The Spirit: The Fashion of the New Age
And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.” — JOEL ii, 28, 29.
GiNe ND so the Spirit is at last to become Cimls, worldly, to be poured out upon ail
flesh. I am told that the fashion of this world passeth away; but into what does it pass? Into another fashion — the fashion of the Spirit. There is a time coming when there shall be no such word as secular. There is a time coming when the Spirit shall claim not only the churches but the streets and openings of the gates, not only the feebleness of old age but the visions of youth, not only the gravity of fathers but the mirth of sons and daughters, not only the service in the house of the Lord but the domestic service in the houses of men.
Thou divine Spirit, we long for this hour of Thine. Thine incarnation is not complete until Thou hast touched the lowest earth. It is not enough that Thou shouldst be a joy forever; Thou must be a universal joy. It is not enough that Thou art beautiful on the mountains; Thou must be resplendent in the valley. Thy triumph is the conquest of mylesser moments, the moments which I call secular. I consecrate to Thee the walls of my temple, but I have never consecrated to Thee the walls of my dwelling; I have never consecrated to Thee the streets of my native city. The exchange is unconsecrated, the counting-house is unconsecrated, the workshop is unconsecrated. The scenes of my pleasure are outside of Thee; the trifles of my life are apart from Thee; I have not yet suffered Thee to “fill all things.” I limit Thee by too much magnifying Thee. I fear to degrade Thee by bringing Thee down to the plain; I give Thee my spirit but not my flesh. But Thou art not content with my spirit. Thou claimest the right to empty Thyself into my impotence. Thou desirest again to come in my flesh — to fill with Thy presence my Canas and my Nazareths and my Bethanies — to glad my marriage feasts and help my receipts of custom and light my household fires. Thy progress like the sun is a progress downward; Thy beginning is the mountain but Thy climax is the dusty plain. The shepherds again shall sing their ‘“Giory in the highest” when Thy life shall be poured “upon all flesh.”
SUV