The Day of Pentecost

It is said that when the day of Pentecost was fully come the disciples were all in one place; that they were with one accord gathered together; and that, in that state there came to them this magnificent revealing of the Heavens in the marvellous phenomenon for each one, in the nature of a mighty rushing wind which filled all the house where they were communing.

We will look at that statement, though a little differently from the usual interpretation of it. There can be no Pentecost without Accord. They were all in one place with one accord. Naturally, that is thought of in a communal way in relation to the disciples. What is meant is, that the individual must be in accord. He must be unified and equilibrated. All his attributes must be in harmony. They must be in one place – in the one state. Their seat must be in, and their sphere of operation must be from the Sanctuary of His Presence – the one place, “the upper room” of His dwelling. There must be unification in the Life. There must be accord. Mind, Heart, and Being have to be one in the purpose of Life. If the Heart should be seeking to worship, but the Mind yearning to go out in its earthly ambitions, there could be no accord; there would be no harmony. If the Heart should be yearning to realize the influx of the Life of the Innermost Realm, but the Will in its operation through the lower mind be desirous of accomplishing something for itself in the outer world, then there would be discord between the outer and the inner; and the inward and upward motion of the magnetic streams of Life, and the purpose of the Will in its operation through the mind, would be at variance. Under such circumstances there could be no Pentecost.

No outward influences can bring us the Pentecostal state, unless the state be within us. The outward influences can contribute to the uplifting of us; but the inward state is one realized through accord in our attributes when conflicting elements are healed, and there is harmony and oneness between the innermost and the outermost, thus giving accord right through the Being from the central Principle to the circumference.


THE EFFECTS OF INTENSIVE BAPTISM

For what is Pentecost? What is this mighty rushing Breath that comes to the Being, and reveals itself as a tongue of Living Fire upon the head? It is the great realization of the intensive motion of the Divine Mystery Breath within the Being, when the Soul and all its vehicles can endure its pleromic influx. It is the resultant of being in Divine Accord. It signifies a state of Divine Unity. It is the fruitage of perfect Love. In such a state there is real full-rounded consecration to the Divine Will.

With Pentecost there is Divine motion through all the vehicles. The Divine Presence within sets the Divine Breath in motion in such measure that it flows through all the vehicles. And in its upward flow, it, manifests as a tongue of Living Flame. It is the energizing and illumining power of GOD within the Being. It is the Sacred Flame arising out of and resting upon the Golden Bowl.

Fire is the symbol of energy and illumination, and also of transmutation. In this latter sense there is an apparent destructive aspect. Yet GOD is never destructive. It is true to affirm of HIM that HE is “a consuming fire”. Nothing that is out of harmony with the states and conditions HIS Laws create, can abide the day of HIS coming. HE is as “a refiner’s fire”. When HE enters the Being, all the elements which are impure and out of harmony with HIS Sacred Flame, are consumed in the way; that is, they are changed and transmuted. If that did not happen, the very Chalice would be broken through His power within it. When the Divine Mystery fills all the Being, it is as if the Breaths of the very Heavens were rushing through it, and the Eternities were uttering their voice and making the whole fabric vibrate to, and be in unison with, the Eternal ONE.

It was thus that, as the glorious resultant of the motion of the Breath, there appeared the Living Flame. And it is said that it sat upon their heads as a cloven tongue. Such was the resultant manifest to the Heavens and realized by the Baptized, of the Divine Motion within the Being.

The flow of the sacred stream we have named the Divine Spirit through all the vehicles, issues in the upgathering of them, and in their perfect equilibration. The effect of the combined potencies in motion within the vehicles, is a flame of light. In such a life the intense aspiration of the Being becomes the Soul’s Ascension, and the Living Flame is seen arising out from the Sacred Cup whose correspondence in the outer body is called the pineal gland.

Its twofoldness speaks of the upward motion of the Flame within the Spiral, and of the downward motion of that Flame as the Stream of Divine magnetic force flows from and returns unto the inner Heart, whose systaltic action gives Life to the vehicles.

All these things are wonderful in the beauty, power and purpose of them, when you understand the Divine Love and Wisdom they reveal. And a Soul who is always Divinely Overshadowed has that understanding. The Sacred Flame is upon his head at all times, though it be unseen and unknown to men. There are no external phenomena associated with the motion of the Divine Mystery within, other than the phenomena to be found in the circumference of life, and which are expressed in the exquisite motion that reveals HIM in every act, in every attitude, and in the Service of Being.

And what this means for the Soul it is not easy to portray. It tells of the exaltation of the Being – though that one will ever be conscious of being in lowly estate in relation to the Divine. It implies the exaltation of the Being to that realm of sublime realization where it will always have the consciousness of the encompassing and overshadowing Presence; and where, through greatly intensified consciousness, the Soul will come at last into yet higher degrees of the realization of the Indwelling Presence, and will live as in that Presence wheresoever it may be, in this world or some other world, in the Heavens above or in the beneath of the earth. The Soul will live and serve for HIM who is its Life. It will be even as HIMSELF in an accommodated form, revealing HIM in blessed ministry unto some of HIS children. For such is the meaning of Pentecost.

From The Divine Renaissance Vol. II by John Todd Ferrier, pp 170-173.
© The Order of the Cross.

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