Published by The hymnist William H Bathurst in 1831 penned a grand hymn called, “O for That Flame of Living Fire”, hymn number 264 in our hymnbook. In it, Bathurst asks of God, himself, and us several pointed questions about this Holy Spirit fire. Bathurst’s hymn is a prayer for the bestowal of the Spirit of God.
It opens,
“O for that flame of living fire which shone so bright in saints of old;
Which bade their souls to heaven aspire, calm in distress, in danger bold.”
He asks for this living fire of God to burn in his heart and shine as bright, as it once did in the saints in days of old. He longs for that fire to burn and abound upon his soul temple altar. He seems to muse to himself in the second line, “Do those who would be the saints of today, still aspire to climb Jacobs stairway and knock for entrance at the portals of paradise?”
Bathurst then adds a leading question.
“Where is that spirit Lord, which dwelt in Abram’s breast, and sealed him thine?
Which bade Paul’s heart with sorrow melt, and glow with energy divine?
That spirit which from age to age, proclaimed thy love and taught thy ways?
Brightened Isaiahs’s vivid page and breathed in David’s hallowed lays?”
In these lines the author asks of the Lord, “Where is that spirit that wrought great deeds and performed great feats of love in God”s service?’ He then lists some of the things that God’s Spirit has previously inspired in the saints of olden days. He mentions Abraham, Paul, Isaiah and David, some of the greats in God’s hall of fame..
He asks “Has God forgotten to be gracious, and work his wonders in our generation?” He seems to seek to provoke God to holy emulation of some of His Majesty’s former days of fame and glory. Have those days completely gone? Is there none left he seems to ask?
‘What you once did, do again in our day.’ seems to be his heart-felt prayer. He probes at the Lord and more particularly us, to see if God’s flame of living fire still burns and inspires feats of greatness in the cause of Christ? “Where is that spirit that moved patriarchs and prophets with an energy divine to make conquests for their God?
He seems to ask us, “Do we still have men and women of God today, who like David and Isaiah, hungered for God’s Spirit and His abiding presence?’ “Do we have any Jeremiahs who have the word of God in their hearts, hidden like a burning fire shut up in his bones?”
The crux of the hymn is where he asks probingly,
“Is not thy Spirit as mighty now, as when Elijah felt its power?
When glory beamed from Moses brow, or Job endured the trying hour?”
There seems to be doubt in his mind. “Is it that God is reluctant to give us His Spirit? Or is it that we, as a generation, are not similarly inspired by God”s Spirit to do exploits in God’s service?’
His question resonates with deep meaning, and is pregnant with imponderable considerations. “Is not thy Spirit as great as when George Whitefield, who, facing an angry mob, was admonished by his wife, “George, play the man for your God.”
Or what of men like John Wesley, who spoke to the pleasant society of his day, the upper class, and called them children of the Devil because the power of sin still controlled them. Alternatively, what of that most fearless reprover of sin, John the Baptist, who called the Pharisees vipers, and asked, “Who hath warned thee to flee the wrath to come?” Are there still men like that the author muses?”
Is there any like John Knox, the English Protestant reformer, who fearlessly rebuked the Roman Catholic Queen, Queen Mary, with fire and thunder in his tones? Are there any left like the martyr John Huss and others who sang hymns of praise to God while the flames licked over their charring bones?
Hear William Bathurst between the lines of this hymn crying out, “Where is the God of Moses? Where is the God of Elijah? Where is the spirit and power of the God of Heaven? Where is the God of Elijah who brought fire down from on high? Where is the God who took Elijah to Heaven in a chariot of fire.’
I visualize our hymnist asking, “Where is the God of heaven who sends his lightning”s and thunders to impress His people with the holiness of His law?’ He agonizes with God, “Is not thy Spirit as great now, as it was in days gone by?”
But perhaps the question that we must first ask, is it that we have failed Him? Where is the God of living fire in our Christian experience? Where is the God of power in our walk? Do we aspire to be like the greats of old, who walked and talked with God like faithful Enoch?
