CITY-ROAD MAGAZINE.

JUNE, 1876.

DIFFUSION OF THE SPIRIT'S INFLUENCE.

BY REV. BISHOP SIMPSON, D.D., LL.D., OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall pro y, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: aud it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."-ACTS ii. 16-21,

THE greatest scene which the earth ever witnessed had just been consummated. The Son of God had closed His teachings upon earth; had offered Himself a sacrifice for the sins of men; had risen triumphant from the grave, and had ascended up into glory. Before His departure He had said, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." He had received the promise of His Father, that when He ascended on high and led captivity captive, He should receive gifts for men, even for the rebellious; and this promise of the Father, to send down the precious gift from heaven of the Holy Spirit, Who should be a Comforter and Sustainer, Who should lead into all wisdom and prepare for all work, was about to be fulfilled. The disciples, who had been scattered at the death of Christ, had come together; they had been comforted by the appearance of Christ among them; He had been in their midst; they had walked with Him; they had talked with Him; for forty days He had been seen of them; and then, from the summit of Olivet, He had been received up into glory. The disciples who first met in the upper room, growing bold under the influence of the Holy Spirit, had commenced holding meetings in the temple, and on the morning of the day of Pentecost, the feast of weeks, when great multitudes were in Jerusalem, they were together in the temple.

On the morning of the day of Pentecost, the great day of that feast, the little Church, which, we are informed in a previous chapter, consisted of one hundred and twenty men and women, was by some means, either by previous notification or simply by that attraction of spirit

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which draws the good together, in their place of meeting where they should combine in worship. "They were all with one accord in one place," early in the morning, and while they were engaged in prayer and asking for the descent of the Holy Spirit, doubtless into the place where they were, came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, 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 utterance." Hearing of this wonderful appearance, the crowds came rushing to where the disciples were, and " every man heard them speak in his own language," wherein he was born, "the wonderful works of God." There was universal amazement. Some said simply, "What meaneth this ?” Others said, "These men are full of new wine." And then Peter, with the eleven disciples, stood up and explained the wonderful phenomenon, and said to them in the language we have selected, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." Joel lived eight hundred years before this. In some of the dark days of Judah and Israel he had prophesied. The people were wandering from God; they were about to be scattered for their sins into all lands; and yet Joel, eight hundred years before, saw, in the visions of prophecy, a glorious day; he saw the consummation of the promises to the fathers, the coming of Christ, His triumphant ascension to glory, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and he had said that in the last days the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh, and then that certain scenes should happen, which Peter declared were then being fulfilled. On that occasion, and in that presence, and from this text of Joel, he proceeded to preach a most convincing sermon, a part of which we have recorded here. As an exposition of the facts connected with this case, it is said, "And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation ;" and the result was, that three thousand souls were converted, and "added to the Church,” that day.

Now, this lesson of Holy Writ is given to us for our edification. The little Church had met in prayer-meeting. I have no doubt they spoke often to each other of the wonderful things that had occurred, the more hopeful comforting the more doubtful. They had looked forward to what our Saviour meant by the promise of the Father and the descent of the Spirit; though, I suppose, they understood comparatively little of it. The event would give them full knowledge.

But to-day, in looking back at this occurrence, I think we see in it a lesson for all ages, for the Church at all times. Would it not be well to go back to the first days, and to see how the Church manifested its power when God poured out His Spirit upon it; or what influence it was thus enabled to exercise upon the world; and see if possibly we might get some lessons that may abide with us, and create an influence which may be felt

all over the land? It is good to call to mind the former days, and to dwell upon the power of God as manifested among the early Christians.

I notice, in the first place, that the leading thought of this text appears to be the wonderful diffusion of the work of the Holy Spirit.-Under the Old Testament dispensation, men received the Holy Spirit. The Psalmist sang beautifully; the Prophets prophesied beautifully; Ezekiel saw the Spirit of God coming down on the valley of dry bones, and the bones living; the Spirit of God was represented as coming down like the dew from heaven, and as water on the thirsty land; but we notice that the work for which the Holy Spirit particularly prepared men was confined comparatively to a very few. In the first place, there was but one nation visited by the outward influences of the Spirit. The Jews were the special people of God, and among them were signs, wonders and miracles performed. But how small a country did the Jewish people inhabit !—a country not so large even as one of our middle-sized States: a speck, comparatively, on the face of the earth! How small a part of the people of the world were the Jewish people !—a fraction merely.

Then, again, out of this Jewish people was selected about the onetwelfth who should, in all the sacred services, minister in holy things. The larger part of these were merely workmen, who should take down and set up the tabernacle when they were travelling; attend to the offices in the temple; the cleansing and purification of the temple, and the preparation and offering of the sacrifice; while the higher forms of worship were confined to the very few who ministered in courses as priests, and to the high-priest, who only went in once a year, alone, into the holy of holies. Occasionally, outside of this Levitical service, there was raised up a prophet of some other tribe, to show that the Spirit of God was not limited to any one family. And yet, if we take the number who worked in holy things among the Jews, they were comparatively few. Now the prophecy was, that the days were coming when the Spirit was to be poured on all flesh, and all should be called upon to work for God. This, I think, is the spirit of the prophecy: "I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.” This was to be in "the last days;" and Peter expressly referred the time to the Christian dispensation; and the Christian dispensation is distinguished for the outpouring of the Spirit-not on ministers, not on priests, not on prophets, not on leading men, not on exhorters or Class-leaders, or the older men of the Church only, but on the entire family of the Lord Jesus Christ: "I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh."

