New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-13
Az OLD MIRACLE.

"This day" says the old rhyme, Is Whit
Sonnday cald,r For wisdom and wit sevenfald,
Was given on the apostles this day The
story as it will be told in the churches this
morning will very likely seem like fantastic
unreal dream. to the business men and practical
women who will hear it. All these old mysteries
were so long held aloOf from us by the preach
crs that we seldom Try to bring them home as
actual facts concerning ourselves Tongues OF
fire and a miraculous gift OF tongues, when did
any modern man know such things in his cX-
pericncc
Yet Jerusalem at that time was just Such
mctropU it;.n city rs New FORK is now. II was
the mart 10 which dealers from all parts Of the
world brought their wares, especially at the
times OF the great religious ledsts when the He
brcWS from the rural districts crowded into the
city. Il seems dramatic and foreign TO Us now,
but after all the men and women who came up
az Pcntcco,t to worship or to trade or to meet
old friend, or to show their costly clothes or to
marry their daughters, had precisely the same
bodies and brains aims and pleasures as the
men and women who crowd Broadway now.
Their occupations, even, were not very differ
cnt There vas the idle aristocrat with his
splendid house and cquipage; there was the
broker, the great and llt,lo dealer in stuls and
food suppiles; there were soldiers, scholars,
servants. The world was smaller than now. Eng
land End Germany were to these people the dim
untravciled spaces which Africa and the Poles
are to Us. II is true that the people IN this little
world preycd on each other as do not.
Their aim, were lower and grcedcr than ours;
their habits cruel and brutal. There WAS no
religion then known to the world which would
lit them 0It of themselves. In an upper
chamber OF q house during this crowded noi-
day, a few poor men were collected who had
canned t.cir living as tax-gatherers, or by
catching and selling fish. They were totally
un,ihe in character. There was only one point
in which the, were one. They waited together
as servants stand ready for the word of their
master. to krOw what God wOnld have them
do. That was enough. Into the brains and
souls Of these men came an influence a vital
flame. strong enough to send them out, the
teachers not only of the crowds in the narrow
streets of that Oriental city, but of all the
world thereafter They taught the love- broth
erly helpfulnesS self sacrifice which no religion
yet had taught. The advance which mankind
has made since is due to that influence which
came to them then.
Was this thing ever repeated in the world 2
When any man nowadays fisherman or trader,
negro. Chinaman or American, brings himself to
that state that he Is willing to be simply an iu-
strumcnt of God, to be poor, to bear pain, to
forget himself in order to help the cause of
good in tho world, does any mysterious inhu-
cucc descend to him for which there is no IA
tonal way Of aCcOuntiuS9 We all know that it
l.
in his own circle of acquaintance this entire
permanent change in a mans nature, aims and
habits which is more miraculous than any con-
version Of water into wine. Every man has
felt this potent influence within himself some
time in his life, dragging him away from his
intention TO make a name or a fortune or some
other good for himself which lie must leave be
hind when lie died, and urging him to be truth
ful, honorable, reyrrent TO that which was
above him arsi helpful to all that was below
These things would 20 with him. The story of
Pontecost is repeated in every one of our lives
if We would acknowledge it.
We are much more apt, however, to claim
that Gods influence comes to us than to other
men. If we 90 to church and pay decent at
tention to the clergy and UNCONVENTIONAL
affairs, we usually think that proves that the !
Holy Spirit is with us. while very probably our /
yirtuOus behavior IL due to early training and /
natural preference for responsibility. On the /
other side of the street there may be some poor /
soul whom all the town shuns "a a vagabond, |
WHO since his birth has fought desperately and /
sometimes lnlvaln against inherited Weaknesses /
levcrs in the blood ana brain, which drive him |
to dleness, rags. hunger, crime God knows /
the man, though we turn our backs upon him. /
1t is not the pride of place, of righteous we'll |
doing, Of spotless garments that never were |
tempted into the mire that lie honors; it is the /
man who has fought faithfully against the /
heavier odds. Many poor, despsed wretch. /
forced into pauper's grave by circumstance
or some faint OF blood, has heard the words |
" W ell done, good and faithful servant We |
are exceedingly apt too, TO count that man be- |
loved and favored OF God who is fat and we'll
TODD in houses, lands, all kinds of comfortable
prosperity.
The men to whom the Spirit of Coo came on
that long-ago morning We're driven by it to
war with all the prejudices OF society, to become
outlaws driven to the torture, tho stake, the
cross. Whatever it may urge a man to do, Its
rewards do not lie in real estate, in social DO
sition Or in renown.
-------------
The May anniversaries opened fairly last week.