The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 171

THE SIGNS OF PENTECOST

131

descent from heaven and this flowing into the body could not take place without causing these signs. To penetrate more deeply into this matter is not lawful. On Horeb Elijah heard the Lord pass by in a gentle breeze; Isaiah

heard the moving of the door-posts in the Temple. This seems to indicate that the approach of the divine majesty causes a commoBut how, tion in the elements perceptible to the auditory nerve.

we can not

tell.

We

First, that spirit

act

observe, however: can act upon matter

is

evident, for our spirits

upon the body every moment, and by that action are able

to

produce sounds. Speaking, crying, singing are nothing but our And if our spirit is capable spirit acting upon the currents of air. of such action, why not the Spirit of the Lord? Why, then, call it mysterious when the Holy Spirit in His descent so wrought upon the elements that the effects vibrated in the ears of those present? Secondly, in making the covenant with Israel upon Sinai, the

even Moses with the not yet quaking"; said, "I am exceedingly fearful and angry and holy a because but intention of terrifying the people, not It is generation. sinful a God can not speak otherwise to Covenant New His to God of therefore surprising that the coming people is attended by similar signs, not in order to draw men's

Lord God spoke

in peals of thunder so terrible that

attention, but because it could not be otherwise.

The same

applies to the tongues of

fire.

Supernatural manifes-

tations are always attended by light and brightness, especially when the Lord Jehovah or His angel appears. Recall, e.g., God's covenant-making with Abraham, or the occurrences at the burning bush. Why, then, should it surprise us that the descent of the Holy Spirit was attended by phenomena such as those seen by Elijah on Horeb, Moses in the bush, St. Paul on the way to Damascus, and St. John on Patmos? That the cloven tongues sat upon each of them proves nothing to the contrary; for He proceeded to each of them and

entered their hearts, and in each going

He

left

a trace of light

behind. question, whether the fire seen by these men on those occabelonged to a higher sphere, or was the effect of God's action sions of the earth, can not be answered. elements the upon Both views have much in their favor. There is no darkness in heaven ; and the heavenly light must be of a higher nature than ours, even above the brightness of the sun, according to St. Paul's

The

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