The Fire of the Spirit

Ffe shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. — LUKE iii. 16,

HERE is a fire which belongs to hell, and there is a fire which belongs to heaven. When Christ came He baptized everything into His own service — even fire. It was once the symbol of destruction, the mark of divine vengeance; it became in Him a gift of the Holy Ghost. There is a pain which only comes to those outside of hell, a fire which is only kindled by the touch of the Spirit. Be not dismayed that thy baptism has not brought thee peace; the birthday gift of God to thy soul must be not peace but war. When the light comes, must it not reveal the squalor of thy room and the meanness of thy furniture? As long as it was dark, these did not trouble thee; the absence of the heavenly fire was an absence of pain. But when the heavenly fire flashed into the apartment it flashed into thy soul a sublime discontent. There rose within thee the longing for a lovelier dwelling-place, for a house with many mansions adorned with unsearchable riches. The vision of thine old self became terrible to thee; thine hour of revelation was thine hour of condemnation; the light that came from heaven was the day that made thee poor.

Spirit of Christ, baptize me into Thy pain. Say to my soul, ‘‘Enter thou into the pam of thy Lord.” Teach my soul that my Lord’s pain is the only road to my Lord’s joy. Give me the greatest of all Thy gifts — the love that weeps for lovelessness, Grant me increasing fellowship with the cross of the Son of man. I would not, like Simon of Cyrene, be compelled to bear His cross; I would be crucified together with Him. I would feel what He felt when He beheld the city and wept over it; I would bear what He bore when He stood in the garden and bowed beneath the weight of human sin. I would know that I am like Him by having sympathy with His tears. Let me too be saddened with the sins and sorrows of the crowd; let me too be burdened with the deeds and destinies of humanity. I shall learn that I am in communion with Him when I am baptized with the pain of His fire.