addressed to the ear, appeared lambent shapes, as of tongues of fire, separating and alighting upon each of the disciples, an emblem appealing to the eye. "Seeing is believing." God teaches much by signs, and his revelation, as well as his creation, is filled with countless instances of this species of instruction. Fire is often spoken of in the communications of the Deity to man in the Old Testament. He appeared to Moses in a flaming bush; on Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law in thunders, and lightnings, and fire; and in a pillar of fire by night to the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land. An appearance, as of a dove, was seen descending from the opened heavens, and alighting upon Jesus at his baptism. The tongues, as of fire, which were now seen attaching themselves to the disciples, were designed, like all miraculous displays, to awaken the wonder and awe of the beholders to connect the descent of the Spirit with the individuals to whom it was given, to intimate, emblematically, the office in which they were to act, as preachers of the gospel. They were now baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Mat. iii. 11. They were touched with a live coal from off the altar, and would henceforth speak with tongues of a fiery, melting, all-persuasive eloquence. Is. vi. 6; Luke xxi. 15. We soon have specimens of their new power in ver. 37, chap. iv. 13. Grotius remarks that, as the confusion of tongues at Babel dispersed mankind abroad, the gift of tongues on the day of Pentecost collected them together again from their dispersion into one people.

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4. Filled with the Holy Ghost. Or, the Holy Spirit of God, which aided them in doing what would otherwise have been impossible to man. How far they had been imbued with the same Spirit before, cannot be accurately determined, but it is evident, from the history, that, from this time forth, they were endued with a new and unprecedented power over their fellow-creatures, as well as penetrated with livelier convictions of the nature and purpose of the gospel, as an instrument of human salvation. John xx. 22. To speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This was in fulfilment of Mark xvi. 17. They were endowed with the power of speaking in languages, or at least dialects, with which they were before unacquainted. Any one who will consider, for a moment, the wonderful art of language in itself, the astonishing faculty of speech, the power of thinking in words, and conveying our conceptions and feelings to others through a set of arbitrary signs, the accumulated growth of ages, will be prepared to appreciate this miracle, by which all this marvellous use and capacity of language was suddenly conferred upon the disciples in the most perfect manner; so that the natives of different countries felt that they were listening to their vernacular tongue. Indeed, hardly any other sign could be more indicative of a greater than human wisdom and power, than the gift of tongues. At the same time, it answered the important purpose of enabling the disciples to preach Christ to multitudes from every part of the world, so that it might truly be said that "this thing was not done in a corner." It radiated the light of Christianity east and west, north and

south, over most of the known world. Unversed in human lore, the fisherman, the publican, could go forth, prepared to instruct distant cities and countries, and proclaim the glad tidings of great joy with all the force of language of a native-born speak er; so that Chrysostom said that the different tongues pointed out, as a map, what land each one should visit and occupy as the scene of his labors in converting the world. The fact that the gospel was preached, as our Lord prophesied it would be, over the world, before the close of that generation, Mat. xxiv. 14; Rom. x. 18; Col. i. 6, 23, can be accounted for only by the facts here stated, especially when we consider the want of education, and ignorance of letters, in most of the early preachers of our holy faith. The gift of tongues appears to have continued, though some distinguished critics have doubted the fact, during the apostolic age, and probably no longer, for it had then accomplished its end, and the truth would find other instruments for its diffusion. See

1 Cor. xii. 10, 11, 28, 30, xiv. 2-39.

"We ask not, Lord, thy cloven flame,
Or tongues of various tone;
But long thy praises to proclaim
With fervor in our own.

"We mourn not that prophetic skill
Is found on earth no more;
Enough for us to trace thy will
In Scripture's sacred lore."

expectation of the speedy advent of the Messiah; while the more general interpretation is, that they had come to attend the feast of Pentecost, and were only making Jerusalem a temporary abode. Ex. xxiii. 17. The male Jews were required to be present at the festivals of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Jews, devout men, i. e. devout Jews; by whom is meant proselytes to the Jewish religion from various countries, or native Jews that had resorted thither for merchandise an impulse that has never ceased to act upon their characters in all time.

Out of every nation under heaven. An hyperbole; a general, not an universal, term, meaning that there were persons from all quarters of the earth. As an incidental, but strong, corroboration of the text, the following passage is quoted from the Antiquities of Josephus respecting the feast of the Passover, and essentially the same was true of every great festival: "At that time, the feast was approaching, in which the Jews are wont to eat unleavened bread. The feast is called the Passover, and is kept in remembrance of their departure out of Egypt: they observe it with great joy, and at this feast offer up more sacrifices than at any other, and an innumerable multitude of persons come up to worship God, not only out of Judea, but also from other parts."

