must be wrong. And this was what they had never dreamed of. It amazed them: they were in a state of confusion of mind about it. These men who spake as they did addressed them clearly and fully in their own tongues. And this gave them an appearance of their being right. But how could they do it? How could men who had never learned a language speak in it? It was so, and none could deny it. They heard it for themselves; but it was incomprehensible to them. They were struck with astonishment at it. Yet their attention was drawn to it as a fact, as a fact that could not be gainsaid; but it surprized them; it was a source of wonder to them; they talked to themselves about it; they inquired of each other how it could be? The 7th verse says: They were all amazed and marvelled, and said one to another, Behold, are not all these Galilæans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.' But still questioning with one another, as they did, they could arrive at no solution of the subject from and with each other. After each had said what he thought, they were just where they were; in a state of amazement and perplexity. After enquiry how it was that Galilæans could speak as they did in languages which they had never learned, and arriving at no conclusion on the subject, the 12th verse says,-'And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?' What can it be? That there is something wonderful and marvellous in the affair is evident; but what is it? Can it be that the days of Messiah have arrived, and we knew it not? It would almost seem like it; for these men, though ignorant men-unlearned men-men of a country despised, yet speak with calmness and sobriety, and apparent truthfulness and simplicity, as if they were indeed, as they say, the commissioned servants of God to usher in the reign of Messiah. But then, as what they state is so contrary to all that we have been led to expect, and so contrary to all we have set our hearts upon-so utterly in opposition to the wish of the Jews, can they be right? Is it possible that they have the truth on their side?

This, I think, appears to have been something like the reasoning of many of the multitude present. And it appears to have been consistent with the epithet assigned

them where they are stated, in the 5th verse, to have been ' devout men ;' that is, God-fearing men, men who 'feared God above many,' as stated of Hananiah by Nehemiah (ix. 2): 'He was a faithful man, and feared God above many.' There appeared to them to be truthfulness and honesty in the statements of those whom they met with on the spot speaking of the wonderful works of God; but their statements were in opposition to the general belief of the Jews, and therefore they did not, for the moment, know what to think. They would take further time to inquire about it, and think and meditate upon it, before they condemned what they saw, or believed there was truth in it. This, however, was not the decision of all. Others, at

once condemned the whole affair, and stated that the men speaking in other languages-in foreign languages-which they had not learned, were drunk; that they were overcome with wine, and did not know what they said, or what they talked about. 'Others mocking (according to the 13th verse) said, These men are full of new wine.' We know not who said it: perhaps the chief priests, and scribes, and elders. They hated Jesus and His cause, and would probably be ready enough to throw any contempt upon Him and His cause that they could. They had done so before as He hung upon the cross. And their bitterness of heart towards Him still remained, as is proved by their treatment of His disciples after His ascension. But from whomsoever the mocking came, it manifested great hardness and depravity of heart, jeering and scoffing at a work which manifestly exhibited such tokens of its being the work of God. The accusation of the men being drunk who spake as they did on the descent of the Holy Spirit was proved to be false, as we shall afterwards see. But never has a spiritual work of God been carried on in the world without its being met with the ridicule and jesting of the ungodly. It was so on the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out from on high, and it has been so, more or less, ever since, and perhaps it will be so till the consumation of all things.

In conclusion, we see the result of obedience to the Divine command. Expressly had the disciples been told to wait in Jerusalem for a time, and promised, if they did, that a pre-eminent blessing should be imparted unto them. They obeyed-waited as directed. The blessing came. They

rejoiced in God their Saviour in consequence. A lesson this to all other believers on the Son of God. They are commanded obedience to certain directions, though not to the one before us. And if they heed what is commanded, a blessing (and that for time and eternity) will be theirs. Faithful is He who hath promised light, grace, eternal life, to all who seek them of Him through Christ who hath loved them and given Himself for them.

