THE SIGNS OF PENTECOST ' =_ 129
cance to the signs, but simply declared that an event had taken place by which the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled.
Did the event of Pentecost then exhaust the prophecy of Joel? By no means: for the sun was not turned into darkness, nor the moon into blood; and we hear nothing of the dreams of old men. Nor could it; the notable day that will exhaust this and so many other prophecies can not come until the return of the Lord. But the holy apostle meant to say, that the day of the Lord's return was brought so much nearer by this event. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is one of the great events which pledge the coming of that great and notable day. Without it that day can not come. Looking back from heaven, the day of Pentecost will'appear to us as the last great miracle immediately preceding the day of the Lord. And since that day shall be attended by awful signs, as was the preparatory day of Pentecost, the apostle puts them together and makes them appear as one, showing that in Joel's prophecy God points to both events.
If it be certain that the signs attending the Lord's return-blood, fire, and vapor of smoke-shall not be symbolic, but constituent elements of that last part of the world's history, viz., its last conflagration, then it is certain that Peter did not understand the signs of Pentecost to be symbolic.
Neither can the still more unsatisfactory explanation be entertained that these signs were intended to draw and fix the attention of the multitude.
The senses of sight and hearing are the most effectual means by which the outside world can act upon our consciousness. In order suddenly to arouse and excite a person, one need only startle him by an explosion or by the flash of a dazzling light. Acting upon this, some of the earlier Methodists used to fire pistols at their revival meetings, hoping that the report and flash would create the desired state of mind. The subsequent excitement of the people would tend to make them more susceptible to the operation of, the Holy Spirit. Similar experiments are those of the Salvation Army: According to this notion, the' signs of Pentecost bore -a similar t;ha>4L acter. It is supposed by some that the disciples, still uneonverted
' men, were sitting together in the upper chamber on the defy of Pentecost. To render them susceptible to the inflowing'of-' flie'Il'oly Spirit they must be aroused by a noise and fire. It must: seem As' tho a violent thunder-storm had burst upon the city; flhshes`of°liglit=°