unerring information on the great subject of religion, which, till that hour, they very imperfectly under- stood. Now, if we reflect how difficult it is even for men of learning to attain a new language, and how much time and study are necessary to acquire any proficiency in speaking it, we shall see how stupen- dous a miracle this was, which enabled a number of illiterate fishermen to address foreigners of different nations, whose language they had never so much as heard. But there are some peculiar circumstances respecting this miracle, to which we would call your more particular attention :
1, The time when it was wrought —
[There were in the year three great feasts, at which all the males in Israel were required to go up to Jerusalem : namely, the Passover, or feast of unleavened bread ; the Pen- tecost, or feast of weeks ; and the feast of tabernacles. The first was appointed in commemoration of their deliverance from Egypt ; and the second (the period referred to in our text) was held in remembrance of the giving the law from Mount Sinai, fifty days after their departure from Egypt a. Now God was pleased to make that very day on which he had proclaimed his law, the day for publishing his Gospel also : that so their connexion might the more plainly appear, and the one might be the more fully acknowledged as introductory to the other.
It is further to be remarked, that on the day of Pentecost, " the first-fruits" of the wheat harvest were offered unto God, as the first-fruits of the barley harvest had been seven weeks before b. This also, no doubt, was designed of God to typify the first-fruits of the Jewish Church, which were now pre- sented unto him. It is certain that converts, whether from among Jews or Gentiles, were so designated0, and especially the first in any place d: and consequently, the typical offering was, as it were, completed on this day, in the conversion of three thousand persons unto Christ.
Moreover, it is probable that the anointing of the first-fruits also had respect to the out-pouring of the Spirit upon the con- verts on this day e : for that very idea is distinctly suggested by St. Paul in reference to the Gentile converts, who were brought by him as " an offering in a clean vessel unto the
a Exod. xix. 1, 11. b Lev. xxiii. 15 — 17.
c Jam. i. 18. Rev. xiv. 4. d Rom. xvi. 5. e Lev. ii. 1.