Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SECOND MAN VERIFIED IN HISTORY.139was to draw into one the hearts of men, the fireof which our Lord had spoken as being that whichHe was come to light upon the earth. Fire,whose inward nature it is at once to illuminateand warm, to purify and unite, was thus appropriatelyselected as the outward sign, both expressingand conveying the fourfold office of theComforter, who came to be " no longer an occasionalvisitant, but a perpetual Consoler andeternal Inhabitant"20 of this His chosen home. Aseach in that assembly spoke in the one tongueof the country, he was heard by those present inthe several tongues of all the nations of the earthrepresented at that great feast by the Jews whodwelt in them. And this was the mark, saysS. Augustine,21 of the Church which was to bethrough all nations, and that no one should re-ceive the Holy Spirit, save he who should bejointed into the framework of its unity; the markwhich signified that the confusion of Babel, dividingthe race into nationalities jealous of each otherand perpetual enemies, was to be reversed andovercome by the one Power whose force to unite20 " Non jam visitator subitus, sed perpetuus consolator et habitatorseternus." S. Aug. torn. v. d. app. p. 307.21 Con. Crescou. lib. ii. c. 14, torn. ix. p. 418. " Hie Spiritus sanctusveniens in eos tale signum primitus dedit, ut qui eum acciperent linguisomnium gentium loquerentur, quia portendebat Ecclesiam per omnesgentes futuram, nee quemquam accepturum Spiritum sanctum nisi quiejus unitati copularetur. Hujus fontis largo atque invisibili flumineIcetificat Deus civitatem suam, quia Propheta dixit: Fluminis impetus lasti-ficat civitatem Dei. Ad hunc enim fontem nullus extraneus, quia nullusnisi vita teterna dignus accedit. Hie est proprius Ecclesiae Christi."