But sometimes a general declaration loses its force, and men are disposed somewhat to limit it. They say it is figurative. As if to prevent this the prophet specifies, " and your sons"-speaking of all the people"and your daughters shall prophesy," bringing it right home to our families. The blessing comes to our children; and the Apostle repeated afterward: "For the promise is unto you, and to your children." Our

sons and daughters shall prophesy. And then, as if to show that no age should be left out, he says, "And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

Now, I understand by this merely a repetition of the other language as to prophesying; that is, sometimes prophecy came in visions and sometimes in dreams. The form of it was immaterial; but whether the people of God be young or old, on them the Spirit of God is poured out; and from the time the heart is baptized by the Spirit in youth until the time when the tongue shall lose its power in old age, all may have the gift of prophecy.

And then, as if to make it still more general, the prophet continues: "And on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy." That is, the phrase is used here literally for the poorest, for those engaged in menial occupations, actual servants in the families of the Jews-on the servants, both men and women; it is not merely the generic term for servants of God, but those who occupied servile conditions in society.

Now, how could there be a more sweeping declaration ? First, "upon all flesh;" secondly, "your sons and your daughters;" thirdly, on all the young people and old people; and, lastly, on all the servants, both men and women! Could there be a more suggestive catalogue? Where is the person left out? It embraces all, like the rich grace of God, coming to every Christian; and under this dispensation the measure of the Spirit is given "to profit withal."

But it is said that the work for which the Spirit is poured out is the work of prophecy. Now the word prophesy sometimes means foreseeing visions, or foretelling future events. But from the fact that prophets spake of Divine and unseen things, the word passed into representing all who talked of religious subjects-all who talked about God, the Almighty, the unseen; all who talked about the invisible, the heart experience, the triumphs of grace, the coming of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ; and in this sense I understand that a mission is given, by the descent of the Spirit, to every person to prophesy-that is, to talk of the things of God. As we sometimes sing, "to tell the old, old story;" that is, wherever there is a heart touched with light and with grace, there is a tongue given to speak of that light and of that grace to associated human beings; and the Spirit comes down upon men to fit them for this great work.

There is in the Holy Scriptures, as I read them, a twofold mission attributed to the Holy Spirit. Thus John the Baptist says, in speaking of the coming of Christ, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Now, although the Holy Spirit is the author of all giftsbestows inward comfort and gives outward power-yet I understand that there are two purposes spoken of very frequently as the gifts of the Spirit;

one of them, that of being "filled with the Holy Ghost," or "baptized with the Holy Ghost," and the other, the "baptism of fire;" andthough I have no objections to the opinions of others as to this, who may not see altogether as I do I understand by the former the inward work of the Holy Spirit on the heart, as the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the sealing of believers, the remission of sins, the regeneration of the soul, the sanctification of all its powers. God has put us here for two purposes to be very pure and like Christ ourselves, and then to become. very active and like Christ toward other people. Thus the Apostle said, for him "to live" was "Christ;" that is, he was to act Christ, and be in Christ's place; and every human being is to be as a Christ, in a certain sense, to somebody; to live so like Christ that in their eyes shall sparkle the light of Christ's grace, in their lips shall be shown the seasonableness of Christ's words. They are to be a comfort, and joy, and strength, and power to society. And different persons have different degrees of these two spheres; and I think different minds are fixed, to some extent, on these two spheres. There are some people that seem to put all their religión simply in this personal work on the heart, and I prize it very highly. I would be pure, I would be clean, I would have the Holy Spirit to sit on my heart like the refiner's fire and purifier of silver, until men and angels can look in on my heart, and see there the majesty of my blessed Saviour reflected to all around! I would be so. But there are many that limit their ideas of religious life chiefly to this line of thought, and the great object for which they live is simply to be as happy as possible in themselves; and the language of such persons very generally is, that they want to enjoy themselves, and when they meet the great question is, "How do you enjoy yourself?" Now, my friends, I do not know how it is with you, but I never did enjoy myself much; I don't think I ever shall. Self is a very poor thing to enjoy, and my soul is never happy but when I enjoy the visitations of Christ, and I forget myself and look out from myself and see Christ, and in His light I see light, and become happy in the enjoyment of Christ. I enjoy Christ in my brethren, in their songs and prayers, in their meetings, and in their association.

But then there is another class of people that get away from this idea of personal enjoyment, and place the whole of religion in what they can do for others. They are active in doing good, according to their sphere, but they think very little about the religious experience within. Now I understand these two lines to be united in the perfect Christian. There is the personal, to be the fountain welling up to give the external manifestation, or power; and yet for me it is a greater thing to live for doing good in the world than it is for any thing I can enjoy here. Indeed, I have sometimes thought, as I have traced the life of Christ, that in the sense of what you call enjoyment, He enjoyed very little in this state; He was all the time wrestling for others. I read of His soul being in great agony;