I perceive the righteous must on occasion ask themselves, “who else is doing great things for God? Who else is, like the disciple Peter, walking on water doing impossible things for God?
“Has Jehovah forgotten the strength of His right hand or the might of his awful power? Has the God of Elijah deserted His people? Where are the love, peace, joy and comfort of the Holy Spirit? Has God failed in His promise to be more willing to give His Spirit than evil men are willing to give good gifts to their children?’
To whom then does God give His Spirit? Scripture answers that God gives the Holy Spirit to “those who obey Him.” See Acts 5. 32. RSV.
Bathurst asks “Is not thy Spirit as mighty now as it was in ages past?” My response to the spirit of the hymn is, where is the Spirit of God these days? Where is the mighty moving of God as in days of old? Where is the sweet winning spirit of Christ’s abiding presence? Where is the God of Elijah?
W Bathurst closes his hymn with the prayerful plea to God to,
“Remember, Lord, the ancient days; renew thy work, Thy grace restore;
And while to thee our hearts we raise, on us thy Spirit pour.”
This must be our prayer too. If we teach that we cannot expect the mighty moving of God’s spirit as it once did, we are lost. Those who say we need not expect Gods spirit to move men as it did in days of renown will surely lose their crown.
Where are the people of God who God’s messenger, Ellen White, says will know primitive godliness in the last generation? Where are those, who in the last days, who are weak will be like David; and those who are like David will be as the angel of the Lord as Zechariah promises? See Zech 12. 8.
We must ask of God, “Is not thy Spirit as great O God, as it was in ages past?” We should not suffer a dearth of God’s Spirit; the church needs life from God. We need to be inspired to experience David’s hallowed lays, and study Isaiah’s vivid page. We need divine favour for this church. We need the heavenly dew, the early rain. We need to have God’s Spirit burn and glow with energy divine in our hearts. God’s people must seek for this anointing. The quickening powers of the Holy Spirit must help us cast down every idol that competes for our affections for Christ.
William Bathurst closes his hymn with the plea
“on us thy Holy Spirit pour.”
God has promised his Holy Spirit in the promise of Joel 2. 28-29, where God “will pour our his Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;”
Every faithful soul must seek for the spirit and power of an Elijah, the zeal and fire of a Knox, the love and ardour of a David.
Where is the freedom from the guilt and power of sin and a heart religion to satisfy the soul of man in our churches?
The prophetess Ellen White wrote that the Spirit of God is withdrawing from the earth in these last days, when men are more and more controlled by the Evil One. God leaves evil men controlled by the power they choose to have the rule over them. Whom will you choose to rule over you?
I asked myself why God is leaving the earth?
The American recording artist, Don McLean, in his song American Pie, writes,
“And the three men that I admire most, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost;
Took the last train for the coast, the day the music died.”
Sadly the godly music is dying.
Why does God leave the earth and leave men more under Satan’s control? It is that men may mark His absence and realize their loss. When the Loud Cry of the fourth angel is given, then the Holy Ghost will come back in power and majesty and God’s presence will be evident. The power of the highest will be the more marked and the light will be more glorious than if God’s Spirit had remained.
It is almost midnight in the world. We live in the days of the last warning message. We live when darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people. See Isaiah 60. 2.When everything from beneath is animating the world, then it is time for the Christian to “move the arm that moves the world”, as said the English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson.
Do not be satisfied with a lacklustre, mediocre experience in the things of God. Covenant with God to be ready for the divine anointing when it comes. Who will pledge to get ready, by spending much time with Jesus in Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy books, and the eradication of every idol, that it may fall upon our prepared hearts? Who will seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire?
We need the breath of God. We need this divine flame of living fires. We need another Pentecost. We must have the vital energy of the Holy Spirits for the higher life of the soul. We must hunger for those divine flames to purge us of our dross. We must walk in higher and holier pathways; we must have the presence of the Comforter. We must know the God who is enough, the God of all comfort.
The power of the highest will shine, the church militant will conquer in the warfare against Satan and error;. But the question for us remains, will we conquer with her? Editor.
