And the
Spirit of God _moved_ [or brooded] upon the face of the waters." In
this text the Spirit broods over the world as the mother bird hovers
over her little ones. We see him in the figure of the dove in Matthew
the third chapter and the sixteenth verse: "And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens
were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
_dove_, and lighting upon him." And here we have a revelation of his
gentleness. Again he is presented to us under the figure of the wind,
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
_wind_, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts
2:2). Here we see his power. We catch a vision of him in the fire in
Acts the second chapter and the third verse, "And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them"; and
here we understand his cleansing influence. But here in this text we
have his directing power. It is as if he were giving particular
attention to all that John is saying and giving his approval to it
because it is the truth. Since the day of Pentecost he has occupied a
new position.

However, he has existed from all eternity. We behold him in his work
in the Old Testament Scriptures. But from the day of Pentecost the
affairs of the church have been committed to him, its organization, its
development, its services, whether it be the preaching, the praying or
the singing. We cannot ignore him, for he has to do with all the work
and with the preaching of the word. He convicts of sin. John 6:44,
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day." He applies Christ to the
awakened sinner, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you
things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and
shall shew it unto you." He helps to interpret the Word of God because
he inspired men to write it. It is impossible to get along without
him. I put no mark of disrespect upon scholarship. I know what it has
accomplished; it has filled libraries with knowledge which has made the
world rich, it has weighed planets and given us almost a perfect
understanding of the heavenly bodies. It has estimated the velocity of
light