Ver. 32.-TIMI yrorrvl,e o/ 1KJ,Watwn. As the preceding pasHge i11 claimflll by St. Peter ln the Acts, l!O thi1 le claimed by St. Pan! in his Epi11tle to the Romane, 1111 referring to the dispensation of the Mesiriah. The declaration of ,Joel is descriptive of the go1pel-the glad tidings of 1alvation adapted and publi11hed to all maukind. Obacrve-- 1. br WBAT THE DEl,lVEB.UIOJ: 00lll8I8T8, Not in exemption or releaae from temporal calamity or clieuter; but iu 1piritual reacue and emancipation--sa.lvation from llin, its bondage and its penalty. II. UPON WHAT OONDlTIOJI THE DELIVEBAl!l'OIC 18 PBOJ'J'EBll:D AND PBOJORD. Calling upon the Name of the Lord lnvolve11: 1. A sense of personal need and danger. 2. A conviction of the power of God to save. 3. Faith in his declared willlngneBS to be the Deliverer of his people. 4. The cry of the heart to God the Saviour. III. To WBOH THE PBOHI8E o• DELlVEBANOE 1s ADDBEIIBZD. " Whoeoever" is e. wide, all-embracing term, comprehending not only every clasK of BOCiety, but every nation, and every grade of character. 8t. Paul him11elf scarcely went beyond this, when he said that" God is the Saviour of all men, specially of tht!m that believe."-T. Vere. 28, 29.-.77ie 011,tpowrimg of the Holy Spirit. The11e words were to have their fulfilment after the purpose expressed in the twenty-third verse had been accomplished. '£he marginal translation there is the more correct. Joel called upon the children of Zion to rejoice in the Lord, becaUBe he was about t.o send "a Teacher of righteousness." 1'his was he of whom Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, said, "We know that thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, except God be with him." We must look, therefore, for the fulfilment of the prophecy in our text after the advent of our Lord Jesua Christ. Peter we.a right in recognizing it in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church at Pentecoet (Acts ii. 16-21). But the baptism of the Spirit is recurrent. The Church has known many a Pentecost. It is within our reach now, and we all sorely need it. L 1'HE E]j'J!'E0'l'B 0li' THE Ell'li'UBlO!i Oli' THE HOLY GB08T may be briefly suggested, 80 far as they are alluded to in our text. Amongst them may be mentione,! the following. 1. Belief in the wpernat'll,ral. "Visions" and "dreams" were the means of Di vine revelation. We read of them in the history of Joseph, Daniel, Ezekiel, and others, mentioned in the Old Testament. Under the new dIBpenliation Peter had visions of angels; Paul saw the angel of the Lord more than once; Stephen beheld Jesus stand- ing at the right hand of God; John gazed on the glories of the New Jerusalem, and rejoiced in visions of his Lord. If such special manifestations are no longer given, spiritual realities around us are not the less confidently believed in by men baptizeu with the Holy Ghost. What a.re laughed at by the world u dreams and visiot1s are actual truths and obvious phenomena in Christian experience. Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned. 2. Fearles, enwnciation of Divine, .truth. "Prophecy" is useu in two senses in Scripture. As the faculty of foretelling future events, it was prevalent in the Christian Church. Age.bus, and the daughters of Philip the evangelist, were not alone in their gifts. Even now coming events cast their shadows ht!fore on the sen11i- tivo souls of believers, whose a.nswereu prayers are the beginnings of the Divine purposeK. But if we take the phrase in its more ordinary acceptation, there can be t10 doubt that the baptism of the Spirit gives courage and power for utterance of Divine truth. 'l'hi~ the apostles realized. Feeble and trembling before Pentecost, they shook the wurlu by their bolu preaching after it. 3. .77ie extension of {Ju, covenant. " l will pour out my Spirit upon all fle,h" can only mean the inclusion of the Gentiles ia the covenant bleHsinge. And it w:1.1 the fact that to them all!o was given the Holy Ghost, which broke down the prejudices of the apo11tles and led them to the inclusion of these in the Christian Church. God put no difference between Jew and Gentile, nor dues he now. 4. The exaltation of the lowliest. The "servant.II" and the "handmaius," in other words, the male and female slaves, were not to be excluded. God Wal! ao respecter of persons. Onesimus, the fugitive slave, was as true a convert u his master, Philemon. ll. THE AT'l'lTUDE Oli' BOtJL NE0EB8ABY TO THE BEOEPTI0N Oli' THIB BLE88Ul0. This we may learn from a comparison of the passage with tho actual experience of the apoatL,a, 1. The Ohurch ahouul ful prof01md.ly convinced. of her weakness. A■ 42 THE BOOK OF JO'.EL. [olt, n. 1-311,
afflictions brought down the Jewe, eo the departure of their Lord l!&ddooed and dis- hearkned the apostles. They had no strength, and they knaw lt, Therefol'e they could only tarry in JeruBRlem until they were endued with power from on high. "He that bumbleth himself ehe.11 be exe.lted." "My etrehgth is me.de perfect in wcnkncss." 2. TM Church shotild cherish strong confidence in the power of God. All that puts natural cause~ in the place of the Divine energy which is in them, weakens thie faith. As the earth 1s dependent on the rains, and "lives because heaven weeps over it" so is the Church _dep~ndent on the outpouring of the Spirit from on high. Aocording to our faith so 1t will be unto us. 3. The Church must bestir herself to believing and import=te prayer. Compe.re the Lord's pe.rable of the importunate widow. Recall the promise, "Ask, and ye shall receive," et;c. Above all, trust to this explicit decla- ration, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ho* much more she.11 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" -A. R.