the day of Pentecost (g), qualified the Apostles to enter upon their great office of " teaching all nations, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (h)." Of the various powers with which they were then endowed, the gift of tongues was the most important and striking. How was it possible for the Apostles even to attempt the conversion of those, to whom they had not the means of conveying any instruction? And to hear twelve illiterate men, speaking, in languages which it was certain they had never learnt, the wonderful works of God, could not but produce amazement in the mixed multitude, out of every nation under heaven, who were then collected at Jerusalem, to celebrate the feast in obedience to the Law of Moses. While these devout Jews were in a state of the greatest doubt and suspense, and utterly unable to account for this sudden change in the Apostles, St. Peter quoted to them the words of the Prophet Joel, in which the extraordinary fact they now witnessed was expressly foretold; and consequently they could not but consider it as the immediate interposition of God. And then, availing himself of the impression already made upon their minds, he explained to them at considerable length, that the miracles, and wonders, and

(h) Matt. c. 28. v. 19.

(g) Acts, c. 2.

and signs, performed by Jesus of Nazareth, were clear proofs of his divine mission; and that his sufferings, death, and resurrection, were all predicted by their own Prophets, and took place by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and unto the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received the word were baptized.” These new proselytes amounted to "3,000 souls," whom St. Luke here represents as by degrees converted, before they received the Holy Ghost. The astonishment of these men was at first excited, and their attention fixed, by observing that the Apostles were instantaneously enabled to speak a great variety of languages; and their belief was more fully established by listening to the discourse of Peter, in which he called to their recollection the mighty works of Jesus, and appealed, in a

strain

strain of persuasive reasoning, to those very Scriptures which they acknowledged to be divinely inspired. This miracle, and these arguments, by their united force, gradually removed all prejudice and hesitation, and at length convinced them, that the same Jesus, whom their countrymen had crucified, was both "Lord and Christ," that is, the promised and expected Messiah. The faith therefore of these men was not suddenly communicated by the supernatural operation of the Holy Ghost, but was the natural and progressive effect, of what they saw and heard, upon their understandings.

The inhabitants of Samaria, by giving heed to the preaching of Philip, and by seeing the miracles he performed, believed the things which he spake concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, and were baptized both men and women (i). The conversion therefore of these persons also was owing to the exercise of their own natural powers.

1

It pleased Almighty God to mark the conversion of the first Gentiles, Cornelius and those who were assembled with him (j), by very extraordinary circumstances; but before the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them, Peter declared the comprehensive and impartial nature of God's mercy,

(i) Acts, c. 8 v. 12.

(j) Acts, c. 10.

mercy, and explained the evidences by which the divine character of Jesus was attested; and there can be no doubt but this statement carried conviction to the minds of men, who were devout, and feared God, and prayed to God always (k).” Had it been consistent with the plan of Divine Providence to communicate such conviction by supernatural influence, the preaching of Peter in the house of Cornelius would have been superfluous and unnecessary.

The Bereans were commended "in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so (1);" and it is immediately added, "therefore many of them believed:" hence it appears, that the faith of the Bereans was the result of the candour with which they listened to the preaching of the Apostle, and of the diligence with which they enquired into the evidences of the Gospel.

In the following passage, St. Paul represents the faith of the Ephesians in Christ to have been the consequence of their having heard the Gospel preached, and the communication of the Holy Ghost to have been subsequent to their faith, "In whom (namely in Christ) ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel

of

(k) Acts, c. 10. V. 2.

(1) Acts, c. 17 v. II.

of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise (m):" The order to be here noticed is this,-first, the hearing of the word; secondly, belief produced by that hearing; thirdly, the communication of the Spirit in consequence of that belief.

From these examples, which comprehend Jewish, Samaritan, and Gentile converts, we conclude in general, that those, to whom the Apostles preached, expressed their faith in Christ, before the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them (n); and that the Spirit was never communicated

(m) Eph. c. 1. v. 13. The word "trusted" is not in the original; but that our translators were authorized to insert it, or some word of the same meaning, is evident from the expression in the following part of the passage, "in whom also after that ye believed." The Apostle here marks the difference between Jewish and Gentile converts, "we-who first trusted in Christ, as pontTinóτas év Tô Xpis@, means, that we Jews had, from our prophecies, hope in Christ before his advent; but he tells the Ephesian Gentiles, that they had no hope or trust in Christ till he was actually come, till they heard "the word of truth" preached by the Apostles.

(n) This was not strictly the case with respect to Cornelius and his company," While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word:" but though they had not actually expressed their faith, it is highly probable that they did

believe