended exclusively for the young.
The volumes are sufficiently large to allow each history to comprise
all* the leading facts in the life of the personage who is the subject
of it, and thus to communicate all the information in respect to him
which is necessary for the purposes of the general reader.

Such being the design and character of the works, they would
seem to be specially adapted, not only for family reading, but also
for district, town, school, and Sunday-school libraries, as well as for
text-books in literary seminaries.

The plan of the series, and the manner in which the design has
been carried out by the author in the execution of it, have been high-
ly commended by the press in all parts of the country. The whole
series has been introduced into the school libraries of several cf the
largest and most influential states.

Abraham Lincoln's Opinion of Abbotts' Histories. — In a con*
versation with the President just before his death, Mr. Lincoln said: "1
want to thank you and your brother for A bbotts? series of Histories. 1
have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of volu*
Tninous historians ; and if I had, I have no time to read them. Exit
your series of Histories gives me, in brief compass, just that knowledge
of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the great*
est interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowl-
edge 1 have."

Books by the Abbotts.

CYRUS THE GREAT.

DARIUS THE GREAT

XERXES.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

ROMULUS.

HANNIBAL.

PYRRHUS.

JULIUS CffiSAR.

CLEOPATRA.

NERO.

ALFRED THE GREAT.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.

RICHARD I.

RICHARD II.

RICHARD III.

MARY QUEEN OP SCOTS.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

CHARLES I.

CHARLES II.

JOSEPHINE.

MARIA ANTOINETTE.

MADAME ROLAND.

HENRY IV.

PETER THE GREAT.

GENGHIS KHAN.

KING PHILIP.

HERNANDO CORTEZ.

MARGARET OF AN JO U.

JOSEPH BONAPARTE.

QUEEN HORTENSE.

LOUIS XIV.

LOUIS PHILIPPE.

Books by the Abbotts.

THE LITTLE LEARNER SERIES.

A Series for Very Young Children. Designed to Assist in
the Earliest Development of the Mind of a Child, while under
its Mother's Special Care, during the first Five or Six Years
of its Life. By Jacob Abbott. Beautifully Illustrated.
Complete in 5 Small 4to Volumes, Cloth, 90 cents per Vol.
Price of the set, in case, $-4 50.

LEARNING TO TALK ; or, Entertaining and Instruct-
ive Lessons in the Use of Language. 1 70 Engravings.

LEARNING TO THINK: consisting of Easy and En-
tertaining Lessons, designed to Assist in the First Unfold-
ing of the Reflective and Reasoning Powers of Children.
120 Engravings.

LEARNING TO READ ; consisting of Easy and En-
tertaining Lessons, designed to Assist Young Children in
Studying the Forms of the Letters, and in beginning to
Read. 160 Engravings.

LEARNING ABOUT COMMON THINGS; or

Familiar Instruction for Children in respect to the Ob-
jects around them that attract their Attention and awaken
their Curiosity in the Earliest Years of Life. 120 En-
gravings.

LEARNING ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG; or,

Entertaining and Instructive Lessons for Young Children
in respect to their Dutv. 90 Engravings.

Books by the Abbotts.

KINGS AND QUEENS ; or, Life in the Palace : con-
sisting of Historical Sketches of Josephine and Maria Lou-
isa, Louis Philippe, Ferdinand of Austria, Nicholas, Isa-
bella II., Leopold, Victoria, and Louis Napoleon. By
John S. C. Abbott. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.

A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND : a Narrative of Ob-
servations and Adventures made by the Author during a
Summer spent among the Glens and Highlands in Scot-
land. By Jacob Abbott. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.

THE ROMANCE OF SPANISH HISTORY. By

John S. C. Abbott. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.

THE TEACHER. Moral Influences Employed in the
Instruction and Government of the Young. By Jacob
Abbott. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.

GENTLE MEASURES IN TRAINING THE
YOUNG. Gentle Measures in the Management and
Training of the Young ; or, The Principles on which a
Firm Parental Authority may be Established and Main-
tained without Violence or Anger, and the Bight Devel-
opment of the Moral and Mental Capacities be Promoted
by Methods in Harmony with the Structure and the Char-
acteristics of the Juvenile Mind. A Book for the Parents
of Young Children. By Jacob Abbott. Illustrated.
12mo, Cloth, $1 75.

By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.

CHILD AT HOME.

The Child at Home ; or, the Principles of Filial Duty famil*
iarly Illustrated. By John S. C. Abbott. Woodcuts.
16mo, Cloth, $1 00.

The duties and trials peculiar to the child are explained and il-
lustrated in this volume in the same clear and attractive manner
in which those of the mother are set forth in the " Mother at Home."
These two works may be considered as forming a complete manual
of filial and maternal relations.

MOTHER AT HOME.

The Mother at Home ; or, the Principles of Maternal Duty
familiarly Illustrated. By John S. C. Abbott. Engrav-
ings. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00.

This book treats of the important questions of maternal responsi-
bility and authority ; of the difficulties which the mother will ex-
perience, the errors to which she is liable, the methods and plans
she should adopt ; of the religious instruction which she should
impart, and of the results which she may reasonably hope will fol-
low her faithful and persevering exertions. These subjects are
illustrated with the felicity characteristic of all the productions of
the author.

PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.

Practical Christianity. A Treatise specially designed for
Young Men. By John S. C. Abbott. 16mo, Cloth,

$1 00.

It is characterized by the simplicity of style and appositeness of
illustration which make a book easily read and readily understood.
It is designed to instruct and interest young men in the effectual
truths of Christianity. It comes down to their plane of thought,
and, in a genial, conversational way, strives to lead them to a life
of godliness.— Watchman and Reflector.

It abounds in wise and practical suggestions.— N. Y. Commercial
Advertiser,

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