6. This was noised abroad, i. e. the report was spread. Hitherto there had been only the disciples together; but a vast multitude, impelled by curiosity, now gathered about them. Ver. 41. Every man heard them speak in his own language. Or, bet

ter, "dialect," or "idiom." This was the cause of the astonishment; for nothing certainly could be more wonderful than to hear uneducated men, Galileans, speaking intelligibly in every peculiar idiom. It was the natural effect of a supernatural cause.

7, 8. Galileans. It would have been wonderful to hear any men, from any district, speak in this way; but it was thrice wonderful that the Galileans should be able to do it. For they were from an ignorant and despised country, where a peculiar dialect or brogue was in use, Matt. xxvi. 73, Mark xiv. 70, and which was regarded with peculiar contempt by the rest of the people, John i. 46, vii. 52, as an abandoned region. Thus were the declarations of 1 Cor. i. 26, 27, fulfilled. In our own tongue, wherein we were born. Each one heard his peculiar vernacular dialect or idiom. The disciples not only spoke each language, but spoke it well, so that the natives, themselves being judges, were astonished at their correctness. Though there were some languages generally known, as the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, the Greek, particularly, being a species of universal tongue, as the French is now in most countries of Europe, - yet there was a vast number of inferior dialects and branches, spoken in different districts and provinces, with all which these inspired men were specially gifted. Not that each individual spoke all, but one was endowed with one, and another with another. 9. Parthians. These were Jews, who had either been born, or who had lived, in Parthia. This country

was situated south-east of the Caspian Sea, in Asia, was bounded on the east by Aria, on the west by Media and Hyrcania, on the north by Hyrcania, and on the south by the desert of Carmania, and was surrounded by mountains. Some ancient writers derive the origin of this people from Scythia, a vast uncultivated region in the north of Asia. In the later period of the Roman republic, the Parthians had established an extensive empire. Their power continued about 400 years. Their language was Persian. They were a warlike nation, distinguished as horsemen and archers; and, when fleeing in battle, they discharged their arrows behind them with great execution, so that their flight was often more formidable than their onset. Medes. The enumeration of the different nations proceeds from the east to the west, and from the north to the south. Media was bounded on the north by the Caspian Sea, on the south by Persia, on the east by Aria, on the west by Assyria, and north-west by Armenia. The tract included by ancient Parthia and Media now belongs to modern Persia. Some gratify their taste for antiquity by deriving "Media" from "Madai," a grandson of Noah. Gen. x. 2. The Medes were at first subject to Assyria, as a province, but rose to independence, B. C. 820, which they enjoyed about three centuries, until they were merged in the Persian monarchy by Cyrus the Great, B. C. 559. They used the Persian language. They were a fierce and warlike people, and are often spoken of in the Scriptures in

connexion with the Assyrians and Persians. 2 Kings xvii. 6; Esth. i. 3, 14, 18, 19; Jer. xxv. 25; Dan. v. 28, vi. 8. Some of the Jews were carried as captives and colonized in the Median cities by their Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors, 2 Kings xvii. 6, and their descendants did not all return to the Holy Land on the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem. Elamites. Gen. x. 22, xiv. 1. These were the inhabitants of Elam, or Elymais, a region of Persia situated on the Persian Gulf, between Babylonia and Persia, which formed a part of Susiana, of which Susa, or Shusan, was the capital, and which is now termed Khusistan. Is. xxii. 6; Jer. xlix. 34-39; Dan. viii. 2. Their language was also Persian. Mesopotamia. This word signifies "between rivers," i. e. between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and is called Padan Aram, the plain of Syria, Gen. xxiv. 10. The language of Mesopotamia was Syriac or Chaldaic. It is a very fertile region, and was anciently bounded by Assyria on the east, Babylonia and Chaldea on the south, Syria on the west, and Armenia on the north. It now be longs to the Turkish empire, under the name of El Djezirat, the peninsula. Judea. It is a question with critics why Judea was mentioned in this connexion, as that was the country where they then were, and the disciples might be presumed capable of speaking that language naturally. Some suggest various readings, as India, Lydia, Idumea, Bithynia. Some account for it from the fact that the dialect of Judea was different from that of Galilee, to which most of the disciples at that time belonged. Mat. xxvi. 73; Mark xiv. 70. Or, again, it is said that Judea was enumerated because it was one country among

the rest, and the object of the cata logue was to show that they spoke all languages. Either of the two latter reasons relieves the difficulty.

