SUNDAY COLUMN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 304, 5 October 1946, Page 2

SUNDAY COLUMN

DEVOTIONAL READING (Conducted by the Ashburton 5 Ministers’ Association.) “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”— (Ephesians i. 13). Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has been called “The book of our Canaan.” Its theme is the perfecting of the soul which, having been born again, is entering its. inheritance of Holiness —the sealing by the Holy .Spirit that was promised. There is first a saving from sin, a faith unto salvation, and then an ordered development of the new quality of life, and it is this development with which we are concerned in our consideration of the way of Holiness. We have it on the authority of Jesus that a twofold search is continually going on; the Son of Man is come seeking to save those that are being lost, and the Father is seeking for such as will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. , This worship of God in the Spirit, as Jesus pointed out, is not confined to Jerusalem, or to this or that mountain, nor is it restricted to this or that set of religious ideas. The reaching out of the spirit of man, which in its turn is being sought by the Eternal Spirit of God, is a universal activity, a fact of creation like the laws of polarity in the natural realm, and is evidenced in widely different spheres of human life.

“Fire Worshippers’' In India some years ago I was told of a Parseei gentleman who was shown a Salvation Army Song Book. The Parsees—noted for their enterprise, benevolence and clean, wholesome living—are “Fire Worshippers,” regarding flame as an emblem, of purity. On reading such words as “Come, thou burning Spirit,” and “To' burn up every trace of sin,” and so on, this devout man exclaimed, “Whythat is what we believe!” I have travelled across the wide Western prairies, and through the great mountain ranges, wondering at their immensity and feeling in some measure the awe of the Redskins who sensed that Nature, so vast and varied, was but the “many-colom*ed garment” of some mysterious powerful and all-pervading Spirit. The evening star is: l

. . . A bead of wampum On the robes of the Great Spirit, As He passes through the twilight, Walks in silence . through the Heavens. ‘

Elsewhere, perceptive minds have sensed the presence of some Spirit greater than theirs, and our own life of Holiness can be freshened up considerably if we will encourage within ourselves this feeling of naturalness and universality, which, far from paganising the idea of the Holy Spirit is in perfect accord with the New Testament conception of “Him who everywhere fills the . universe with Himself” (Ephesians i. 23, Weymouth). The Holy Spirit is no one’s monopoly, although there may be coteries of religionists who attempt to conserve the heavenly flame by “walling in the sacred fire.” But this exclusiveness leads to spiritual tension and an overwrought condition which is quite different from the glow of spiritual health.

The Holy Spirit ( We are not to imagine that •by a manufactured fervour we can cajole the Holy Spirit into activity, or that He has indeed come in our midst because, by practice in the arts, of religion, we have been able to simulate some of His previous effects.

We cannot kindle when we will The fire that in the heart resides

but hearts that are still and have heard the word of Peace may sense the gentle urgings of this Eternal' Power; and if the faithful response is given that Power will, on its occasions, flame out and work wonders. “Peace” was the word that Jesus spoke when He came, the risen Lord, to the agitated disciples, “and then He breathed on them and said; receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Thus in quiet breathings was the bestowal of the Spirit, and soon the acceptance of the great gift was sealed by its fiery manifestations at Pentecost.

If the conditions are fulfilled the heart that is receptive and prepared for the Lord may rely upon the promise of His coming - . It can wait without strain of feverishness, for the longed-for Spirit “will come and not tarry; the Lord, whom ye seek, will come suddenly to His temple.”