We notice, secondly, the burden which Christianity hath relieved its followers from, which the Jews had to bear. They were required to go from all parts to Jerusalem three times a year. There is reference to these journeys in the 122nd Psalm, where it is said,—‹ Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.' How expensive, and troublesome, and often inconvenient, must this have been to them! Christianity has laid no such burden upon its followers. Believers in Christ have not to go to the capital of the country in which they dwell to render worship and thanksgiving to God at certain times in the year; but they may worship Him acceptably all the year round in their own town; or village, or hamlet, or cottage, or palace, if they only seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

We see, thirdly, that the men who attempt to teach the religion of Christ should become qualified for their work before they attempt to enter upon it. Here were men, or some men, who had been more than three years going in and out with Christ, hearing His public teaching and receiving His private instruction, who had to wait for the further light and influence of the Holy Spirit to fit them for what was before them. I admit that their work was special, and therefore that they required special qualification. Still the lesson is the same, that the agent should be fitted for what he was to do, whether his work is extraordinary or not. The man intending to enter on the work of the Christian ministry should seek of, and wait on, God for the spiritual qualification that he requires, and earnestly implore the aid of the Holy Spirit to enable him to carry on the work efficiently and successfully in which he is to

engage.

We see, further, that God put His seal upon the whole work of Christ-His teaching and atonement: that He

accepted and approved of everything which He had done.. Therefore, as Christ declared that every one who should believe on Him should not perish but have eternal life, we have this way of salvation sanctioned to us by God Himself as the way that He approves of, and as the only one in which we may expect pardon and peace on earth, and eternal life beyond the grave.

We see also an instance of the operation of the Holy Spirit on the souls of men. It was sudden and powerful, and produced, as we have seen, an entire and complete change in those upon whom He exercised His power. It is true that the operation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was miraculous, but in His ordinary working now the change He effects is often sudden as well as powerful. The mind is enlightened, the heart is affected, the life is changed, the man in whom the Holy Spirit works is a new creature. And the Saviour beautifully refers to His operation where He says, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' With him who is thus born (who becomes a child of God) old things are passed away, and all things become new. May each one present be the subject of this operation! be born of the Spirit! be created anew in Christ Jesus!

VI.

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."—Acts, ii. 14-21.

WE have here part of an address delivered by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, and immediately after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that day upon the Apostles and some of the other followers of Christ. The event excited great attention in Jerusalem, and many Jews and proselytes then staying in Jerusalem, from various parts of the world as well as from various parts of Palestine, were collected together to the spot to learn what had happened, to ascertain for themselves the meaning of the report which had been circulated through the city. Arrived at the place where the disciples of the Lord Jesus were, and where they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit only just before, they heard, to their amazement, plain, uneducated, and unlearned men-men as they supposed of Galileespeaking, not only calmly, and fervidly, and plainly, and fully, and intelligently, of the great works of God, such as redemption, the Messiah, the atonement, faith, holiness, and other blessings of the grace of God as treasured up in Christ Jesus, but they heard them speak of these things in their own tongues-in languages which the disciples of Christ had never learned, but with which they appeared to be as familiar as if they had always known them. The minds of the spectators were thrown into a state of utter confusion by it, and, deriving no satisfaction from those around them of whom they asked concerning the marvel which was before them, they were in doubt, wondering what it could mean. Many of them being men that 'feared God above many,' were not willing to treat the scene with irreverence and scoffing, but to give it the consideration that it demanded; and probably, for anything that we know to the contrary (and I think that the result of the day's proceedings will justify the thought), they put up a prayer that light might be given them from above to lead them to a correct decision in the matter-that they might be guided into the truth concerning it.

But this was not the case with all present. There were some amongst the multitude present moved with envy and malice at anything that might tend to establish the cause of Christ who forthwith exclaimed (and that in direct opposition to the manifest facts of the case) that those who spake as they did were drunk-were 'full of new wine.' And I can but think that the persons who stated such an opinion were the chief priests, and scribes, and elders, who,