peared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance 1." That they should be made capable of speaking all languages was but a necessary qualification of those who were " to go to all nations, and preach the Gospel to every creature 2;" but the great change which the divine Spirit effected in them, and the great gift which he imparted to them, was not that of the tongue only, but of the heart; and its evidence was quickly displayed in the speech immediately spoken by Peter. But a few weeks before he had first attempted to rescue his master with the sword, and almost instantly after he was led into the inconsistency of denying him; and he was one of those who but ten days previously had been anxiously enquiring about the long-expected kingdom. What now is

1 Acts ii. 2.

" Matt. xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15.

his language? "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain ; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it 1." "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ."

وو

These are, indeed, the words of one who had obtained clear views, and a just insight into the character of their Master, the nature of his kingdom, and the way

1 Acts ii. 22.

and manner of their own salvation; and such language was for the future accompanied, both in himself and in the rest of the disciples, by a suitable deportment, a deportment evidently resulting from the consciousness that they were upheld by a higher power, and a strength greater than their own. "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk'," was the command of Peter and John to the suppliant cripple, at the gate of the temple. "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye; for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard 2" is the undaunted expostulation of the same apostles, when led before the Jewish council, and commanded "that they should speak henceforth to no man in this name." But while thus bearing themselves as the servants of a high and mighty Master, yet was it only as servants; never do they forget whose Spirit they were guided by, whose minis

1 Acts iii. 6.

2 Acts iv. 19.

ters they were. "Stand up," said Peter to Cornelius, when at first he attempted ignorantly to worship him," Stand up; I myself also am a man 1." "Yet not I," says St. Paul, "but the grace of God which was with me"." "While one

1

saith I am of Paul," remonstrates the same Apostle with the Corinthians, " and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase "." "We preach," he says, in another Epistle, "not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake 4."

3

Thus humble in themselves, but "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might "," they went forth, the preachers

5

1 Acts x. 26.

3 1 Cor. iii. 4.

2 1 Cor. xv. 10.

4 2 Cor. iv. 5.

5

Eph. vi. 10.

of his Gospel, the messengers of salvation to the world. "Knowing the terrors of the Lord'," they endeavoured, "to persuade men" to embrace the only means by which they could be averted. In this all their energies were exercised; to this all their abilities were applied. In their inclinations, in their dispositions, in their temperament, even in their moral courage they differed among themselves; but still some way or other, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, they all had one end, one undeviating object in view-the propagation of Christianity. The boldness of Peter was employed in converting the Jews, and in teaching them to bow at the name of Jesus whom they had crucified. The indefatigable zeal and undaunted courage of Paul exercised itself in the various long and difficult journeys which he took, the labours he endured, while endeavouring to convert the Gentiles, and to "give a light to them that sat in darkness and in the