Acts ii. 1—4. And when the day of Pentecost urns fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they ivere sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled ivith the Holy Ghost, and began to speak ivith other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
IT was not long after the Flood that man retained the knowledge of the true God. No sooner did the posterity of Noah begin to multiply upon earth, than they conceived an idea of counteracting the inten- tions of their Maker in relation to their dispersion over the world, and actually began to build a city sufficiently large for their accommodation, and a tower which might place them out of the reach of any future deluge. When they had made considerable progress in the work, God was pleased to inflict upon them a judgment, which instantly put a stop to the building, and compelled them to separate themselves to different and distant places. They had hitherto been " all of one language and one speech :" but now " God confounded their language, so that they could not understand one another." This introduced such confusion, that they could not prosecute their pur- pose, but were necessitated to form themselves into distinct societies, each uniting with the party whose speech he understood. From hence the knowledge of the true God was speedily lost ; till in a few generations it seemed to have vanished from among the children of men. This knowledge however was revived in Abraham, and continued in a part of his posterity, till the time came that God had fixed for the diffusion of it over the face of the whole earth. The time so fixed was after the ascension of our blessed Lord : then was his Gospel to be preached to all nations : and, in order that it might, be so, God reversed, as it were, the judgment he had before in- flicted ; not indeed by restoring an unity of language among all nations, but by enabling his chosen ser- vants to address all people in their native tongue. This miracle is to be the subject of our present dis- course : and we shall,
I. Make some observations for the illustration of it —
The miracle itself was the enabling of the Apostles, without any previous study, to speak with propriety and fluency whatever language was most familiar to their respective hearers ; and to communicate