sometimes blows in the softest _pianissimo_ that scarcely rustles the
summer woods in the leafy month of June, and sometimes storms in wild
tempest that dashes the seas against the rocks. So this mighty life-
giving Agent moves in gentleness and yet in power, and sometimes
swells and rises almost to tempest, but is ever the impelling force
of all that is strong and true and fair in Christian hearts and
lives.

The history of the world, since that day of Pentecost, has been a
commentary upon the words of my text. With viewless, impalpable
energy, the mighty breath of God swept across the ancient world and
'laid the lofty city' of paganism 'low; even to the ground, and
brought it even to the dust.' A breath passed over the whole
civilised world, like the breath of the west wind upon the glaciers
in the spring, melting the thick-ribbed ice, and wooing forth the
flowers, and the world was made over again. In our own hearts and
lives this is the one Power that will make us strong and good. The
question is all-important for each of us, 'Have I this life, and does
it move me, as the ships are borne along by the wind?' 'As many as
are impelled by the Spirit of God, they'--_they_--'are the sons of
God.' Is that the breath that swells all the sails of your lives, and
drives you upon your course? If it be, you are Christians; if it be
not, you are not.

II. And now a word as to the second of these symbols--'Cloven tongues
as of fire'--the fire of the Spirit.

I need not do more than remind you how frequently that emblem is
employed both in the Old and in the New Testament. John the Baptist
contrasted the cold negative efficiency of his baptism, which at its