Ye shall receive power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.
Acts 1:8 (KJV)
Look at it! Think of it! A hundred and twenty men and women having no
patronage, no promise of any earthly favor, no endowment, no wealth—a company
of men and women having to get their living by common daily toil, and busied
with all the household duties of daily life—and yet they are to begin the
conquests of Christianity! To them is
entrusted a work which is to turn the world upside down. None so exalted but
influence of this lowly company shall reach them, until the throne of the
Caesars is claimed for Christ. None so far off but the power of this little
band gathered in an upper room shall extend them until the whole world is knit
into brotherhood! Not a force is there on the earth, either of men or devils,
but they shall overcome it, until every knee shall bow to their Master, and
every tongue shall confess that He is Lord.
A thing impossible, absurd, look at it as you will, until you admit
this—they are to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then difficulties melt into the
empty air. Then there is no limit to their hopes, for there is no limit to
their power. Their strength is not only “as the strength of ten,” it is as the
strength of the Almighty. This is Christ’s idea of Christianity; the idea not
of man—it is infinitely too sublime—the idea of God!—Mark Guy Pearse
