(_For Whit-Sunday._)
xi. 9. _The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea._
It was promised that "the waters should no more become a flood to
destroy all flesh;" and yet a flood there was to be, all-compassing,
all-absorbing, in God's good time and in His merciful foreknowledge
when He spake the former world; but not to destroy all flesh, but to
save it; and in the season the rain of grace descended (xlv. 8; Matt.
vii. 29; Ps. xcviii. 8).
How different a fulfilment was this from that for which the apostles
had been waiting! No doubt they imagined that such as Christ had been
would be the Paraclete who was to come--One whose individuality and
intelligence they could not doubt, and need not take on faith. When
they were waiting for the Angelic Messenger, Prophet, and Lawgiver,
One higher than all created strength and wisdom suddenly came down
upon them; yet not as a Lord and Governor, but as an agency or power
(Acts ii. 2-4).
Such was the coming of the Comforter, He who is infinitely personal,
who is the One God, absolutely, fully, perfectly, simply; He it was
who vouchsafed to descend upon the apostles, and that as if not a
Person, but as an influence or quality, by His attribute of ubiquity
diffusing Himself over their hearts, filling all the house, poured
over the world, as wholly here as if He were not there, and hence
vouchsafing to be compared to the inanimate and natural creation, to
water and wind, which are of so subtle a nature, or so penetrating a
virtue, and of so extended a range. And most exactly have these
figures, which He condescended to apply to Himself, been fulfilled--
I. IN THE COURSE OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. His operation has
been calm, equable, gradual, far-spreading, overtaking, intimate,
irresistible. What is so awfully silent, so mighty, so inevitable, so
encompassing as a flood of water? Fire alarms from the first: we see
it and we scent it; there is crashing and downfall, smoke and flame;
it makes an inroad here and there; it is uncertain and wayward;--but
a flood is the reverse of all this. It gives no tokens of its coming;
it lets man sleep through the night, and they wake and find
themselves hopelessly besieged; prompt, secret, successful, and
equable, it preserves one level; it is everywhere; there is no
refuge. And it makes its way to the foundations; towers and palaces
rear themselves as usual; they have lost nothing of their perfection,
and give no sign of danger, till at length suddenly they totter and
fall. And here and there it is the same, as if by some secret
understanding; for by one and the same agency the mighty movement
gone on here and there and everywhere, and all things seem to act in
concert with it, and to conspire together for their own ruin. And in
the end they are utterly removed, and perish from off the face of the
earth. Fire, which threatens more fiercely, leaves behind it relics
and monuments of its agency; but water buries as well as destroys; it
wipes off the memorial of its victims from the earth.
Such was the power of the Spirit in the beginning, when He vouchsafed
to descend as an invisible wind, as an outpoured flood. Thus He
changed the whole face of the world. For a while men went on as
usual, and dreamed not what was coming: and when they were roused
from their fast sleep, the work was done; it was too late for aught
else but impotent anger and a hopeless struggle. The kingdom was
taken away from them and given to another people. The ark of God
moved upon the face of the waters. It was borne aloft by the power,
greater than human, which had overspread the earth, and it triumphed,
"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of
Hosts."
II. IN EVERY HUMAN HEART TO WHICH HE COMES. By attending to the
figure we shall understand (what concerns us most intimately) whether
we are personally under His influence, or are deceiving ourselves.
1. _Any spirit which professes to come to us alone and not to others,
which makes no claim of having moved the body of the Church at all
times and places, is not of God, but a private spirit of error_ (Ps.
lxv. 10-12). 2. _Vehemence, tumult, confusion, are no attributes of
that benignant flood with which God has replenished the earth._ That
flood of grace is sedate, majestic, gentle in its operations. If at
any time it seems to be violent, that violence is occasioned by some
accident or imperfection of the earthen vessels into which it
vouchsafed to pour itself, and is not token of the coming of Divine
Power. Ecstasies and transports often proceed from false spirits, who
are but imitating heavenly influences as best they may, and seducing
souls to their ruin. 3. _The Divine baptism wherewith God visits us
penetrates through the whole soul and body._ It leaves no part of us
uncleansed, unsanctified. It claims the whole man for God. It is
everywhere, in every faculty, every affection, every design, every
work (2 Cor. x. 5). Thus--
III. THE HEART OF EVERY CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO REPRESENT IN MINIATURE THE
WHOLE CHURCH. One Spirit makes the whole Church and every member of
it to be His temple. As He gives peace to the multitude of nations,
who are naturally in discord one with another, so does He give an
orderly government to the soul, and set reason and conscience as
sovereigns over the inferior parts of our nature. As He leavens each
rank and pursuit of the community with the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, so does that same Divine leaven spread through every
thought of the mind, every member of the body, till the whole is
sanctified. And let us be quite sure that these two operations of the
Spirit depend upon each other. We cannot hope for peace at home while
we are at war abroad. We cannot hope for unity of the faith if we are
at our own private will make a faith for ourselves. Break unity in
one point, and the fault runs through the whole body. The flood of
God's grace keeps its level, and if it is low in one place it is low
in another.
CONCLUSION.--As we would forward that blessed time when the knowledge
of the Lord will in its fulness cover the earth, as the waters cover
their bed, let us look at home, and wait on God for the cleansing and
purifying of ourselves. Till we look at home, no good shall we be
able to perform for the Church at large; we shall but do mischief
when we intend to do good, and to us will apply that proverb,
"Physician, heal thyself." And let us not doubt that if we do thus
proceed we shall advance the cause of Christ in the world. Let us but
raise the level of religion in our hearts, and it will rise in the
world. And, meantime, we shall have our true reward, which is
personal, consisting in no mere external privileges, however great,
but in the "water of life," of which we are allowed to take freely
(Ps. xxxvi. 7-9; i. 3; Isa. xxxii. 18; Ps. xxiii. 2).--_John Henry
Newman: Subjects of the Day,_ pp. 126-136.