READINGS FOR THE SUNDAYS AND HOLYDAYS OF THE CHURCH'S YEAR. EVE OF PENTECOST. The Grief of the Spirit. THE Apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians (iv. 30)— “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." The connection with sealing shews that it is the Spirit as He comes to confirm, and endow, and anoint that the Apostle has in his mind when he says, Grieve Him not. And the context shews the same thing. He had said, "let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth;" and to this he adds, "and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." His thought seems to beby the Spirit you are "enriched in all utterance" as well as "in all knowledge" :* that any corrupt communication should proceed out of lips which might speak the very words of God is a grief to that Holy One. There is a similar reference in that other passage † in which * 1 Cor. i. .5 ti Thess. v. 19. 66 St. Paul warns against doing a wrong to the Comforter. Quench not the Spirit," he says; and then immediately despise not prophesyings." He is here thinking of the Spirit as a fire kindled within us:* he exhorts that we do not put it out. And he indicates that one way in which we can, as it were, throw water on this fire is by despising prophesyings. Again it is the Spirit of utterance which is not to be quenched, as before not to be grieved. Now we say in our daily Exhortation-" We have grieved and well-nigh quenched the Holy Ghost, the earnest of our inheritance." Observe, it is " well-nigh quenched" only. If the fire had been altogether put out, we know not how it could have been rekindled. But we say "grieved" without any qualification. And who can look abroad upon Christendom, and say that the charge is not true? Where is the manifestation of the Spirit which was once given to every man to profit withal?† Where is the "sure word of prophecy, shining as light in a dark place," which once flashed ever and anon before the eyes of the Church, guiding her on her way?§ Where is that " utterance of which it could be said, "the Spirit speaketh expressly"; which enabled the Apostles to affirm, "we are witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost," and again—" it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us"? The Church is still the Temple of the Holy Ghost; but the Indweller has been silenced. No wonder that the Temple itself has fallen to ruins, or has assumed the likeness of a * Comp. 2 Tim. i. 6. † 1 Cor. xii. 7. + 2 Pet. i. 19. § Acts xi. 27, 28; xiii. I, 2; xvi. 6, 7; xx. 23; xxi. 4, 10, 11; 1 Tim. i. 18, &c. palace of this world: no wonder that it is known no longer as that which it was named of old-the House of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Must not the Spirit be grieved at such things? Many voices are heard in His Temple, often discordant one with another: "wild words wander here and there": but He may not speak. He may not designate Apostles: He may not unfold mysteries: He may not interpret prophecy. He is restricted to silent and secret operations on individual hearts; and the Church as a body knows Him not. Surely He is grieved. To God in His absolute infinity sorrow may be impossible: but the Son incarnate could grieve, and so can the Spirit embodied in the Church. His sighs are heard in our assemblies: the Comforter Himself needs to be comforted. upon to share it. By God's grace and mercy, we have come to know this mind of the Spirit; and, knowing it, we are called We should do so at all times. But as there is a day in the year-Good Friday-on which we are specially invited to enter into the sorrow of Jesus; so we set apart the Eve of Pentecost for taking solemn part in the grief of the Spirit. About to rejoice in all that He brought to the Church at the beginning, we first lament and confess our light esteem and misuse of His gifts. We are sure that it is grateful to Him to hear such prayers as are then offered, and in proportion as they come from the hearts of those that present them. We can almost feel Him with us there, helping our infirmities, and making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. We can join the more earnestly in this confession as we know our own unprofitableness in respect of the revival of the Spirit's manifestations in these latter days. But our privilege (and so our responsibility) is to know also how to carry repentance on to amendment. Let us (for we have opportunity) honour prophesyings instead of despising them: let us earnestly desire that at our lips and the lips of those around us the sacred flame of utterance may be kindled. When His Temple is vocal once more with His sayings and singings, then the grief of the Spirit will be melting fast into gladness. |