The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-01-02
LESSON STORY.

LESSON OIOhI l..
From the Mount of Ascension the
disciples returned to their room in Jeru-
salem; we can scarcely doubt to the room
sacred to them as the scene OF their
Last Supper with their Lord. In this
sanctifed room also gathered the brave
friends of Jesus who we're eager to con-
fess their faith in him. Here were
found the Galilean women. with their
love for their Lord undated; here were
the "brothers" of Jesus, the members OF
his home in Nazareth, who had now
come to believe in him without reserve.
The whole company, which numbered
about one hundred and twenty, was in
state of spiritual exaltation. They now
knew the Crucified One was alive. and
that. while invisible, he was near to
them. They had become convinced that
their former familiar intercourse with
their Beloved One was not to be renewed
in the earth; but they had glimpses OF
wondrous things. Their bereavement
became rapturods. They went morning
and evening to the temple, uniting with
their race people 10 public prayer. They
were often assembled in their room, IN
the nearer fellowshipof common mem
DRY and ravishing hope. At the border
line of the unseen realm they waited
/. The OverpOwering Infiu-
ence,-vs. 1-3.
It was. we recall, at the time of the
Feast of the Passover that Jesus was
crucifed. The next national feast OF
the Jews, the second of the three annual
feasts, was the Day of Pentecost. 1t is
variouely named. In one place in Script
ure lex. %: 16) it is called "The Feast OF
Harvest,"-the grain fields then being
ready for reaping. In another place
Mum. %: 26) it is called THE Day OF the
First Fruits;' and it's distinctive altar
offering for each person LEV. 70: lo-l0
was two cakes made of the first wheat
sheaves of the season. In another place
(Deut. II: 10Y it is called The Feast OF
Weeks" egnifying that seven completed
weeks, week of weeks, separates this
feast from the Passover. The Greek
word Pentecost 1.-THE fftieth) is of the
same purport; it means that it is held
on the fiftieth day after the Passover.
Pentecost was, at the time OF Jesus,
celebrated in Jerusalem. and lasted but
one day; while the other two national
feasts, the Passover and Tabernacles.
lasted each an entire week. The intent
of Pentecost. the summer feast Of the
Jews, was to celebrate the approach OF
harvest, and also to commemorate the
Reception of the Law on Sinai, which
according to tradition occurred fifty
days after the Hebrews left Egypt. Pen
tecost was the most generally attended
of all the Jewish feasts. About 100000
Jews at this period came to Jerusalem
annually to celebrate this religious fes-
tival.
Early on this feast-day the Christian
disciples and believers we're assembled
in their consecrated upper chamber. 1t
was Sunday,-the day which the dis
ciples had already consecrated as new
Sabbath, the day of the Lords rising.
They were united in the highest fervor
of prayer. Their combined lives in these
days was prayer.
The peaceful calm of the assembly
was at certain moment broken. Sud
denly there came a sound from hedUen
as of rushing and mighty mind. To a
mighty wind,-itself silent save as it
affects material obiects,-this Influence
is compared 1t is not itself atmospheric
commotion; it is rather an atmosphere
within the atmosphere. Iteludes scien-
tific definition. 1t is THE Spirit.
The Holy Spirit. in itself, was not to
the disciples new thing. Jesus, like
the prophets before him. had lived and
spoken in the power of the Spirit. 1t
was indeed the distinction of Jesus that
he hal been during all his earthly life
enveloped and quickened by the Spirit;
so that while he was in earth he was in
heaven.
But the Spirit had never before come
to the disciples, nor to any company of
men, in such an overpowering degree as
at this outpouring. The disciples had
before been able by rebellious wills to
resist its sway over them. Now they
could resist no longer. They yielded
themselves fully to its leading. An I'M
earthly happiness swelled within them.