Holy Ghost or Smile of the World? 11/2 Thursday Thoughts

This is an appropriate post for All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. It was that consciousness of God's presence and God's power in the disciples and the Church of the first four centuries that wrote across the pages of history the wonderful, wonderful record of Christianity of the first four hundred years. There were thirty million Christian martyrs, those who were slaughtered in the Christian wars, etc. Thirty million gave up their lives for the Christ. There was a spirit that made it so intense, so powerful, that had such a power of induction that the world got out. Bless God. But there came a day when the Church traded the communion of the Holy Ghost for the smile of the world, and then the long, long night of the middle centuries followed. -- John G. Lake