Cappadocia. A province of Asia Minor, situated between the Euxine Sea and the Mediterranean, and bounded on the east by Armenia and Syria, south by Cilicia, west by Lycaonia, and north by Pontus and Galatia. 1 Pet. i. 1. The language was probably a mixture of Greek and Syriac. Acts xiv. 11. It was a wheat-growing region, and also distinguished for its excellent horses. The inhabitants were proverbial for their wickedness; but Strabo the geographer, Basil the Great, and Gregory Nazianzen, were natives of this country. Pontus. This was also one of the eastern provinces of Asia Minor, bounded by the Euxine Sea on the north, by Armenia and Colchis on the east, Paphlagonia and Galatia on the west, and Cappadocia on the south. Mithridates the

The

Great, king of Pontus, waged a long and bloody war with the Romans, but was conquered by Pompey, and the country subjected to the mistress of the world. Acts xviii. 2. language probably resembled that of Cappadocia, as the two countries were at times under the same government. -Asia. This word is used in three senses to denote the continent, the region of Asia Minor, and a smaller province, sometimes called Ionia, or Proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital. Acts vi. 9, xvi. 6, xx. 16; 1 Pet. i. 1. Here the Greek language was spoken, as this was one of the regions that claimed to be the birthplace of Homer, the greatest poet of Grecian antiquity.

10. Phrygia. Acts xvi. 6, xviii. 23. A country situated in the heart

of Asia Minor, and surrounded by Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pisidia, and Lydia. The Greek was probably spoken here and in Pamphylia, with more or less of foreign admixtures. Pamphylia. Another district of Asia Minor, lying south, upon the Mediterranean, bounded on the north by Pisidia, and inhabited by a Grecian colony. Acts xiii. 13, xiv. 24, xv. 38, xxvii. 5. — Egypt. This country was bounded by the Arabian Gulf and Arabia on the east, Libya on the west, the Mediterranean on the north, and Ethiopia on the south. It was about 600 miles long, and from 100 to 200 in breadth; watered by the Nile, which flows 1000 miles without any branches, and annually inundates a large portion of the country. Here was the origin of ancient art and science, and the ruins of Egypt and her pyramids still excite the wonder of the world. Many Jews settled in Alexandria after the Assyrian conquest. The language of ancient Egypt was Coptic.— Libya. A name sometimes standing for the whole of Africa; but it means here the country so called, lying west of Egypt, which was divided by the Romans into two parts, called Marmarica on the east, and Cyrenaica on the west. The latter is here meant. Cyrene, from which it took its name, was a large and beautiful city, lying about 10 miles from the sea. The same region was also called Pentapolis, from the five cities, Cyrene, Ptolemais, Apollonia, Arsinoë, and Berenice, which were scattered along the shores of the Mediterranean, and inhabited by multitudes of Jews. Mark xv. 21; Acts xi. 20, xiii. 1. Strangers of Rome, i. e. Roman residents at Jerusalem. Rome was situated on the Tiber, in Italy, and

from small beginnings it rose to be the greatest and most powerful city in the world. Josephus relates that the Jews had eight synagogues there. A colony of Jewish captives lived near Rome, after their country had been conquered by Pompey. Jews. Either natives of Judea, o descendants from Jewish parents in foreign countries. Proselytes. Mat. xxiii. 15. These were converts from the Gentiles to the Jewish faith, of which the Rabbins made two kinds — proselytes of righteousness, or those who were entirely initiated into the religion of Moses, and enjoyed all its rights and privileges; and proselytes of the gate, who partially conformed to the Jewish ritual, obeying what were called the seven precepts of Noah; or to shun blasphemy to God, idolatry, homicide, incest, robbery, resistance to magistrates, and the eating of blood, or things strangled.

11. Cretes. Crete was an island in the Levant, or the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, said by Pliny to be 270 miles in length, and about 50 in breadth. It is now called Candia. Christian churches were early formed in Crete. Acts xxvii. 7, 8, 13; Titus i. 5, 12. The language was Greek. It was anciently said to contain a hundred cities, was denominated the mistress of the sea, and upon it was situated Mount Ida, so distinguished in the Grecian mythology. - Arabians. Arabia, as is well known, is a large peninsula in the south-west part of Asia, bounded by the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Chaldea. Here occurred most of the wonderful events of the journey of the Israelites, during forty years in the wilderness, in search of the