doctrine." Not a few of the nation, we know, were sav- ingly convinced, like St. Paul, and " a great company of priests " became obedient to the faith. Myriads more, we have every reason to believe, were mentally con- vinced, if they had not courage to come out and take up the cross. The whole tone of the Jewish people towards the end of the Acts of the Apostles is unlike what it is at the beginning. A vast reproving and con- vincing influence even where not saving, seems to have gone over their minds. Surely this was partly what our Lord had in view in these verses when He said, "The Holy Ghost shall reprove and convince."
For another thing, our Lord probably meant to fore- tell lohat the Holy Ghost would do for the whole of man- hind,, both Gentiles as well as Jews.
He would reprove in every part of the earth the cur- rent ideas of men about sin, righteousness, judgment, and convince people of some far higher ideas on these points than they had before acknowledged. He w^ould make men see more clearly the nature of sin, the need of righteousness, the certainty of judgment. In a word, He would insensibly be an Advocate and convincing Pleader for God throughout the whole world, and raise up a standard of morality, purity and knowledge, of which formerly men had no conception.
That the Holy Ghost actually did so in every part of the earth, after the day of Pentecost, is a simple mat- ter of fact. The unlearned and lowly Jews, whom He sent forth and strengthened to preach the Gospel after our Lord's ascension, " turned the world upside down," and in two or three centuries altered the habits, tastes, and practices of the whole civilized world. The power of the devil received a decided check. Even infidels dare not deny that the doctrines of Christianity had an enormous effect on men's ways, lives, and opinions, when